"I guess when you bring a dog into your life, you are setting yourself up for heartbreak, aren't you? Sure, you will most likely have to say good-bye and it will be the saddest day ever, but it's so worth it," Lauren Fern Watt learns through the unconditional love of her 160-pound, English mastiff best friend, Gizelle.
Nineteen-year-old Watt and her mother buy Gizelle as a not-so-little puppy on a whim one weekend. Gizelle's ever-growing size isn't an issue while Watt is in college near home in Tennessee. But when Watt--who habitually keeps lists in her journals--decides she's going to cross off a goal by moving to New York City with her giant best friend, life becomes much more challenging. Through tiny apartments, a boyfriend, her mother's addiction, even their jaunt on a Halloween costume contest runway, the pair navigate life in the city that never sleeps.
Gizelle's Bucket List is more of a before-the-bucket-list story, but the last third focuses on the tragic news of the Gizelle's cancer diagnosis and list Watt creates to ensure her friend experiences as much life as possible in her remaining days. Anyone who's ever loved a pet will identify with the humor that fills one's heart to overflowing and the devastation that breaks it into a million pieces. Watt articulates those emotions with raw authenticity and honesty. She will undoubtedly have readers scribbling their own pets' bucket lists before they even reach the end of this touching memoir. --Jen Forbus, freelancer