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Boyfriend trouble? See talking dog

In this novel by a comedy writer, a middle-aged woman finds dogs really are our best friends.

By SARAH DAJANI
Published July 23, 2006

Best known as the writer and co-designer for Late Night with David Letterman, Merrill Markoe has won even more fans with her hilarious novels and essays. Walking in Circles Before Lying Down is the latest fiction from this seasoned comic.

We follow Dawn, a middle-aged woman whose life is defined by failed relationships, a family so dysfunctional that it should have its own reality TV show, and a talking dog named Chuck.

After Dawn's less than admirable boyfriend Paxton announces that he's fallen in love with someone else and is leaving her, Dawn starts hearing voices: dogs' voices. Her new pit bull, Chuck, emerges as her only true friend and companion.

Not only do Chuck and his canine friends deliver the most laughs in this novel, they also offer the most useful advice to Dawn. When Paxton comes crawling back to her as a newly unemployed man, Chuck is the one warning her to stay away. Against her better judgment, and against Chuck's cries of protest, Dawn takes Paxton back only to find out he's using her for her apartment.

Dawn does eventually dump Paxton for good, but not before she and all the other noncanine characters in this novel stumble through dozens of major mistakes and misjudgments that make the human race look more than a little pathetic. Dawn's sister Halley, who calls herself a life coach to the stars, finds herself falling in love with major criminals - first, Scott Peterson (the convicted murderer of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson), then Kirk, who turns out to be Kurt, the murderer who uses a screwdriver as his weapon of choice. Dawn's mother tries to start a company selling "The Every Holiday Tree" and almost has a nervous breakdown when her lover and business partner, Ng from Korea, runs back to his home country to steal the idea and work with another company.

Markoe tries to position Dawn as a narrator who can be insightful and intelligent amid all this chaos, but her constant gaffes in life paired with a pack of certifiable family members and friends make her capabilities as an intelligent and analytical commentator less than believable. Instead, she symbolizes the unfortunate effects of living in a city (in this case Los Angeles) focused on money, fame and the need to have the perfect man.

With a talking dog by her side, Dawn's life eventually does take a turn for the better, leaving the reader with that "everything is going to be okay" feeling. However, considering the lack of dogs with a ready quip in real life and the disturbing believability of the book's human characters, this novel - despite its few laughs along the way - is more dark than funny.

But perhaps that was Markoe's intention all along.

Sarah Dajani is a writer who lives in Seminole.

WALKING IN CIRCLES BEFORE LYING DOWN

By Merrill Markoe

Villard, $22.95, 270 pp

[Last modified July 22, 2006, 11:38:56]