The Hidden Life of Humans

Marcia Sweet, former editor of the Queen’s Quarterly, is an
information consultant and freelance editor.

Hard-boiled, wisecracking Dana is a woman burdened by her “failure to
be someone bolder, happier, prettier, and—above all—someone else.”
Besides falling in love with a married man, she agrees to care for
Murphy, a large and undisciplined dog owned by a former boyfriend. It
turns out that Dana herself is doglike. Childhood bullies called her
“Not-so-Great-Dana”; her gay ex-husband dubbed her “Whippet.”
When Dana says of Murphy that “he loves the one he’s with,” she
could just as well be talking about herself.

The point of view, often of the same events, switches back and forth
between Dana and Murphy. Like Dana’s, Murphy’s voice is breezy, but
he is more introspective than she is. As Dana struggles to understand
her troubled childhood, her relationship with the dog takes some
surprising turns. This strange connection more or less stands on its
own. Less successful in Ritter’s often witty and insightful novel are
the flat secondary characters and equally uninspired subplots.