- Paperback: 359 pages
- Publisher: Three Rivers Press (CA); Reprint edition (5 Aug 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0307382125
- ISBN-13: 978-0307382122
- Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 1.9 x 20.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,171,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
The poor thing was cold and trembling, abandoned on their front doorstep. Dash, impulsive as always, decides on the spot that they should keep it. But her husband, Andrew, thinks it’s the craziest thing he’s ever heard. A fight over a scruffy little dog doesn’t seem like much of a reason to walk out on your husband of twenty years—but the spat over the puppy is just the last of many straws.
Dash is so tired of the faculty parties at Mason-Dixon College that Andrew insists they attend even though he won’t mingle with his colleagues, tired of his constant fretting over illnesses he doesn’t have, tired of the glass of warm milk he must have every night before bed. Why can’t he see that with her mother gone and their daughter off at college, Dash needs something more?
Now, living on her own for the first time in years, Dash can do whatever she wants . . . if only she could figure out what that is. But every time she starts making plans for the future, she finds herself thinking about the past—remembering the mother she’s lost, her daughter’s childhood, and the husband she isn’t entirely sure she wants to leave behind. . . .
By turns poignant and hilarious—often on the same page—Mad Dash is a novel about the funny ways love has of catching up to us despite our most irrational efforts to leave it behind.
From the Hardcover edition.
Dash is so tired of the faculty parties at Mason-Dixon College that Andrew insists they attend even though he won’t mingle with his colleagues, tired of his constant fretting over illnesses he doesn’t have, tired of the glass of warm milk he must have every night before bed. Why can’t he see that with her mother gone and their daughter off at college, Dash needs something more?
Now, living on her own for the first time in years, Dash can do whatever she wants . . . if only she could figure out what that is. But every time she starts making plans for the future, she finds herself thinking about the past—remembering the mother she’s lost, her daughter’s childhood, and the husband she isn’t entirely sure she wants to leave behind. . . .
By turns poignant and hilarious—often on the same page—Mad Dash is a novel about the funny ways love has of catching up to us despite our most irrational efforts to leave it behind.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Decisions, decisions, decisions....life's full of them, isn't it? Sometimes we live to regret them; at other times we're thankful for powers that help us choose which is best.
Dash Bateman finds herself in a quandary, an unhappy one. Married for two decades to Andrew she now finds him bothersome. In fact, almost everything he does bothers her. Isn't it ridiculous that he needs a glass of warm milk at bedtime or that he forces her to go to faculty parties that he obviously doesn't enjoy?
Their daughter has recently gone to college, and she lost her mother a short while ago. Now, it seems that's all that's left for her is Andrew and she doesn't believe that's near enough. Dash is convinced there must be more in life for her than what she has, but where is it or who is it? She leaves, retreats to their summer cabin.
It comes as no surprise that recently Andrew hasn't found much joy in their relationship either. He's a college professor who likes quiet, and order in his life. He certainly didn't want the abandoned puppy they found on their doorstep! He thinks with Dash gone he can concentrate on his work and enjoy a peaceful existence.....for a change.
Gaffney tells her story in alternate points of view as we learn more about both Dash and Andrew and, as it evolves, they learn more about themselves and each other. How strong are love's ties? What brought them together 20 years ago?
It would seem almost logical that in an almost two character story an audio version would have a male and a female voice. This is not the case, and actress Laural Merlington does a splendid job of reflecting both personalities, their hopes and their dreams. Many will remember her for vivid narrations of Acts of Malice, Back On Blossom Street, Beautiful Dreamer, etc. Merlington is an experienced performer who always delivers her best in a voice both supple and smooth.
- Gail Cooke
Dash Bateman finds herself in a quandary, an unhappy one. Married for two decades to Andrew she now finds him bothersome. In fact, almost everything he does bothers her. Isn't it ridiculous that he needs a glass of warm milk at bedtime or that he forces her to go to faculty parties that he obviously doesn't enjoy?
