Essence Reviews: Mad Dash by Patricia Gaffney

 

Patricia Gaffney’s novel Mad Dash is a novel whose message is “What is at the heart of all things?” That is the question the main characters, Andrew and Dash Bateman, have to answer. 

When Dash and Andrew find an abandoned dog on their doorstep, Dash is more than excited to keep it, love, and nurture it. Andrew, not so much. He is allergic to all dogs but his own: Hobbes, an ancient [insert breed here] that used to be his father’s. Dash is unhappy in her marriage to Andrew of twenty years. From the faculty parties at Mason-Dixon College that Andrew does not take part in, to Dash’s mother’s death, to their daughter, Chloe, going away to college, there have been little things that have been pecking at this marriage. 

But this seemingly dead dog is the last of many straws for Dash, who abruptly leaves and heads to the cabin in Virginia. Here, both Andrew and Dash begin to reevaluate what they mean to one another with the help of other characters. For Dash, these take the form of Greta, an eccentric new hire for Dash’s photography business; Maureen (“Mo”), Dash’s best friend who has sworn off monogamy after the dissolution of her marriage; the Benders, Shevlin and Cottie, who help maintain the cabin and surrounding land where Dash stays, and Owen Roby, a farmhand. For Andrew, these characters are Elizabeth O’Neal, an all-black wearing, feminist professor; Tim, a colleague and friend; and Wolfie, a neighborhood child. Together, along with a marriage counselor, Dr. Fogelman, these characters make Andrew and Dash, respectively, confront issues of partnership and what it means to work together.

When Andrew becomes very ill, the Batemans must make a decision: will they stay together and pull through, or will they come apart and ultimately get a divorce?

Told through alternating points of view with a strong cast of supporting characters, this novel is sure to please. 

TAKE A BOOK ~ SHARE A BOOK 

This book and many more can be found at The Little Free Library.

Featured Writer: Essence B. Scott                              (Literacy Connections Intern) Essence uses writing as a way to process her youth and adolescence, and wants to inspire others with disabilities to become self-sufficient, strong advocates for themselves and others.