Before Ask Bob: A Novel the only books I read by Peter Gethers were about Norton, his wonderful cat. I loved the Norton books although I wasn’t quite sure I loved the author; he’s a bit fond of himself for my taste.
Ask Bob: A Novel substitutes Dr. Robert Heller for Peter Gethers narrating, but it is otherwise unmistakably by the same author. They are stylistically similar and the main human characters share common qualities and attitudes.
Dr. Bob is a young veterinarian beginning his practice in Manhattan. He and his beloved wife Anna live in the small upstairs apartment above both the practice and his partner’s larger apartment. Bob takes in strays that show up at the practice, human and animal, beginning with Rocky a small cat.
He begins to write a pet advice column in “New York’s most popular newspaper”. I enjoyed reading the introductions to each Ask Bob letter to see how he progressed, from an occasional appearance on television to a regular appearance, and from one book to three. The pet advice column was great, especially the grammatical lesson.
Ask Bob: A Novel moves quickly through the early years. Bob was so very happy with Anna and devastated when she dies of cancer. He does find love again, twice in fact, but you do have to wonder about his heart. The relationship with the last lady puzzled me. It started with instant desire but I never could see where the true love, the love that is based on one’s will and heart, vs. based only on one’s emotions and lust, was built. I did not find the character believable or likable.
The book is structured as a series of vignettes that together flow from one to the next, with Letters to Ask Bob acting as dividers between mini stories and as counterpoint. The Bob letters usually have some tie in to the vignettes.
I found a few annoyances. One was the constant reference to dysfunctional families. Bob, Anna and Bob’s eventual second wife, all came from families one could call “dysfunctional”. But don’t we all have some degree of oddness in our families? Bob describes Anna’s family as atrocious and Anna herself called her parents abusive, but when he and Anna visit them the family comes across more as sad than as awful. Anna’s mother behaved terribly at her funeral, but the other members simply were different, not living as fully as they could. Dr. Bob, (apparently as does Peter Gethers himself) does not believe in God and doesn’t miss many opportunities to say so.
What made the book excellent was Dr. Bob’s growth as a full human, not only as Dr. Heller or as Anna’s husband, but as a son, as an uncle, as a friend, as a pet owner. The man who started out feeling vulnerable and alone finds happiness with people and in his ability to give to them and to take from them in love.
Overall I enjoyed this very much and give it 5 stars.
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