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Saving Simon: How A Rescue Donkey Taught Me The Meaning Of Compassion (2014)

by Jon Katz(Favorite Author)

4.08 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0345531191 (ISBN13: 9780345531193)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Ballantine Books

review 1: Once again, as he did in Second Chance Dog, Jon Katz has managed to make a story about an animal mostly about him instead of the animal. I enjoyed reading about Simon and his amazing recovery from unbelievably horrific neglect. But Katz's boring diatribes on compassion that he thinks should extend to animal abusers as well as the abused animals turned me off completely. Some deeds are unforgivable. What that farmer did to Simon is one of those deeds. I also don't like that Katz talks about getting his dogs from breeders. He purports to care about animals, yet he supports the breeding of even more animals when hundreds of thousands are euthanized in shelters every year. And I'm not sure I agree with what he did to Rocky the blind pony. I'm on the fence with that deci... moresion.
review 2: Although, or perhaps because, I am an animal lover, I often avoid books, especially nonfiction, centering on animals. They are too hard to read, and too often, I just don't “get” some of the author's attitudes.However, I gave in to temptation and read this book about saving Simon, a donkey left to die.Of course, the rescue part was so hard to read – the horrible conditions from which Simon was rescued. But I expected that. What I did not expect, but perhaps should have because of past reading experiences, were the attitudes and voice of the author.For me, I loved that Simon was rescued and that he was given a good life. But the author, especially in the last half of the book where he wrote more about compassion, became a little too sanctimonious for my tastes, a little too preachy.Okay, he took care of a rescued donkey, Great! But on multiple occasions, he and his wife “often” took back to a neighbor their dog that would chew through its tether while it was tethered outside, 24x7, rain, snow. Couldn't this compassionate person find a better solution, since he claims to care about the well-bring of animals, than taking it back to the owner to be tied up again? (By the way, I wish authors, professional writers, would learn the difference between “bring” and “take.”)He denigrates animals rescuers who have denigrated him on his blog because of some of his actions. He doesn't understand why these people seem more judgmental, less compassionate of humans than of animals. He doesn't seem to understand that humans have CHOICE that the animals in their care do not.If someone is responsible for an animal, but puts it to suffer and die out of sight just so they don't have to look at it while it is dying, dang right I am going to judge that person. That person had a choice; the animal did not. The one who eventually did the right thing was a child.The author was responsible for a blind pony being shocked by an electrical fence he turned on, and yet his rage goes towards the animal that attacked the pony, the animal that was just being an animal and protecting what he considered his.“I was furious. I felt nothing but rage for [the animal]....”“Sometimes, he thought, I am ashamed to be a human.”Yeah, me too.He knows how many dogs need to be adopted, how many languish or die in shelters, yet he has an excuse for buying from a breeder. Really?While many will probably love this book, it upset me more than it pleased me, and I'm going back to avoiding most animal books.I was given a copy of this book for review. less

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