"Gone to the Dogs"

We Are All Fine Here, Mary Guterson's first novel, was published in 2005. Her recently-released second novel, Gone to the Dogs, features a dog-napping heroine named Rena. "This book is not autobiographical," Guterson insists ... "except maybe a little bit."

She applied the Page 69 Test to Gone to the Dogs and reported the following:

Page 69 of my book is one of my least favorite pages. In fact, I almost cut it from the book, but decided to leave it in to amuse my father. Of course, he didn't recognize himself despite the fact that the ENTIRE PAGE describes EXACTLY his parenting skills. I mean, he is FAMOUS for the holler, the stare-down and the stomp. They are his most inspired legacy. Oh, well. I've found that the people I draw from never see themselves in my characters, and the people I don't draw from at all are positive they are in my books. Kind of weird, really.

Learn more about the book and author at Mary Guterson's website.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Mary Guterson & Sparky.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue