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Search - Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish
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Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish Author: |
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Book Information
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Book Description:
Although Mark Levin is known as a constitutional lawyer and a nationally syndicated broadcaster, he is, first and foremost, a dog lover. In 1998, he and his family welcomed a half-Border Collie/half-Cocker Spaniel they named Pepsi into their lives. Six years later, his wife and son persuaded him to adopt a dog from the local shelter, a Spaniel mix. It turned out he was older than originally thought, and he was the most beautiful dog they'd ever seen. They named him Sprite. Their lives would never be the same.
Sprite and Pepsi became fast friends. They did everything together, from rummaging through the trash to loudly greeting the deliveryman. And the Levin family fell in love with him -- with his gentle nature, beautiful face and soft, huggable fur. But on Halloween night, shortly after joining their family, Sprite suddenly collapsed and was rushed to the animal hospital. It was the first of many such visits, and the start of a long journey for the Levin family, filled with much joy and anguish.
During the next two years, Sprite and Pepsi were inseparable. And Sprite's bond with the Levin family deepened. Friends, neighbors, and even Mark's radio audience came to know and love Sprite. As Mark's daughter turned eighteen and graduated from high school and Mark's son turned fifteen, Sprite's health deteriorated -- even as his spirits remained high and his beauty and grace continued to inspire. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2006, the Levin family said their emotional final goodbye. Crushed and consumed with grief, Mark turned to family, friends, and fans for help.
But new hope came when the Levins least expected it.
Rescuing Sprite is a stunningly intimate look at the love between a family and a dog, one that movingly shows, in Mark Levin's words, that "in the end, we humans are the lucky ones."
The author will donate a portion of his proceeds from the sale of this book to animal shelters.
Sprite and Pepsi became fast friends. They did everything together, from rummaging through the trash to loudly greeting the deliveryman. And the Levin family fell in love with him -- with his gentle nature, beautiful face and soft, huggable fur. But on Halloween night, shortly after joining their family, Sprite suddenly collapsed and was rushed to the animal hospital. It was the first of many such visits, and the start of a long journey for the Levin family, filled with much joy and anguish.
During the next two years, Sprite and Pepsi were inseparable. And Sprite's bond with the Levin family deepened. Friends, neighbors, and even Mark's radio audience came to know and love Sprite. As Mark's daughter turned eighteen and graduated from high school and Mark's son turned fifteen, Sprite's health deteriorated -- even as his spirits remained high and his beauty and grace continued to inspire. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2006, the Levin family said their emotional final goodbye. Crushed and consumed with grief, Mark turned to family, friends, and fans for help.
But new hope came when the Levins least expected it.
Rescuing Sprite is a stunningly intimate look at the love between a family and a dog, one that movingly shows, in Mark Levin's words, that "in the end, we humans are the lucky ones."
The author will donate a portion of his proceeds from the sale of this book to animal shelters.
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Top Member Book Reviews
Lester M. (
10 member(s) found this review helpful.
I think this is not going to be a popular review. Also, it contains a ***spoiler***.
This book is not "Marley and Me." This book is poorly written and the only emotion it provoked in me was disgust at the author's self-centered attitude. His central theme is how the long final illness and death of the dog affected him, and he includes as evidence long quotes of emails and IMs from his friends, with considerable name-dropping and what seemed to be the promotion of his blog and radio program.
The writing is pedestrian. Short sentences. Paragraphs full of short, choppy sentences describing scenery or the furnishings of his house. The author never tells us what Sprite was like, what made this dog unique, only what his own reactions were to Sprite's horrific illness and finally, thank heaven and St. Francis for mercy, death.
If you think you must read this book, consider checking it out of the library.
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
Sorry I don't get what all the hype about this book is. I kept waiting for it it to start and it never really did. The author seemed more intent to drop names in his book and describe his declining personal health then talk about Rescuing Sprite.
Angela N. (
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
This is definately a must-read for animal lovers. It will pull at your heart strings. It is written very simply, so everyone can understand this man's emotions.
A++
Holly M. (
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
i absolutely loved this book. for those of you who have and love dogs, you will understand and know what it means when you lose them. it is very well written and yes, i cried when i read it. (which means it was a good book) this book will touch your heart and soul.
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
Oh, boy, is this book a tear-jerker! But I am glad to have read it.
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Maybe, for some, the writing style isn't up to Mark's usual excellence, but the book came across to me as an emotional outlet for the grief he felt over his beloved pet's decline and subsequent death. His memories of the acquisition of this dog, and of the new dog are precious. The struggles of properly caring for a dog despite the schedules in a busy household was delightful. And most of all, Mark nails it on the head when he describes the anguish you feel and the steps you must take when you make the difficult decision to end the suffering in the life of an animal that you dearly love.
Melissa M. (
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
I didn't enjoy this book, and if it hadn't been so short wouldn't even have finished it. The writing was terribly simple and flat. The author also seemed to be very self-centered and concerned only with dropping the names of his famous friends.
If you want a wonderful book about people's relationships with their dogs, read Marley and Me.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
You definitely need a box of tissues. Especially if you are like me and have an older, rescue pet.
It is a wonderful story of a families love for a dog and the dog's love for his family.
Rescuing Sprite is now being passed around to all my family members.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
I loved this book! It was so, so sad, as I knew it would be & I bawled my eyes out.
I lost my beloved Black Lab almost 4 years ago & I understood the author's feelings.
I had never heard of Mark Levin before, but think he did a good job telling Sprite's story & I am thankful that he did.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
This must have been a very difficult book for Mr. Levin to write. It was not his normal writing style and obvious that the words came straight from his heart. We recently lost one of our own dogs from a sudden and untimely illness and found Mr. Levin's experiences in Sprite's last days to be very close to our own as we were losing her. It was heartwrenching to read, but I'm grateful he was able to share his story. Hopefully this story will inspire others to give good homes to rescue dogs.
Please Rate these Book Reviews
Well, if you want to cry through an entire book you better decide to do it in 1 day or over the course of 2 days. It was a great book as I had just lost my rescued Pug, Bailey and my yellow Lab, Jake. Both were adopted by us Jake, was 1 when we adopted him as his family couldn't take care of him properly and Bailey was a breeding Pug in the boon docks. Bailey was flea infested, had a urinary tract infection, had to have teeth extracted and her nose clipped and throat attended for better breathing all within a couple of months from adopting her. When my husband showed up to look at Jake he mistakenly left the van door open and as soon as Jake met my husband he ran and jumped into the van. The family was going to give Jake to someone else and my husband convinced them to sell him to us. Both dogs were loved as much as Sprite and Pepsi. Both dogs loved all of the new grandchildren. As each baby came into our lives each dog took care of the babies slept under their cribs, worried about them when they went into the pool, cleaned up under the high chairs and went on many stroller walks with us. Bailey sat underneath the stroller when she got to tired. It took us 3 years to find a new dog Buddy, a Labradoodle. This book was great but a tear jerker all the way through. Mark did a great job of reminiscing. It's nice to know so many people care about animals. Whew it is going to take me a day to recover. I still have both of my dogs in a ginger jar together on our mantle.
I have to agree with several reviwers who said the book was poorly written. I didn't feel that I came to know the dog at all. I can see why this was not a bestseller.
A true tear jerker! As per the previous comments ... it is mainly based about the authors journey and secondly about the dog. But all in all I did like the book.
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