Their daughter has recently gone to college, and she lost her mother a short while ago. Now, it seems that's all that's left for her is Andrew and she doesn't believe that's near enough. Dash is convinced there must be more in life for her than what she has, but where is it or who is it? She leaves, retreats to their summer cabin.
It comes as no surprise that recently Andrew hasn't found much joy in their relationship either. He's a college professor who likes quiet, and order in his life. He certainly didn't want the abandoned puppy they found on their doorstep! He thinks with Dash gone he can concentrate on his work and enjoy a peaceful existence.....for a change.
Gaffney tells her story in alternate points of view as we learn more about both Dash and Andrew and, as it evolves, they learn more about themselves and each other. How strong are love's ties? What brought them together 20 years ago?
It would seem almost logical that in an almost two character story an audio version would have a male and a female voice. This is not the case, and actress Laural Merlington does a splendid job of reflecting both personalities, their hopes and their dreams. Many will remember her for vivid narrations of Acts of Malice, Back On Blossom Street, Beautiful Dreamer, etc. Merlington is an experienced performer who always delivers her best in a voice both supple and smooth.
- Gail Cooke
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
19 reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Vintage Patricia Gaffney
25 Aug 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I said it before, I'll say it again -- Patricia Gaffney could write a grocery list and I'd be enthralled. MAD DASH is a gem of a novel and Dash and Andrew are wonderful characters -- three dimensional, charming, fascinating, quirky, funny, and oh, so human. As other reviewers have pointed out, Gaffney tells the story from two points of view, but make no mistake, this is a woman's story. In fact, for any woman who has been married more than ten years, this is a must read. So many truths are contained in this book, one wonders if Gaffney has been spying in your house, or worse, reading your mind, for how else could she know these things? I kept laughing (quietly, I didn't want my husband to ask what was so funny) as I read, and I didn't want the book to be over. Sadly, it was. Now the wait begins for another Gaffney book. Hurry up, Pat. Some of us are not very patient! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
A SUPPLE, SMOOTH VOICE PERFORMANCE
19 Aug 2007
Format:Audio CD
Decisions, decisions, decisions....life's full of them, isn't it? Sometimes we live to regret them; at other times we're thankful for powers that help us choose which is best.
Dash Bateman finds herself in a quandary, an unhappy one. Married for two decades to Andrew she now finds him bothersome. In fact, almost everything he does bothers her. Isn't it ridiculous that he needs a glass of warm milk at bedtime or that he forces her to go to faculty parties that he obviously doesn't enjoy?
Their daughter has recently gone to college, and she lost her mother a short while ago. Now, it seems that's all that's left for her is Andrew and she doesn't believe that's near enough. Dash is convinced there must be more in life for her than what she has, but where is it or who is it? She leaves, retreats to their summer cabin.
It comes as no surprise that recently Andrew hasn't found much joy in their relationship either. He's a college professor who likes quiet, and order in his life. He certainly didn't want the abandoned puppy they found on their doorstep! He thinks with Dash gone he can concentrate on his work and enjoy a peaceful existence.....for a change.
Gaffney tells her story in alternate points of view as we learn more about both Dash and Andrew and, as it evolves, they learn more about themselves and each other. How strong are love's ties? What brought them together 20 years ago?
It would seem almost logical that in an almost two character story an audio version would have a male and a female voice. This is not the case, and actress Laural Merlington does a splendid job of reflecting both personalities, their hopes and their dreams. Many will remember her for vivid narrations of Acts of Malice, Back On Blossom Street, Beautiful Dreamer, etc. Merlington is an experienced performer who always delivers her best in a voice both supple and smooth.
- Gail Cooke
Dash Bateman finds herself in a quandary, an unhappy one. Married for two decades to Andrew she now finds him bothersome. In fact, almost everything he does bothers her. Isn't it ridiculous that he needs a glass of warm milk at bedtime or that he forces her to go to faculty parties that he obviously doesn't enjoy?
