There are two kinds of people in this world: dog people, and people who still need to meet the right dog …
Meet Harold. He may be an aging mutt—but Amelia May, the romance novelist who adopted him, taught him a thing or two about the human heart before she died. And she left Harold with a final task: to help her partner, Miguel, find love again.
Trouble is, the grief-ridden recluse rarely goes out, not even to the bookstore he and Amelia owned together. Now it’s in danger of going under, and when a renowned author doesn’t show up for his event, it pushes the store’s already precarious finances into the red. In a final attempt to save the bookstore, Miguel and Harold set out to find the no-show and insist he fulfill his obligation. But instead they’re greeted by Fiona, his sunny yet secretive sister.
Fiona is intent on protecting her brother’s privacy—and to Harold’s horror, she doesn’t like dogs. But her precocious eleven-year-old daughter, who’s also named Amelia, immediately befriends Harold . . . and he can’t help but wonder if his Amelia was right when she said there are no coincidences in life.
Harold is quickly running out of time to accomplish his mission, but if he can just convince his infuriatingly stubborn person to let Fiona in, he’s certain Miguel will find something far more important than a missing author: his own happy ending.
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Book Club Questions
1. In Dog Person, Harold, an aging mutt, recounts his attempt to help his owner, Miguel, find happiness again after loss. How did Harold narrate this story differently than a human (such as Miguel) might have?
2. The first line of Dog Person reads, “There are two kinds of people in this world: dog people, and people who still need to meet the right dog.” Do you think that’s true—and if so, what type of person are you?
3. In his grief, Miguel is insistent that he doesn’t want—or need—help from other people. Harold believes otherwise. Who’s right?
4. At one point, Harold recalls that Amelia once said, “Good questions are how you make friends; good listening is how you keep them.” What role does listening play in the novel?
5. Amelia Mae, the almost twelve-year-old in the novel, is an endearing and precocious child—yet an outcast amongst her peers and finds “friendship” in books. Likewise, many of the characters in the novel feel most at home in bookish spaces, such as the bookstore Miguel owns. What do you think about that?
6. Both Miguel and Amelia Mae often share their innermost thoughts with Harold. What is it about dogs, in particular, that might allow people to show their true feelings?
7. Miguel doesn’t read his partner’s romance novels until after she’s passed. How did you feel about that—and what do you think he learned when he finally read them?
8. Miguel learns something unexpected about Fiona, the sister of his favorite novelist. Were you surprised by that revelation—or the way Miguel initially responded to Fiona after he found out her role in her brother’s books?
9. What do you think Dog Person demonstrates about the difference between conditional and unconditional love?
