Monday, April 19, 2010

Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings

I really wanted to like this one. It's about a guinea pig! And Fuse #8 really, really liked it (unfortunately, I can't find her review because of the blog switch, but it's probably on Amazon).

But I didn't like it. Mainly because I couldn't stand his parents. His dad is an obsessed control freak and we're expected to feel sorry for him because he's having trouble dealing with being a housedad and having to do housework. Excuse me? His mom has apparently been working as a paint mixer for 20 years, so who was doing the housework before his dad came home? AND working a full-time job? But I don't like his mom any better. She's either incredibly manipulative or extremely stupid. The guinea pig acting like a dog was kind of cute, his friends were interesting, and the main character was ok, but I just couldn't stand the parents. I don't have a problem with weird or unpleasant parents, but it drove me nuts to have them presented as ok and normal. Grr.

At least that's how I felt about it. Someone else might get a different feel from the story and think the parents were cute.

Verdict: I couldn't stand it, but will probably get it eventually for my private collection of guinea pig books, just because I am an obsessive collector.

ISBN: 978-1606840535; Published April 2010 by Egmont; Borrowed from the library; Added to my personal wishlist

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