I had ordered this as a cassette tape on Ebay for about 2$. I listened to half of it, and found the latter 2 parts difficult to hear. Sound quality on super old cassettes can be funny like that. A fellow Malkovich fan was kind enough to share an mp3 copy with me so I could listen to the recording and oh, you know, actually be able to hear it.
I listened to it while I was working this morning. The story centers around Macon Leary, who is still grieving (in his own way) the loss of his 12 year old son, who was shot during a robbery at a fast food place. A year after the death, his wife announces she is leaving him. She moves out, and he is left with their very unruly dog, Edward. Edward becomes so out of control, that he causes Macon to breaks his leg, which in turn forces him to go live with his rather unusual (and by that I mean "damn weird") family while he recovers. They urge him to get Edward professional training. Eventually he gives in and hires Muriel Pritchard to train the dog but he winds up becoming a part of her life beyond her simply teaching his dog not to attempt to maul random people.
I liked the story. I don't know if I would have liked it simply by reading, but JM gives a great narration. I took great joy in listening to him read Muriel's dialogue in particular. He has a great voice for this sort of thing, and I wish he would record more audiobooks.
The one thing I took major issue with is the ending. Up until that moment, I had seen Macon as someone clueless and a bit closed off. But in the final few moments of the book, I suddenly realized he was a huge jerk. And Muriel +the ex wife are the people who had to deal with his ridiculousness. I felt the worst for Muriel.
The ending was abrupt and for me came unexpectedly.
Even so, I really liked listening to this point. JM was a great choice to do the reading!
