The mountaintop school for dogs and other second chanceslours
The Sanctuary High up on the mountain the Sanctuary is a place of refuge It is a place where humans save dogs who in turn save the humans It is a place where the past does not exist where hopelessness is chased away where the future hasn t been written where orphans and strays can begin to imagine a new meaning for family Evie is making her way to the Sanctuary She has lied to gain entry She has pretended to know than she does about dogs but she is learning fast Once the indomitable Mrs Auberchon lets her pass she will find her way Like the racing greyhound who refuses to move the golden retriever who returns to his job as the Sanctuary s butler every time he s adopted and the Rottweiler who s a hopeless candidate for search and rescue Evie comes from a troubled past But as they all learn no one should stay prisoner to a life she didn t choose This is the story of two women and a whole pack of dogs who having lost their way in the world find a place at a training school and radical rescue center called the Sanctuary It is a story of strays and rescues kidnappings and homecomings moving on and holding on and letting go And it is ultimately a moving and hilarious chronicle of the ways in which humans and canines help each other find new lives new selves and new hope The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances
Ellen Cooney is the author of eleven novels most recently A Cowardly Woman No More Coffee House Press April 2023 Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker Fiction New England Review and many other journals She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation Born in Clinton Massachusetts in 1952 she lived for many years in Cambridge and taught writing classes and workshops at Boston College Northeastern University MIT Harvard Extension School and the Seminars at Radcliffe She lives in Phippsburg Maine. Kindle the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances read online The GR reader reviews are all over the place for this book I understand the objections but I thoroughly enjoyed it The story is shamelessly unabashedly anthropomorphic and I loved that The dogs are just great Hank who s terrified of stick shapes Shadow who won t bark Tasha a rambunctious Rottweiller mix Boomer a comfy old grandfatherly Golden little Josie who has a biting habit Dora who establishes herself rapidly as a queenly alpha and finally Alfie a gorgeous greyhound who doesn t give a damn about anything Characters all. Kindle The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second chances The humans who inhabit the book and the school itself have an almost fantasy like quality The Sanctuary is a spooky old complex located at the top of a mountain we never find out where and is run by a small group of aging ex nuns There is an equally spooky inn at the foot of the mountain which serves as the gateway to the refuge and is run by the acerbic authoritarian Mrs Auberchon who we learn early on is also the Warden of the Sanctuary We have Evie whose first person narration tells most of the story she s obviously intelligent and she has money from somewhere but she has a past involving drugs and a series of rehabs and has applied to be a trainer at the refuge Giant George is just a young teenager but he s a seasoned trainer who lives at the Sanctuary with the nuns and the dogs Then there is a small army of anonymous volunteers who somehow find abused animals and execute their rescues It s all very mysterious and most of it is never fully explained This seems to be the basis of many of the lower ratings I found myself thinking of fairy tales which are full of engaging characters and creatures and similarly do not provide the back stories and narrative exposition one might expect or want in a novel Many readers found it unsatisfying but I found it magical and enchanting Literature Fiction Imagine that your family had a new baby and suddenly they began beating you The people that you have always trusted for years become frightening strangers. The mountaintop school for dogs and other second chancesland reviews Imagine that the family who should care for you splits up and there is no stability in your life and you are frightened rebellious and hostile and you start hurting yourself to relieve your pain Now imagine that you wind up in a place where people want to help you but you are going to have to trust to learn to get outside your sad past. Pdf the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances free download It is hard whether you are human or canine But people can help dogs and dogs can help people Literature Fiction I am a huge dog lover so I enjoyed the book the dogs were my favorite Well most of the dogs. Book the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances book review I am a big dog lover so Josie and Dora weren t really a favorite of mine but I loved Hank and was bummed he left so soon I loved Boomer as well pit bulls and goldens are my dogs of choice And I enjoyed Shadow Tasha and Alfie I have had a tickle to want to open a rescue shelter myself and this definitely pulled at those heart strings. Kindle The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second chances I felt like I could connect to the book with the way that Evie communicated with the dogs and of course the dogs themselves but I am still struggling with all the holes that were in the story. Book the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances pdf download We eventually learn Evie had a history of cocaine abuse as well as substance abuse treatment of some sort And we know she doesn t have anyone in the outside world but that is all we know Nothing . The mountaintop school for dogs and other second chancesland reviews 5 out of 5 stars rounding it up to a 4 star read Literature Fiction This is my first experience with Cooney s writing but as a dog lover and shelter dog supporter from its description this book seems like the perfect one for me Unfortunately I think my expectations were much too high Right from the start the book gives an unfavorable first impression The chapters though brief suffer from verb tense inconsistencies and the shifting perspective also makes difficult to feel a firm connection to the story itself not to mention the characters. Book the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances in life Even as the unusual style choices settle a bit the book runs into some rather preachy parts as Evie learns about abused dogs training and statistics I suppose it will make dog loving readers think about their own answers to some of the questions Evie poses but the book falls into an unfortunately common trope of this subgenre in being as heavy handed with its lessons for readers as it warns against that same tactic for teaching dogs Sort of ironic I supposeBut frankly I don t like the book at all I wish that I had