I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip. by John Donovan

First published 1969. Reissued by Flux 2010.

When the grandmother who raised him dies, Davy Ross, a lonely thirteen-year-old boy, must move to Manhattan to live with his estranged mother. Between alcohol-infused lectures about her self-sacrifice and awkward visits with his distant father, Davy’s only comfort is his beloved dachshund Fred. Things start to look up when he and a boy from school become friends. But when their relationship takes an unexpected turn, Davy struggles to understand what happened and what it might mean. (goodreads.com)

DNF. And I feel kind of bad about it because it's supposed to be this amazing, moving story that was ahead of its time when it was originally published. But I just couldn't take another talk about Davy's dog.

I really liked the voice. It was simplistic in its telling yet carried with it a depth that could only be held by young words looking for ways around the darkness. There's a heaviness to the story that Davy skirts on the edge of, focusing his time on his dog. I didn't feel it dated at all, either. Having been written in 1969, Davy could have rightly been walking around today. Any elements that hint at a decade are subtle, letting the most important aspect of the book, the story, come through.

In that same vein, I felt like I was reading a day-by-day diary of a boy walking his dog. Halfway into the book and the love interest had just barely made an appearance and he's a bit of a jerk. There's something there that's making him that way but I just didn't have the patience to stick it out.

I wanted the story to get to the point. It's a short story; coming in at just over 200 pages. And halfway into it I was still working through the set-up. Maybe that's attributed to the style at the time. Maybe in order to broach such a sensitive topic it had to be eased into gently. My patience just didn't like that.

Still, I'd urge people to give it a try. It is supposed to be an amazing story and I can tell you, the writing is really good. You're just going to need a little more patience than what I had at the time to get through it.