“How to Bury Your Dog” by Eva Silverfine is a beautifully written literary novel that takes us through one year in the life of Lizzy, who is something of a loner. The story begins when she has to put her beloved “Happy” to sleep due to age and health issues. While grieving for the loss of her dog (surrounded by her other pets), she is drawn into local politics to prevent a large development project from destroying the surrounding nature.

Even though Lizzy is a bit of a loner, she is a part of her community and has friends who lean on each other and help each other get through things both large and small. I especially enjoyed the relationship Lizzie had built with two of her young neighbors. While the story opens with the loss of a pet, the book is not sad or depressing by any means. In a way, it is a celebration of life, of how the small things in our daily lives, particularly found in nature, are the key for living. I feel like I will need to return to this novel again and read it a second or even a third time to catch all that it holds. Reading about this rich country life that Lizzy is leading almost makes me want to leave my urban area and head for the countryside.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for an ARC of this book. My opinions are my own.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Content warning for the death of a companion animal.)

DNF at 30%

Despite my better judgment, I requested this title as soon as it popped up on NetGalley in October 2021. I say "despite my better judgment" because my dog Finnick had just passed away several months prior, and my grief was still pretty raw. And for that reason, I sat on HOW TO BURY YOUR DOG ... FOR YEARS. Naturally I assumed that a book called HOW TO BURY YOUR DOG would elicit all kind of feels, so I saved it until I felt like I was in the right headspace to deal with a dead dog story.

Turns out I worried for naught, since this book is surprisingly dry and devoid of emotion. Happy bites it in the first few pages, and we barely see his human grieve at all. Yes, grief comes in all shapes and forms, but with the seasonal structure of the book, we literally skip past Happy's death in the span of a chapter. Lizzy seems a little lost the night of, and then bam, it's spring. Even the death scene feels a bit detached - Lizzy's friend Nancy euthanizes Happy, and then ten seconds later he's in the ground, with seemingly little fanfare. His death feels like just another chore to tick off the to-do list.

I assume that Lizzy's suppressed grief will bubble to the surface as she joins her community's efforts to stop a local real estate developer from destroying Bartons Mill Pond ... but I just can't stick it out to see if I'm right. If the death of a dog has taught me anything, it's that life is too short to waste on things you don't enjoy. Or, in this case, to spend a few hours slogging through a book that isn't doing it for you.

Overall I enjoyed this book because I love animals and nature and plants and flowers. I did get a little tired of the underlying political messages or what I interpreted as such.

The title of this book grabbed my attention and so did the story. This is a quick read that cannot fail for the price it is listed at. Pick it up and give it a try. I thoroughly enjoyed it.