not read it through until the end Parts of it are interesting and I do like how the author assigns dog like actions and characteristics to its human characters but it prevents them from ever feeling completely genuine as people And though the dogs feel authentic oddly there are not enough scenes with them to compensate What is most disappointing though is just how devoid of fun this is There is absolutely no humour here which is one characteristic of dogs that desperately needs to be woven into this novel It may be a book about second chances but that doesn t mean it needs to be such a downer The ending too leaves a lot to be desired it s very abrupt with many loose ends I genuinely wish that I had set this one aside much earlier Literature Fiction Second chances for rescued dogs for first time dog trainers for homeless teenaged guy. Book The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second chances This book meanders a bit but in a totally appropriate way Rehab is not easy for either the dogs or the people but it has moments of great excitement for breakthroughs and moments of hilarity. Book the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances in life If you are very tender hearted you may be put off by some of the descriptions of the very physically and emotionally battered dogs who are rescues But the book is mostly about hope and recovery of a normal life Literature Fiction there is such a thing as joy being bigger than the container that holds it THE MOUNTAINTOP SCHOOL FOR DOGS AND OTHER SECOND CHANCES is a great title but just an okay book I have recently adopted a rescue which is probably the reason why I stuck with this text otherwise I am not sure I would have finished it It is sloppily plotted almost juvenile at moments and the overall reading experience was not one that drew me in The story is written from two points of view which alternate One point of view comes from Evie a young recovering addict who has accepted a job to learn how to be a dog trainer and the other from middle aged Mrs Aberchon a women carrying her own battle scars Stylistically I did not care for the chapters that featured Evie s voice I will say however that the last two chapters are easily the text s strongest. The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances book 1 I don t feel the reading of this book was a total wash because there are some pleasing moments scattered throughout the text Author Ellen Cooney does a nice job with her descriptions of some of the dogs and personifying some of their thoughts characteristics It is relatable There are also moments of excellent insight like this clever and achingly accurate depiction of loneliness She hadn t liked how it felt to wander around by herself trying to seem like she was someone temporarily separated from her friends Here are some lines moments from the text that made an impression with the outer crust of anyone who used to be tender I was supposed to have learned to stop fooling myself Abandon To turn away on purpose from someone you were supposed to never turn away from Bad verb Bad word Bad everything Rescue Best Verb Ever I wondered how can anyone go to a place inside someone where the loneliness is when the someone was never anything but lonely Sometimes the peacefulness happens to me all by itself out of nowhere for absolutely no reason In case you haven t discovered this yet dogs don t tell lies I bet their brains are hurting just from memories This read started out so promising and despite some good lines moments it just did not hold up and was not a great read for me Literature Fiction Reese age 3 Royal poodle chocolate brown approx 85 pounds Flew to Pennsylvania from Oklahoma in a small crate on board three airplanes Considered by his family to be quite quirky Very loveable Hates tight spaces and shows symptoms of claustrophobia Shows instant distrust of tall lanky boys with glasses and dark hair Hates denim jackets and ball caps Extremely energetic and possibly believes he is human Loves to run and be outdoors Fiercely loyal Loves to play and loves to cuddle Will instantly love you if you give him food Unless you are a tall lanky boy with glasses and dark hair Then he will hate you for no reason whatsoever. Book the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances summary I love my dog Seriously I can t get enough of him sometimes And every time I picked this book up to read I just kept giving my big monster great big hugs because that s what this book makes you do It makes you see how magical and wonderful these canine companions are to our own lives That little blurb and pic is of my own big boy who is so special in my life But this dog hates my brother the tall lanky boy with glasses and dark hair and people who look like my brother Its also true what I say about him hating denim jackets and ball caps Even if he sees me wearing such items he won t come near me It makes me wonder about the farm on which he was raised and where he spent the first five months of his life Was there someone there maybe a boy who looked like my brother who wore denim jackets and ball caps who mistreated him in some way There seems to be a trend especially in young adult fiction nowadays that really hones in on those with problems Drug and alcohol abuse suicidal tendencies post traumatic stress disorder you know issues Well this book does that too Except half the characters in this book about individuals with issues are well dogs Because as illustrated above animals can have issues too. Kindle the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances book review This novel focuses on Evie a twenty something girl with issues who applies for and is accepted as a dog trainer for a mountaintop animal rescue center called The Sanctuary The problem is Evie REALLY has issues and she knows nothing whatsoever about dogs At first she stays at an inn at the foot of the mountain where The Sanctuary is with only a mysterious and cratchety middle aged woman named Mrs Auberchon for company Then the dogs come Each dog has his or her own issues which are told to Evie by means of a piece of paper with information on it similar to my own description of Reese at the beginning of this review At first Evie is really unsure of what to do but as the novel progresses these dogs really seem to get through to her and they touch her life in some way Mrs Auberchon the enigmatic and elderly sisters who run the Sanctuary and another trainer in the form of a teenaged boy who refers to himself only as Giant George are the human characters in this story and like Evie seem to have conflicts and struggles that they are all working out in their own ways However each character seems to relate to the dogs better than the other humans As Evie tries to get through to these dogs and train them to integrate back into normal society cracks in her own problematic life begin to heal as well As she works with