Had Heyward focused her account only on Freddie’s anxiety and her anxiety about his anxiety, it might have grown unbearably tense. But she is a sure-footed writer, varying the mood with frequent contextual detours into science and the occasional glimpse of a happier Freddie ... Heartbreak of more than one kind arrives in this memoir, and you end up feeling sorry for everyone at some point ... It isn’t entirely clear how much Heyward connects certain dots about her own emotional response systems. But then part of her ultimate point is that when it comes to animals, we’re at best highly suspect narrators and can even unwittingly become antiheroes.
Propping up snippets of personal reflection are carefully considered and crisp insights into theory and the science behind the bond between humans and animals ... Beware the blurb that overpromises.
