it's a charming story, but about a third in, i got tired of reading it. i got the premise though: dog lassos a group of new york apartment neighbors into a family. you knew that too, from the smart title. ( )

In 1988, Glenn Plaskin bought a twelve-week-old cocker spaniel puppy, and named her Katie. As a first-time dog owner, he hardly knew where to begin, but a mutual friend introduced him to his neighbors down the hall in his Battery Park City apartment building, Pearl and Arthur. This older couple were life-long dog owners, and their last dog, a cocker spaniel named Brandy, had died two years earlier. Unprepared to get a new dog at this late stage of their lives, Pearl in particular is more than willing to help Glenn learn how to be a dog owner, and provide dog-sitting services.

It's not long before Glenn, Pearl, Arthur, and Katie start to build a bond a good deal closer than friendly neighbors. Arthur and Pearl were never able to have children, and Glenn's family, while close emotionally, is not close geographically. Pearl becomes another grandmother for Glenn, and a vital part of Katie's life, since she can't (usually!) accompany him to the office. Katie is a pampered darling, but a sweet, cooperative dog as well, and the fun grows when, as an indirect result of Glenn's work as a newspaper columnist, Katie starts to get modeling jobs.

And then Glenn's life runs full speed into a brick wall. The paper he works for is sold, and he's among the many let go. With all the other newspaper people on the job market at the same time, he's not having any success finding a new job. While he's still looking, his long-standing back trouble worsens dramatically, leaving him too disabled to work. He's getting physical therapy and attending a support group at a local community center--and Katie, accompanying him to the center, expands his family once again. She starts playing with six-year-old Ryan, and Glenn forms a friendship with Ryan's single dad, John. Coincidentally, John wants to move to someplace that will give him a less stressful and demanding commute, and an apartment becomes available in Glenn's building, on the same hall. Pearl becomes a friend and confidant to John and a grandmother to Ryan, and the three households bind together. They're in and out of each other's apartments, having "family" dinners together on a regular basis, and celebrating birthdays together. When Glenn is recovered enough to work again, he gets a job with Family Circle, and one of his feature articles is "Grandma Down the Hall," about the family they've created together.

It isn't all high spirits and fun. They're in the residential building closest to the Twin Towers. They live through the terror of realizing what's happened, fleeing the expanding debris cloud, and slowly rebuilding their lives and waiting out the time until they can return to their apartments. Also, Pearl and Arthur are in their late seventies when we meet them, and Katie is a dog, so in one sense the ending is no surprise. Glenn Plaskin makes Katie and his human neighbors come alive on the page, though, and while the ending is natural and inevitable, it's also deeply moving. Honestly, I cried through most of the last two chapters.

This is not a depressing book, though. It's warm and engaging and hopeful, and a must-read whether or not you're a "dog person."

Highly recommended.

I bought this book in ebook format.

You can read more of my reviews at Lis Carey's Library ( )

A fun and heartwarming story about a real life situation. ( )

Okay well I am posting after reading this book and I have to tell you that I found this story lacking on a lot of levels. I do not mind the doting owner but what I do mind is that he just dropped a lot of names and I just did not connect from him. I did feel that the story was more about the other characters then anything else and I feel that Katie was left out of the story. Wasn't it her book? I also felt that Glenn's story was needed in order to understand other parts of the book. I am just not sure I ever connected throughout the book so it was a fail for me.
( )

In the spirit of all good animal memoirs, 'Katie' delivers a heart-warming tale of animal friendship. As Katie opens her owner's heart, she also brings together an eclectic group of neighbors who live in her apartment building. This is the type of story that reminds us that family isn't always blood, and often comes on four legs as well as two.

I got this book,through LibraryThing Early Reviewers, more than a year ago, I confess. I started it - along with a few others - but things in my life got hectic, and I never finished it (yet - I fully intend to go back and finish it - "along with a few others").

But, in the spirit of fulfilling my obligations to review these books, I felt I should at least write a "preliminary review" - from what I can recall. I will do a better one once I find the book amongst my recent moving boxes, and get it finished!

One of the ways I judge the importance of a book, for me, is the lasting impressions I am left with long after the book is read. With this book, these are just about all I have, not remembering many details. I'm afraid my strongest remaining impression of "Katie" is - "meh".

It seemed to be a pretty routine, and "cute" story, about a pretty normal little dog, in New York City, and the people around her. At the point I left the book, and from other descriptions, much seems to be made about the phenomenon of a growing "community" in her apartment building and area, and, it is claimed - all due to Katie, the dog!

