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The Dog Says How | 
 enlarge | Author: Kevin Kling
Publisher: Borealis Books
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $4.43
You Save: $18.52 (81%)
New (36) Used (23) from $2.89
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 51751
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0873515994
Dewey Decimal Number: 812.54
EAN: 9780873515993
ASIN: 0873515994
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: 178 pp. Signed by the author.
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Product Description
In this wonderfully original collection of autobiographical stories, popular storyteller and NPR commentator Kevin Kling deftly weaves pitch-perfect scenes of childhood antics and adulthood absurdities with themes of overcoming tragedy, forging lifelong friendships, and living with disabilities in a complex world. In “Circus,” Kling recollects how his love of boats, animals and adventure inspired him to join a traveling circus troupe?but it was the all-you-can-eat buffet that cinched the deal. In “Dogs,” Fafnir, Kling’s new wiener puppy, leads him into the world of show dogs, those resembling “cleaning implements?perfumed, powdered, and pampered.” In the poignant title story, Kling straddles the realm of the ordinary and one rivaling Dante’s underworld as he learns how to use voice-recognition software after his near fatal motorcycle accident. These and many more classic and never-before-told tales are collected in The Dog Says How. In Kling’s universe, “the mundane becomes magical, the fantastic becomes accessible and through it all his profound sense of curiosity about the world transforms the everyday to the timeless” (Queen Anne News).
Kevin Kling is a well-known playwright and storyteller, and his commentaries can be heard on NPR’s All Things Considered. His plays and adaptations have been performed around the world. He lives in Minneapolis.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Minnesota without GK December 4, 2008
R. COUSINS (Phoenix, AZ United States)
Kevin Kling is a story teller as much as a humorist. The accent is forward and rural Minnesota as opposed to the relatively high brow "Prairie Home Companion" story telling voice.
This is a radio performer more than author. Mr. Kling is one of those whom you would not want to read. You want his voice to shape the text. He belongs to a special class of voices that traces back to Homeric times. Not that Homer did stand-up or that Mr. Kling does epic. Still, he tells us our stories.
Mr. Kling is playing a goof. The humanity of his themes wells up and over the goofiness. Playing a goof has advantages. You lower expectations, so you warm to his insight. You cuddle to his stories of times past.
He is also more educated than he is offering at first glance. I was considering a title of this review more along the lines of "Minnesota Greek". He has plenty of good cultural references that never get in the way of these stories. But you know that they play a bigger part as the stories develop.
I caution you to listen in small doses. Mr. Kling is too intense, too loud and too fast for a long, quiet evening of listening. He is always punching his alliterative consonants. The microphone recoils like a punch drunk palooka.
You are left with good memories of your own that he brought back for you. You understand his deeper messages hiding beneath bluster of northern winds.
 Kling hits it out of the park (and the Twins are watching!) December 1, 2008
Pyewacket (Frostbite Falls, MN USA)
Kevin Kling is a well-known local writer and performer in the Minneapolis-St Paul area. He recently demonstrated his brilliant narrative talents in Mill City Museum's "Minneapolis in 19 Minutes Flat".
On a trip to Indiana, I was able to listen to the entire 3-cd set of "The Dog Says How", along with six other family members. There were many moments when Kling's storytelling had our entire family in tears--both from touching moments, and more so, from hilarious ones. He is particularly adept at capturing the mood in telling stories from his childhood, especially the ones recalling his brother. Great for road trips!
Episodes of note are on Disc 1: Accident (2), Dogs (5-6), Beaver in a Box (7-8), Taxidermy (10-11), View from the Card Table (17-19). Disc 2: Mom's purse (1), Marching Band (5-6). The very best of the collection is on Disc 3: My Brother's Bachelor Party (3-4).
Makes me miss Minnesota December 1, 2008
Tim Lieder (New York, NY)
In a recent episode of How I Met Your Mother - Season Three Ted indicated that he was a midwesterner and he avoids uncomfortable emotoinal scenes and keeps his emotions in check like a good midwesterners. Many online commentators wondered why Ted would be so eager to identify himself as a midwesterner when most of his character could be encapsulated as "Manhattan is awesome! New Jersey blows!" I couldn't explain it but I knew the feeling. For most of us transplanted midwesterners in New York, we identify with the places that we fled to get to New York. Whether its Minnesota or Ohio or Iowa, we took a lot from our homes and we tend to celebrate it, even to the point of getting defensive about the native New Yorker's belief that our homes are flyover zones. And it's POP! Not soda. It's pop that we are drinking out of cans. If you have phosphate and maybe ice cream, it's soda. Otherwise, call it pop.
