How Shall I Tell The Dog?

In How Shall I Tell the Dog?: And Other Final Musings, the late Miles Kington offers his observations about his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The book is structured as a series of letters to his literary agent about ideas for a new book. Miles is looking for a way to “cash in on cancer.”

The book is an interesting reading experience and occassionaly amusing. But I did not enjoy the book. In the touching parts he comes across as trying to be funny and the funny parts come across forced, as you see a dying man trying to make the best of his situation. The Afterword by Caroline Kingston was truly touching and moving.

At one point Kington writes: ” I love chatting to lonely people. Either I amuse and charm them, or I bore them silly, and then they value their own company when I leave them alone twice as much as they had done ten minutes earlier.” I think an analogy can be drawn to the readers of this book. Some will be amused and charmed, others will be happier to just put the book down.