I may come to see that this is true. And perhaps it IS a wonderful and unbelievable idea, for readers living in large cities where "communities" are NOT normal occurrances. But, in my experience (as one who works in Community Development, and also - at present - lives in a rural area) - this is not an especially startling premise. In fact, having lived in the fairly large city of Vancouver, BC, for years, I can vouch that it's a daily occurrance to find animals being the impetus for getting individuals, as well as larger groups, together - in any number of ways.

Maybe this would still be a compelling story if the writing was, say ...compelling? But, no, I found it to be fairly standard, almost journalistic, prose, with some "cuteness thrown in". In fact, I'm afraid it appeared to me that, like too many of the "animal books" I've read, the author may have needed some extra cash and, knowing that just about ANY "cute animal story" would sell, Plaskin followed the formula. He is obviously skilled enough to quickly transform a fairly mundane time in his privileged life, into something slightly more exciting, and - marketed aggressively by his publisher - calculated to attract "the usual suspects" who would likely buy this type of book. No doubt it worked.

So, I'm afraid this is rather a cynical view of the book. I am quite prepared to be completely wrong, once I've read it all - no doubt I didn't quite get to the good bits. And, I'm VERY sorry to cast aspersions on Plaskin's talents or motives - actually I have no reason to think they're inferior in any way, though this particular book IS - mildly - in my (inexpert) view.

Also, I have no problem with any writer doing what is necessary to make a living. I know this is always a troubling question for most artists - is it "art", is it "craft", do I create for a market, for myself, for the lofty goals of "fine art"....? And I know every artist must choose the "right" answer for his/her individual situation.

At any rate - if you like more real animal information, or a really "different" take on pets, or a particularly unique and spirited writing style and story - I think you could pass on this one. However - most of us don't mind reading, once in awhile, just a "nice", easy story about a cute pet and some quirky people - in which case, you could be quite happy with Katie.

I'll revisit my "analysis" soon, and we can see if I change my tune! ( )

I was drawn to Katie Up and Down the Hall for two reasons: the setting and the main character. The book is set in Battery Park City in New York City, and since I visited New York for the first time last summer I've been enjoying revisiting the city vicariously through this book. The main character is Katie, a Cocker Spaniel who belonged to the author (Glenn Plaskin), and united him in friendship with some special neighbors. (I say that she is the main character, and she is, but the book is not written from her point of view as seems to be so popular lately, but rather that of the author.)

I don't know why it is, but I love reading stories about real life animals - animal memoirs if you want to call them that - yet I despise most fiction stories about animals. I think the difference is that I have no problem reading about things that really happen when it comes to animals and their special relationships with humans, because even though there is an inevitable sad ending, it is based on fact. When it comes to fiction though I get very emotional and angry if the author lets anything bad happen to the animal characters. Fiction of that sort strikes me as emotionally manipulative and underhanded. I think it's the difference between someone sharing a sorrow with you (i.e. a true story) and someone telling you something terrible just to watch you cry (fiction).

I say all of this as if this were a sad book, but for the most part it isn't. It is a story of joy, friendships and neighbors who become like family. It's just that when you read about an animal you know that they aren't going to be around forever. In the case of this real life story I was not disappointed by the content. It was amusing reading about the author's introduction to pet care, and how Katie soon took over his life. The way that she was the catalyst for several neighbors to develop friendships was touching.

There were a few times where the author seemed to be beating me over the head with repetitions of how cute and special Katie was, but I let that go in much the same way I would have patience with a parent bragging about their precocious child.

Since Katie's owner was a journalist who interviewed famous people, Katie also got to meet her share of celebrities. Along with the celebrity interview stories, I also enjoyed the anecdotes of how the author sneaked Katie onto airplanes, into hotels, and even into the hospital with him.

The story's strength is in the growing relationships between the author and his elderly neighbors, and then later between all of them and a young neighbor boy. The story seems so unusual and touching because I wouldn't normally think of New York City as a place where neighbors take the time to get to know each other, much less become close like family. It gives a hopeful message of inspiration: that you should consider those around you as potential future friends.

Katie Up and Down the Hall is a sweet story, and I won't lie to you, I cried buckets when it came to the inevitable sad ending. I would recommend this book to animal lovers (especially dog lovers). ( )

This is a sweet book of a little dog named Katie and her owner. I'm a sucker for feel good novels involving animals, and Katie certainly did not disappoint. Living in an apartment building, you always think you're alone and no one knows or gives a fart about you. Mr Plaskin and Katie certainly proved that wrong.
Katie is a charmer of a dog. Through her doggy charms, she's brought together a small unlikely group of friends, that likely would never have cause to connect with each other.
You can't help but to laugh at some parts, and to maybe even cry at others. Katie is a light, easy read, recommended for fellow animal lovers. ( )