New Jersey just reminds us of why we fled our homes in the first place. It's like one large working class suburb. I've been lost in suburban Minnesota. I've been lost in New Jersey. The only difference seems to be less snow and more war memorials.
But let's talk about what I love about Minnesota. I love the art community. I love the fact that I can go to a play in Minnesota without maxxing out my credit cards or sending my landlord an apologetic letter. I love the sculpture garden and the way every artist knows each other. I love Uptown and Dinkytown. I also love the blizzards (especially now when I have to deal with rain on the last day of November). I love First Avenue. I love the gourmet ice cream. I also love the way people don't usually try to fake an attitude if they have nothing to show for it.
And Kevin Kling has been part of that art community that I love so much. I once met him backstage at a holiday reading when I was working as an usher. He stopped to make conversation and I didn't even know he was the star until he was called to get on stage. I have not seen nearly as many Kling shows as I would like, but the fact that he's working in the Minnesota theater community and creating new material on a regular basis makes me happy to know that the Minnesota arts community is still in existence.
This CD is a series of vignettes from the story telling version of theater. Many Minnesota artists like to put on one man shows and rather than screech and throw chocolate on themselves (Karen Finley still annoys me), they tell stories. The audience pays to hear them talk about their lives as farm kids, their trips to Checkloslavakia or their dogs. The fun is inversely proportional to the tedium expected. These are great storytellers. They can make even the mundane seem fascinating.
Kevin Kling will be compared to Garrison Keillor, but where Garrison Keillor is a laconic relief for harried New Yorkers selling a version of Minnesota where everything moves at a very slow pace, Kling is all ya sure and youbetcha Minnesota. Think Fargo (Special Edition) but without the murder. He talks about waiting by the radio for snow cancellations to come around to his school (something I remember doing many winter mornings. Sadly, I was living closer to the cities and the snow plows were much better at clearing away the snow than up in Osseo), his motorcycle accident, and seeing Ian McKellan in the traveling production of Richard III. Some stories are universal. SOme are indicative of Minnesota where everyone tries to get by without too much fuss (I tell you, the biggest culture shock in converting to Judaism was the practice of "kvetching". See a problem. Fix a problem. Don't worry about it.) including his comparison of waiting rooms in the North (no one really wants anyone to know what's going on) to waiting rooms in the South(even people who aren't there for anything will tell you their medical history) and some are just strange like his story of the performance artist in Checkloslavakia (a story that he's told many times but it gets funnier every time).
All in all, this is a warm and weird collection of tales by a very decent and likeable individual. I can't recommend it enough. I also can't recommend it without also noting that this is the way many Minnesotans view themselves - direct, friendly and a little strange.
An enjoable series November 30, 2008
T. Stratton (Chambersburg, PA USA)
This is a very enjoyable audio book. Short tales of humor of a young boy growing up in the Mid West, Minnesota and Iowa. If you're from the Mid West or Mid Atlantic regions and grew up in the pre Vietnam area you will especially find these readings humorus and enjoyable. The auther read it with great expression.
It's light and the chapters short...great for listing in the car while driving.
 Short and Sweet Vignettes November 26, 2008
Jennifer (Connecticut, USA)
I wasn't sure what to expect from this CD. These types of books can run the gamut from overly emotional, profane, boring, or delightful.
This audio version is mostly delightful. It's recorded by the author himself, which I always enjoy. While it might not be as polished as a professional narrator, you can hear his joy and familiarity with the story as he tells it.
The stories are mostly about his growing up years in Minnesota, not recorded in any sort of chronological (or topical) order as far as I could tell. None are too light or too syrupy sweet. As I listened, I laughed aloud or grinned in recognition or shook my head in disbelief.
I enjoy audiobooks, but if I listen for a while and then put it aside, I sometimes lose my place. Because it's a series of essays, this book is ideal for listening in short spurts -- before going to bed at night, or while running an errand in the car.
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