Every Night Jospehine! - Book Review

 I remember seeing Jacqueline Susann's 'Valley of Dolls' at home in my father's collection and knew even from the cover that it was adult reading (there were some pills on it if I remember) and that someday I ought to read it. That way Jacqueline has been familiar to me from my early childhood. When I saw this old copy of 'Every Night Josephine!' at Aai's house in her collection I thought I should give it a read. It looked slim and readable. It also had a noting - perhaps gifted to Asha maushi on 17th Dec 86 by Bishu. The book itself was published in 1970 and was a bestseller as all her books had been.

Most surprisingly for me - pleasantly - I may add, the book was all about Josephine, her French poodle. Apparently the book  was a collection of letters that JS wrote and a friend told her it would make a lovely book and so it happened. Anyway the book covers the gamut of her decision to buy a pup, buying a most expensive one, convincing her husband about having a dog at home, her husband falling in love with the pup. the many health and weight related issues of the pup. I loved the way JS tried to get Josie to pee against trees in Central Park and Josie would not, despite watching many others - until one lady educates her - female dogs squat, they don't pee against trees. Josie has a small TV career and enjoys her show time, becomes some kind of a celebrity with strangers and stars petting her and in the end even surviving a ligament issue. Josie lives to be sixteen by which time the boo ended, still battling some weight issues and having a great time.

JS's racy style of writing is full of energy and wit and I am once again blown by how some of them would write in those days. Now we are so used to seeing such mediocre writing that when we read something like this, we are reminded of what good writing can be - happy, cheerful, honest and interesting. So glad I picked it up and read it. I think I'll kept it.