Book Review: dogrun (2000)- Arthur Nersesian

'dogrun' is a pretty neat book written by Arthur Nersesian. It is the story of Mary Bellanova who comes home one evening to her unemployed tv watching boyfriend (Primitivo Schultz), who apart from everything else is unusually mad at her (or so she thinks)...well it turns out he is actually dead in front of the tv with his dog, Numb sitting at his side. Mary starts to uncover the other people who knew him to tell them the bad news and in that midst uncovers a lot about his past relationships and even details such as his correct age (or does she?). It is not really so much about stringing together his past relationships as much as trying to rethink what does she really have in life. She is an unsuccesful writer who survives doing a temp job, but her social scene is terrible (with Primo dying..how much worse can it get? or can it?). Her best friend Zoe, has a similar life except that she is concerned her clock on getting a good man is ticking away and she has to explore her space to the maximum. Mary inherits Numb and she has to learn to take care of a dog (really dogs need to be let out to piss & poop every so often..hmmmn I just go to the bathroom)...and visit the dogrun in Thompson Square Park dog run. The book is pretty much about all of that.

The writing by Nersesian is beautifully funny, sure there is some name dropping and referencing to Americana and how cool East Village was but at the same time it is a funny book filled with words such as 'telebotomized'....and there some cool synopses of the stories Mary is writing. The book was perfect for an evening with some wine and music.

http://www.arthurnersesian.com/Dog%20Run.html