Review #1 – ‘Walking Ollie’

For my first book review, I will be talking about the book Walking Ollie by Stephen Foster (link to his blog is in my sidebar).

Having picked up the ‘sequel’ to this book, Along Came Dylan, after its release around October/November, which I loved, and reading a thread on the Greyhound Walks Forum which linked to this post about Ollie’s death, I grabbed this book for below RRP from Amazon, along with a Jodie Picoult book that I’ve forgotten the name of.

Now, with my mother dearest having such a keen interest in greyhounds and lurchers (greyhound x something), and the invention of Greyhound Walks, it was only natural that I caught on to this buzz. When we got our second greyhound, George, a year and a bit ago, he was (and still is) nervous, jumpy and a bit lot of a ‘fraidy cat. In reading Foster’s book about his experiences with the neurotic lurcher (who was greyhound x saluki – which is like chalk mixed with cheese in all but general appearance) I found myself drawing comparisons to our own experiences with George. Foster explains how Ollie warmed to his partner, Trezza, but was afraid of him and would not go near him. This almost exactly mirrors George’s absolute devotion to my mum, but his utter terror of her husband, Dave. As he recalled Ollie’s behaviour I began to fall for him myself, and I felt a great deal of sympathy for Foster as he tried in vain to both train and befriend the poor dog.

Foster made the story of his journey with Ollie very readable and by the end, the feeling that you had got to know both Ollie and his owner was unmistakable. Reading about Ollie’s battle with bone cancer and the decision Foster made to have him put to sleep to relieve his suffering brought genuine tears to my eyes. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone – dog lover or otherwise. It is funny, genuine and absolutely brilliant. Absolutely deserving of its bestseller status, and if you read and enjoy Walking Ollie as much as I did, make sure you pick up Along Came Dylan when you’re done, for the second part of the Ollie saga – his new pure-bred saluki brother.

Thanks for reading,

F x

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