Animal Magnetism: My Life with Creatures Great and Small


By Tanya Turgeon

Animal Magnetism: My Life with Creatures Great and Small

by Rita Mae Brown

Review by Tanya Turgeon

Ballantine Books, 2009
256 pages
$25.00

Throughout her prolific writing career, Rita Mae Brown (Emmy-nominated screenwriter and NY Times bestselling author of the Mrs. Murphy mystery series) has included animals in her stories. Brown's newest memoir, "Animal Magnetism" takes a break from the fictional world to provide a behind the scenes look into her life surrounded, inspired, and fulfilled by these non-human friends.

If Shreve Stockton's "Daily Coyote" brought us back to the days of western log cabins and cowboys, then"Animal Magnetism" can be credited for returning us to mid-20th century southern farm life.
Here children still learn Latin, have cotillions, and only speak when spoken to; fox hunting, horse racing, and good manners are abundant.

Of all the canine-loving literature of the past couple weeks no author couples the words "love" and "dog" as freely as Rita Mae Brown. A Chesapeake Bay Retriever stole her heart as a young girl and
she hasn't looked back since. Her lifelong pack has included a Doberman, Jack Russell terrier, Irish setter, a couple beagles, and way too many hounds to count.

Brown's words gently ramble with southern lingo as she undulates between flowing sentences and clipped thoughts. At times she loses herself to tangents but in a way I imagine captures exactly how she would speak were she reminiscing over a cup of tea with you, though you get the feeling this woman never sits still for more than a moment. Every so often she indulges in a soap box rant about America's fallen politics and economy or the rampant whining common of today's culture. But she always finds her ways back to her animals; the birds, the foxes, the horses, possum, skunk, cats, dogs, and especially those hounds. The only creature Brown doesn't appear to love in all its glory is the chigger, and who can hold that against her?

Rita Mae Brown, writer, skilled horsewoman, avid fox hunter, and dog lover maintains a farm in Virginia and opens her home and heart to many rescued animals. Through this book her passion for helping animals is evident, which is why we love her, even if her most popular mystery series happens to be cowritten by a cat.
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