Their daughter has recently gone to college, and she lost her mother a short while ago. Now, it seems that's all that's left for her is Andrew and she doesn't believe that's near enough. Dash is convinced there must be more in life for her than what she has, but where is it or who is it? She leaves, retreats to their summer cabin.
It comes as no surprise that recently Andrew hasn't found much joy in their relationship either. He's a college professor who likes quiet, and order in his life. He certainly didn't want the abandoned puppy they found on their doorstep! He thinks with Dash gone he can concentrate on his work and enjoy a peaceful existence.....for a change.
Gaffney tells her story in alternate points of view as we learn more about both Dash and Andrew and, as it evolves, they learn more about themselves and each other. How strong are love's ties? What brought them together 20 years ago?
It would seem almost logical that in an almost two character story an audio version would have a male and a female voice. This is not the case, and actress Laural Merlington does a splendid job of reflecting both personalities, their hopes and their dreams. Many will remember her for vivid narrations of Acts of Malice, Back On Blossom Street, Beautiful Dreamer, etc. Merlington is an experienced performer who always delivers her best in a voice both supple and smooth.
- Gail Cooke
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Warm, witty, wise, and wonderful
15 Jun 2008
Format:Hardcover
Patricia Gaffney's women's fiction books are a real challenge for me. I can't resist them, because she's such a fabulous writer, and because she's witty and wise and, well, I don't think it's exaggerating much to call her a goddess. On the other hand, it's women's fiction. In general, it's the one genre I loathe. At best, it's serious. At worst, it's whiny women who blame men for all their problems. It's a good thing I love Gaffney, because otherwise I'd hate her. Not only does she make me read women's fiction... she makes me love it.
Dash and Andrew have been married nearly 20 years. He's a stuffy history professor, she's a free-spirited photographer. Dash's mother died recently, and now their only child is going off to college. Then a puppy shows up on their doorstep. Dash wants to keep it; Andrew's allergic. Dash and the puppy move out, going to their cottage.
Andrew: She's leaving me? Over a puppy?
Dash: How can he not see that it's not about the puppy?
I'd venture to say that most long-married couples will recognize the spirit behind their confusion--Pat has human nature down so well that these characters feel utterly real.
Like many couples in their situation, they've taken each other for granted, focused on their careers, their children, their aging parents, and when that outside focus is taken away, they find themselves married to someone they don't know, and maybe don't even like all that much. And the women (though this could apply to men, too, but in this case, it's Dash) discover that after years of devoting themselves to other people--husband, parents, children--there's nothing left of themselves.
How Dash and Andrew cope with the separation and learn and grow and find themselves and each other again is a story full of warmth and humor and pain and love and realism. It's truly a wonderful book.
All the moreso because it brought me to an odd realization about myself, which was both uncomfortable and inspiring.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Dash and Andrew have been married nearly 20 years. He's a stuffy history professor, she's a free-spirited photographer. Dash's mother died recently, and now their only child is going off to college. Then a puppy shows up on their doorstep. Dash wants to keep it; Andrew's allergic. Dash and the puppy move out, going to their cottage.
Andrew: She's leaving me? Over a puppy?
Dash: How can he not see that it's not about the puppy?
I'd venture to say that most long-married couples will recognize the spirit behind their confusion--Pat has human nature down so well that these characters feel utterly real.
Like many couples in their situation, they've taken each other for granted, focused on their careers, their children, their aging parents, and when that outside focus is taken away, they find themselves married to someone they don't know, and maybe don't even like all that much. And the women (though this could apply to men, too, but in this case, it's Dash) discover that after years of devoting themselves to other people--husband, parents, children--there's nothing left of themselves.
How Dash and Andrew cope with the separation and learn and grow and find themselves and each other again is a story full of warmth and humor and pain and love and realism. It's truly a wonderful book.
All the moreso because it brought me to an odd realization about myself, which was both uncomfortable and inspiring.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
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