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Three Wild Dogs (and the Truth)

A Memoir

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Now in paperback, this poignant, funny, and brutally honest memoir by one of the world's most beloved storytellers, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book Thief, tells the story of his family's adoption of three troublesome rescue dogs—a charming and courageous love story about making even the most incorrigible of dogs, family.

There's a madman dog beside me, and the hounds of memory ahead of us . . . It's love and beasts and wild mistakes, and regret, but never to change things.

What happens when the Zusak family opens their home to three big, wild, street-hardened dogs—Reuben, more wolf than hound; Archer, blond, beautiful, destructive; and the rancorously smiling Frosty, who walks like a rolling thunderstorm?

The answer can only be chaos: There are street fights, park fights, public shamings, property damages, injuries, hospital visits, wellness checks, pure comedy, shocking tragedy, and carnage that must be read to be believed.

There is a reckoning of shortcomings and failure, a strengthening of will, but most important of all, an explosion of love—and the joy and recognition of family.

Three Wild Dogs (and the Truth) is a tender, motley, and exquisitely written memoir about the human need for both connection and disorder, a love letter to the animals who bring hilarity and beauty—but also the visceral truth of the natural world—straight to our doors and into our lives and change us forever.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 18, 2024
      In this heartrending memoir, novelist Zusak (The Book Thief) recounts his family’s love affair with three rowdy rescue dogs: Reuben, Archer, and Frosty. Writing after the last of the three died, Zusak—on the advice of his wife, Mika—processes his grief on the page, beginning with the couple’s adoption of Reuben in 2009 and ending with Archer’s death in 2021. In the middle is a hilarious and occasionally harrowing tale of how not to train incorrigible canines; Zusak’s dogs bite a piano teacher, break the author’s knee, and, in one particularly upsetting section, kill the family cat. Zusak offsets all the mayhem with poignant passages about more peaceful times with the animals, during which he wrote novels, played with his children, and ran on the beach with the dogs, “just us and rawest water.” When it’s time to chronicle each one’s death, Zusak pulls no punches, conveying the depths of misery that come with seeing a pet to the end of its life. With a soft heart and a fluid pen, Zusak delivers an elegy for three misfit creatures that will resonate even with those who’ve never picked up a leash. Agent: Catherine Drayton, InkWell Management.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The author of the international bestseller THE BOOK THIEF, Markus Zusak, intertwines his memoir with the entertaining story of how his family adopted three rescue dogs and how they brought both chaos and joy to his life. Zusak introduces listeners to Reuben, Archer, and Frosty in his well-known beautiful narrative style, establishing them as memorable characters. Charming and amusing, he speaks of their impactful antics and the love that came into his life because of them. He also shares the emotions associated with more difficult memories and loss. Those who listen to this relatable audiobook will enjoy hearing Zusak's relaxing tone as he speaks of his family, his writing, and his devoted connection with his dogs. D.Z. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine

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  • English

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