CORMAC
The Tale of a Dog Gone Missing
In the same vein as Marley and Me and My Dog Skip, this “mostly true” novel is at once a whimsical campfire mystery and a universal story about the friendship between a man and his dog.
Cormac, a golden retriever who has always been afraid of thunderstorms and lightning flashes, runs away one stormy night while his master is away.
So begins a strange adventure that lands Cormac in the back of a red pickup truck driven by a mysterious woman, takes him to a series of dog pounds and rescue shelters,
In the same vein as Marley and Me and My Dog Skip, this “mostly true” novel is at once a whimsical campfire mystery and a universal story about the friendship between a man and his dog.
Cormac, a golden retriever who has always been afraid of thunderstorms and lightning flashes, runs away one stormy night while his master is away.
So begins a strange adventure that lands Cormac in the back of a red pickup truck driven by a mysterious woman, takes him to a series of dog pounds and rescue shelters, and ultimately brings him to the suburbs of Connecticut. His owner, meanwhile, devastated by Cormac’s disappearance and trying to juggle a family, a book tour, and writing his new novel, becomes determined to solve the “dog-napping” case. With the help of the local veterinarian, bookstore colleagues, animal rescue employees, and old friends, he picks up on Cormac’s trail and watches his small-town community come together in search of his lost companion.
Inspired by real events, and embellished only to serve the story through the spirit of imagination, Brewer has, as he says, “mainly told the truth in this story of losing my good dog Cormac.”
- MacAdam Cage
- Paperback
- September 2007
- 200 Pages
- 9781596923027
Buy the Book
$13.00
About Sonny Brewer
Sonny Brewer owns Over the Transom Bookstore in Fairhope, Alabama, and serves as board chairman of the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts. He is the author of the novel The Poet of Tolstoy Park and the upcoming A Sound like Thunder.
Praise
Discussion Questions
“It’s just a dog,” someone might say. What is behind the attachment and affection some people feel toward their pets?
Do you agree or disagree that dogs have the emotional “feelings” we ascribe to them?
What about intelligence? Is s dog’s behavioral response more than instinctual?
Much is made of the way people feel about their dogs, but what about the old saw that a dog is “man’s best friend”? Do they really love us? Are they just looking for the next bowl of food?
Dogs love to be petted and stroked. Look into the possibility that there is physiology at play here, a chemical stimulant component for Fido when you ruffle his fur.
Rupert Sheldrake, the British biophysicist suggests dogs, and other animals, possess what might be loosely called extrasensory perception. Have you heard of a dog that “knows” when its master is coming home, even though the family does not know Dad’s anywhere near?
Pierre, in the book, declares he’d say “so long” to the pooch, and, if not “good riddance,” at least just trust that the dog is okay wherever the dog happens to be. If your dog “went missing”, to what extent would you go to recover her? Do you have a friend who would think extreme efforts to recover a lost pet is time and money not well-spent?
How do you feel about mandatory spaying and neutering of all pets, with no exceptions, except when permitted with a special breeder’s license?
Do you think it’s okay to have a dog that’s an “outside” dog, like, say, a farm dog that never gets to come inside the house?
When an owner names her dog, do you think we mostly “get it right” and find a name that matches the personality of the pooch?
Do you think your dog thinks about you when you are not with them, or is it an instant, “Oh, you! I remember you. You feed me and pat my head. I’m glad to see you again!”