I must have read this book about three or four years ago; yet still I cannot forget it. It rings so true, so innocent, so strong. It is absoring and so real...wow.

I am a tremendous fan of this virtually unknown writer. She is not a household name, but she should be. There are damn few writers who can match this lady.

this is a book about teenage sucide. The author demonstrated great sensitivity for the readers. The subject matter for all who have adolescent children is a difficult one. Yet, I came away with so much knowledge and insite that I wasn't appalld by the topic,as I thought I would be. Again, the author does a good job describing Bergins (victim's name) interruption of what was troubling her. I found it most insightful of the therapist treatment(homework assignments) for Bergin. Atlas, a happy ending and for the reader a clear understanding of what was going on in Bergins mind and what she was feeling.
Especially recommended for adolescence from divorced homes.

This is a book about a teenage suicide. From start to finish the book was sensitive to the reader re the subject matter. A difficult subject, indeed. I found the book insightful into the mind of a teenager and her way of interrupting life and her particular situation. The cause for her to take her life had an extraordinary simple explantion ,yet, the obvious was hidden
from all those who loved her due to the comman everyday ciurcumstances in their own life. The author keeps the readers interest throughout the book . Bergin's (girl victim) interaction with her psychiatrist was the best of all . The Simple homework given Bergin had a healing affect on the reader as well.
I enjoyed this book .Perhaps, because it had a happy ending or perhaps I totally shared with Bergin the healing effects of her treatment and a genuine understanting about sucide and some of the reasons why a young girl would want to end it all.
I think the book helps me to be a better mom not to look through my child or put his needs second to mine at any point in his vunerable life. He too comes from a home of divorced parents. The author makes the reader sensitive to the communication she has with her children and to how vulnerable our precious adolescent truly are. A good book!

The Kids are Gone, The Dog's Depressed and Mom's on the Loose is a slender book of Shelley Fraser Mickle's musings on the changes in life brought on by children growing up and leaving home. She doesn't dwell on the loss, rather she casts a bemused eye on the household left behind. There is also a decidedly Southern leaning in these stories, detailing a slower pace of life, and the southern obsession with "who do you belong to?"..She returns to the days of carpools and I could just see my mother at the wheel of her station wagon....ready to go. She writes of the ties we forge and the tests they undergo, the memories that an "empty" house evokes. A wonderful book to share with someone who may be entering this phase.

This book would make a terrific gift for Mom on any day. Any mother can see herself in the funny observations of life that Shelley Mickle has presented.

It made me laugh outloud repeatedly!!

These essays focus on the mudane,but wildly humorous world of a mom whose kids have gone and whose dog is depressed. The first essay, Blue Dog, is typical as the author tries to placate a household pet who misses his usual outings with two schoolchildren, now off to college. She recounts her adventures in surviving halloween parties, school programs and buying a first suit for her son. A group of the essays deal with her childhood in a small Arkansas cotton town where everyone is related to someome else and being constantly asked "You're Whose?"

My favorite essay is called "Long Distance Christmas." Here Ms Mickle describes correspondence with an Arkansas grandmother who condense down all her communications to a few cryptic words like an Xmas call that went: " Saturday. Pecans. Fruitcake. And Metholatum." Translated that meant the grandmother would arrive on Saturday, bringing a sack of pecans and a fruitcake and that she had a cold. Once she called her granddaugher then living in Boston and said" "Bare bark. Horseraddish. Mincemeat. And get home." So her grandmother was telling her that all the trees in the yard had lost leaves; that she had some fine shrimp and was making horseraddish suace to dip them in; that she was baking a mincemeat pie; and that she missed her granddaughter.

All of them are funny and touching and filled with a warm wisdom that comes from loving life and the people that surround you.

I read this book for school, and even thought my time was pressed, I enjoyed it. Read it : )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It has poignant moments as the mother and son reveal in alternating chapters the hole left in their lives and their family's life by the departure of the father. It also has moments so funny that I laughed out loud. Yes it's predictable as the Kirkus review said ... but the journey is so engaging that I forgot to care about that.

A damn fine follow-up to her first book. Any reading list that includes Anne Tyler, and Alice Hoffman must, if there is any justice in the world, include Shelly Fraser-Mickle.