Book: Jenny Willow

Outdoor magazine writer Mike Gaddis' first novel relates the life and times of an English setter in backwoods West Virginia. The hunting dog Jenny is the savior of Ben Willow in his old age, who after losing his two greatest loves in the death of his wife and the last of his generations of hunting dogs, decides he has enough life in him for one more dog. I am no fan of hunting but have gotten some glimpses into that world through people that I've loved and respected, and Gaddis portrays this activity at its more noble, as a backdrop for the events that unfold after Ben dies of a heart attack on a hunting expedition, leaving Jenny to survive on her own.

To be honest, I almost didn't get past the beginning because of the construction of the first couple paragraphs... On just the first page alone I found such stirring combinations as

There was no answer
The room was empty
Poplar and maple were beginning to color
The grouse would find them
They would come
The air was bracing
Crows were about

I thought dear god, I can't possibly choke through this for 280 more pages if this man can't find an action verb. But the style soon expands, and if anything becomes an exercise in sensory adjectives, which a few times threaten to overwhelm the story, but if you make yourself reread them, are worth the linger.

I picked this up at the recommendation of a friend who was reading it, and had told me a few of the pivotal plot developments as he reached them in the book. As a result I was expecting parts of this drama to be somewhat unbelievable and over the top, but as I reached those moments they seemed quite balanced and controlled. In that sense, Gaddis uses rich language to tell an ultimately simple story.

The moments that Gaddis captures perfectly are the moments of connectedness one feels alone on a mountain with none other but a faithful dog. From my own West Virginia family roots, the people he describes are authentic, as are his descriptions of the mountain realm. I read the first two chapters - 18 pages - the first night. The next night I didn't stop reading until I reached the end.