them its almost as if she begins to project emotions and feelings into these canines and the whole book becomes some kind of weird doggie rehab But in a strange way it totally worked and I was completely invested in the outcome. The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances book 1 This novel was strangely compelling and I read it very quickly There were times where I genuinely could not put it down to save my life but there were also a lot of issues with it The writing is so so and the book was addled with cliches but overall I found the book quite enjoyable albeit predictable What saved this novel for me were the dogs I LOVED every single dog in this book and found their characters so dynamic interesting fun and compelling It was the humans which brought this book down for me I didn t care as much about their storylines and found them all to be pretty flat and one dimensional Particularly Mrs Auberchon and Evie Evie was a cookie cutter troubled girl right from the start and nothing happens to elevate her much beyond that Mrs Auberchon was a caricature of the introverted guarded older woman with an obvious past and the story really does nothing to shed much light on either of their past stories Usually this bothers me as I need to know and don t like loose ends but honestly I didn t care much that I didn t get their complete histories That in and of itself says something But then there s Tasha the insecure Rotweiler with a heart of gold a big slobbering tongue and major abandonment issues And Dora the feisty alpha scottish terrier who was locked in an abandoned apartment for three weeks until someone found her And Dapple the beautiful but terrified hound mix who was rescued from a puppy mill where she was constantly impregnated to spawn different breeds of hunting dogs There s also Boomer Josie Shadow Hank Alfie Rocky and a whole herd of Pitbulls rescued from a dog fighting ring These are the stories I longed to hear and the endings I yearned for And in this way this book did not disappoint It made me long to drive to a shelter and adopt another dog This is not the most well written book and it definitely had its problems but every animal lover should read this It tugs a mean heartstring and it feels genuine without being sappy or emotionally manipulative Literature Fiction There may be a novel in there but between lists of dog breeds screeds on dog training etc I didn t see one Too bad because it sounded like my kind of book had it been less full over over serious earnestness Literature Fiction I am probably the perfect reader for this book I am a dog nut who is involved with rescue animals and sit on the board for a positive training obedience school So it s not to hard to believe that I really liked the DOGS in this book I found the people slightly less likable but I guess I have patience with broken dogs than I do with broken people The writing style was very stream of consciousness which I didn t mind too much However some of the run on sentences were a little hard to follow But the time I got to the end of the sentence I had forgotten the beginning and had to go back and re read it My biggest gripe with this book was the abrupt ending It felt as if the author just stepped away for a break and then never came back and finished the story I would like to hear much about the school and students Literature Fiction 2. The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances booking 5 Overall I truly wanted to like this book I still want to like it but quite a few things kept fighting against me The ideas are there I very much liked the premise of this book and how dogs and humans can work to rescue each other However on the execution level things simply did not jive with me I think my biggest issue is with the main character Evie Although we are inside her mind for 75% of the book I am left with knowing very little about her We get a few select flashbacks and some connected information through randomly convenient interactions but I can t define her She s a 20 something blob who happened to have some kind of breakdown and yet still has it kind of easy Never quite sure how she got to that point and nothing is completely resolved She ended up simply being a slightly annoying host for this story someone I couldn t get on board with because I didn t think she deserved where she was and that is addressed but not a length The side characters were interesting for me I looked forward to the handful of chapters that were from the perspective of Mrs Auberchon I liked her Seeing Evie through her eyes made Evie better to me But then Evie took over the narrative again and I was lost Giant George could have been taken advantage of often too. Book the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances book review Also there isn t enough interaction with the dogs as odd as that may sound You get a good cast of them but the time you could be spending with the dogs is filled with Evie listing vocabulary words instead But the writing is great when it comes to the dogs They have their own personalities and parts in the story Plus the dogs are getting just as many if not second chances than the people so shoudln t we hear about that Even though I had a difficult time falling into this story I can see many others enjoying it once it s done with its final coat of polish It would be a great discussion for book clubs and I would also recommend it as an Adult book for Teens title You really can t go wrong with the theme of second chances and finding a different level of yourself through befriending an animal I have friends who work at animal shelters and their work is not quite what you see here but it has the same base Dogs are an embodiment of grace Extremely forgiving and understanding despite their inability to literally speak with us They can heal almost anything and while Evie s situation was never quite unearthed it s obvious that her experiences with the Mountaintop School gave her a new perspective and a much needed purpose Literature Fiction
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Kindle The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second chances games Imagine you are an athlete who has been kept in a crate most of your life trained with less than gentle measures and then tossed out when you can t race any .
Book the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances pdf download Imagine you have been kept caged up for so long in solitary confinement that your routines are the only thing you know,
Kindle The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second chances winning We can gather that there is a story behind Giant George Mrs Auberchon and the sisters but again no :
Book the mountaintop school for dogs and other second chances pdf free I really would have liked the holes filled in a little to learn about the people that we and the dogs interacted with.Still I rated this book a 3