A very easy read that can take at maximum a day to read. It's interesting to see how this materialistic man and his neighbours learn to love a little dog who at the start of the book is just an animal meant to provide companionship when called on and turns into a little dog who successfully trained not only her owner but a whole building of tenants to treat her like a queen. What a brilliant little puppy! She had me in the palm of her paw from her first appearance in the book and I ended up laughing and crying all at the same time. ( )

This is another in the current long string of either dog-authored books or dog biography books. Katie is a little different as her owner lived in a high rise at the south end of Manhattan, and they were displaced by the 9/11 acts of terrorism. Her owner, Glenn, was totally ignorant about dogs when cocker spaniel puppy Katie arrived in his life. The puppy opened his neighbors doors up and down the hall, however, and his neighbors taught him what he needed to know about owning a dog as well as adopting him and Katie into their families. What could have been a maudlin, celebrity name-dropping bio actually finishes off as a pretty well-written dog story. The only problem is that you figure when you start the book that most of the main characters will die before the end, and it does not disappoint. Have a tissue box nearby! ( )

This is a wonderful story about Katie, and how she brings her neighbors together. I thought this was a great book, well written and a must read for animal lovers. ( )

If you dislike dogs and see them as nothing more than annoyances, this isn't the book for you. On the other hand, if you like them enough that you're willing to at least interact with them, then this is a book worth reading.

This book deals with the life of a Cocker Spaniel named Katie and how she interacts with the people around her, and how they interact with each other because of her. Given the setting of New York city, where it's said most people only interact as much as they have to, it shows how a "common bond" can draw people together to be closer than they might have been without it. We get to watch the ways the people around her connect from the day she first "comes home" until after she dies.

There is joy, sadness and changes in circumstances in everyones life as the years pass, but thru it all, their common bond thru Katie keeps this extended family united, and we get to see how something as "simple" as the love for a dog can be behind it. ( )

Delightful book about a warm dog that binds a number of people together to create a family. While there seem to be a lot of "dog" memoirs out there, this one was slightly different -- as much if not more about the people than the dog. And the people were quite interesting. And the eye witness account of 9/11 and the disruption are also worthy of note. Worth the time to read. ( )

Although I am a cat person, I have tangles a time or two with cocker spaniels - one I know likes to raid my suitcase for forbidden chocolate - something I am sure Katie would also try. I found this story charming and captivating and would recommend it to anyone who is or has been loved by a dog, or any pet for that matter.

Katie is spunky and fun and devious and beautiful in many ways and she definitely had the knack to bring perfect strangers together to form a warm and cohesive family - something that's hard to do even with blood relatives these days. ( )

As a dog-lover, I was sure I would really enjoy this heart-warming story of a man, author Glenn Plaskin, and his dog, a blond cocker spaniel named Katie. This book turned out to be much more. While the dog is central to the story, she is a catalyst for the human relationships between complete strangers who became closer than family, particularly Glenn's elderly neighbours, Pearl and Arthur. On top of that, Glenn and his dog Katie live in an apartment building which was right beside the World Trade Centre, and they were at home during that fateful September 11 morning. The first-person account of the events of the day is incredible, and it was amazing to consider how they all coped and depended on friends and strangers as they were evacuated and homeless in the aftermath. I felt as if the people (and dog) the author brought to life were my friends too, and couldn't hold back the tears near the end of the book, a very rare occurrence for me. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who would like to restore their faith in the basic goodness of most people. ( )

I like dogs but, given a choice, I prefer cats. That said...I would love to have a Katie in my life! Glenn Plaskin writes a wonderful account of Katie and the people she has touched. It is a must read for dog lovers (or even if you can only classify yourself as a 'dog liker' or a 'dog give or taker.' I guarantee you will fall in love with Katie!

Little did the author know when he brought Katie home to his apartment in Battery Park City, that Katie would take over the third floor and the hearts of the residents there. Sometimes the reader may wonder if Glenn is the owner or if Katie belongs to someone else along her route, only to discover that no one owns Katie, she owns them. For sixteen years Katie brought love and laughter to a small group of people who probably would never have discovered each other had it not been for her appearance on the third floor.

This book left me smiling, laughing, and even crying, which is what I look for in a book--one that can make me feel emotions instead of going through the motions. Plaskin is a veteran author but he has outdone himself with this book. It goes to the top of my 'must suggest to a friend' list. ( )

Great story of how Katie the darling Cocker Spaniel leads her owner down the hall to to discover and appreciate the families down the hall: a retired couple and a single father and son.

Brought together by their love of Katie, the five of them become a wonderfully close family. Through the years they support each other through good times and harder times, Katie at the front of her pack.

This true story of strangers that become a family begins with their love for a wonderful dog is well written and heartwarming. You will laugh and cry -- keep a box of tissues handy! ( )