One Potato Review

Of one poodle’s determination to bust out of the suburbs, where all the other dogs sleep all day or chase squirrels or watch too much TV, and there isn’t even Chinese takeout. Still, Hartland draws an important distinction in these pages between making it to the big time and simply making it to the city, here stuffed with enchantments and curiosities that may just amount to opportunities when all of your fantasies – in this case, showbiz – come clattering black to earth. As in Night Shift, the wonder is the sense of a community this author is able to marshall, of loose ends meeting loose ends amid all of distractions and temptations – and sometimes disappointments – yet nobody ends up the worse of for their striving. Wise but optimistic: even the commuting – “SCOOT to the bus, BUS to the tram, TRAM to the ferry, FERRY to the subway, SUBWAY to the taxi, TAXI to the circus” – sounds like it should end with an exclamation.