Shaw defines periods of her life by the dogs who have been alongside her – from Agatha， the black Scottish terrier puppy her parents gave her for Christmas when she was six years old， to Booker， the beloved 15-year-old dog she said goodbye to in 2015。 I enjoyed reading about the special dogs in her life， but the flashbacks to her Brooklyn upbringing felt endless and irrelevant， and the overall structure， i。e。， forming the book around a question， was unnecessary。 （Can you guess that the answer wi Shaw defines periods of her life by the dogs who have been alongside her – from Agatha， the black Scottish terrier puppy her parents gave her for Christmas when she was six years old， to Booker， the beloved 15-year-old dog she said goodbye to in 2015。 I enjoyed reading about the special dogs in her life， but the flashbacks to her Brooklyn upbringing felt endless and irrelevant， and the overall structure， i。e。， forming the book around a question， was unnecessary。 （Can you guess that the answer will be （view spoiler）[love （hide spoiler）]？） Recommended dog memoirs: Ordinary Dogs by Eileen Battersby， Dog Years by Mark Doty 。。。more