The Buzz...About Books

The dog is Dorothy, an aging dachshund beloved by her aging owners Ruth and Alex Cohen.  They all live together in a fifth floor walkup in the East Village.  The Cohens have come to realize that they won't be able to make it up those stairs for all that much longer and neither will Dorothy.  On the weekend their real estate agent has arranged an open house (she has suggested they might get a million dollars for their apartment – a dazzling sum for a retired teacher and an artist) two things happen:  Dorothy has a veterinary emergency and a possible terrorist has blocked the Midtown tunnel with a gasoline tanker.  Both of these events will have an effect on real estate prices.

Dorothy's trip to the vet is told partly from the little dog's point of view.  Normally I'm not keen on animals as narrators but Dorothy's voice is irresistible as she bravely endures her visit to the animal hospital.  The Cohens are irresistible as well.  They've lived in that apartment for 45 years and are completely interdependent.  She is reading Chekhov and he is making their FBI files from the McCarthy era into art. These relative innocents are now playing the cut throat Manhattan real estate game involving multiple offers and heart rending letters from prospective buyers.  Running along in the background is the media coverage of the supposed terrorist with hilariously inane viewer polls. Heroic measures is a perfect little book.