He believed the dog was immortal. So begins Susan Orlean’s sweeping, powerfully moving account of Rin Tin Tin’s journey from abandoned puppy to movie star and international icon. Spanning almost one hundred years of history, from the dog’s improbable discovery on a battlefield in 1918 to his tumultuous rise through Hollywood and beyond, Rin Tin Tin is a love story about “the mutual devotion … mutual devotion between one man and one dog” (The Wall Street Journal) that is also a quintessentially American story of reinvention, a captivating exploration of our spiritual bond with animals, and a stirring meditation on mortality and immortality.
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Learning about the man behind Rin Tin Tin made for a very interesting read.
Slow moving, but brought back great memories of childhood TV .
I enjoyed the biography of Rin-Tin-Tin. I used to watch the television series and I knew some of his movie history, including that he saved Warner Brothers from bankruptcy in the 1920s.
Susan Orlean knows how to write non fiction with a great balance of facts and storytelling.
Love dogs so i enjoyed
In her efforts to be thorough in her documenting Rin Tin Tin, by the end of the book I had learned more than I ever needed or wanted. The beginning of the book that tells of Lee Duncan and Rin Tin Tin, I found it to be very interesting and it really held my attention. The last 1/4th of the book made me want to quit as I had had my fill. But it was …
In telling the story of the iconic dog Rin Tin Tin you also tell the story of Lee Duncan who owned the first and several Rin Tin Tin dogs. The author researched the book over a ten year period. You can tell the personal involvement when you read the book. I think it makes the book better. Over time many people became involved in the ongoing …
The author who read this book was very boring and I stopped listening and deleted the book.
More a sociological study of change in America than a book about a dog. I wanted to hear the dog’s story.
I had high hopes for this book as I grew up watching Rin-Tin-Tin on television. The book began interestingly enough but then bogged down fairly quickly. I kept reading through to 50% and then gave up on it.
This was more of a research paper than a story
disappointing. Deals with motion picture world and less about connection with dogs and owners and history of the real Rin Tin Tin.
Did not finish. Do not recommend. I am a dog lover.
“What lasts? What lingers? What is snagged by the brambles of time, and what slips through and disappears?..Maybe all we do in life is just a race against this idea of disappearing.”
Susan Orlean’s book about her childhood hero is a surprisingly a deep consideration of the need to hold onto something bigger than ourselves and the desire to …