Christmas Party: The Shepherd, the Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog
I’ve long been a fan of Dave Barry. His newspaper columns, his books on subjects as varied as Japan and being a guy, and in recent years, his fiction, have never failed to elicit a smile from me. He’s truly one of the funniest writers in America.
When it was announced he had a Christmas book coming out this year, I knew I’d have to review it for my Think About It Central Christmas Party. The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog is one of the shortest books I’ve read all year, although it comes with perhaps the longest title. This is a brief tale about a young boy in the 60s, Doug Barnes, who gets recruited to play a shepherd in his church’s annual Christmas Eve pageant. Doug is struggling with a lot of childhood issues - friends who get him into trouble, having a crush on the girl playing Mary, and a faithful old dog who may be on his last legs.
Barry is definitely going for a “Jean Shepherd” feel with this book. Several parts of it would have felt right at home in Shepherd’s A Christmas Story, from his tangential descriptions of life in the town of Asquont to his depiction of the Christmas dreams of a child. It’s a good book, but not a great one. At times it feels perhaps a bit too devoted to Shepherd, without having enough of Barry’s unique voice. There are positive points as well, though - the story is a strong one, and Barry doesn’t flinch from depicting the trauma of losing a beloved pet, and while the resolution of that plotline borders on the saccharine, he manages to keep from tipping over the edge.
Barry has also grown a good bit as a novelist since his earlier books. Several sections of that first novel, Big Trouble, felt like rants from a column transposed into a character’s inner narrative. Barry has escaped that trap and is writing less like a columnist and more like a novelist, which is a definite plus.
I did like this book, but I don’t know that it will ever become a classic. On the other hand, it’s enough fun for a true Barry fan, or anyone looking for a new Christmas tale to taste this year.