Review: Lessons From Lucy

Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry is back with a collection of stories related to life advice learned from his beloved dog, Lucy. In Lessons From Lucy Barry ties stories from his life to something he learned from his aging dog, such as “make new friends.”

Lessons From Lucy (digital galley, Simon & Schuster) contains Barry’s familiar dry and self-deprecating humor, but the connections between his stories and the dog advice are flimsy at best. The life lessons are trite (“don’t stop having fun”) and seem like a gimmick to pull together this collection of anecdotes.

Unfortunately, as someone who has read and enjoyed a lot of Barry over the years, the stories related in this volume seem stale and recycled. Instead pick up an older Barry collection, or David Sedaris’ recent Calypso if you’re looking for laugh-inducing humor. Lessons From Lucy will be released April 2, 2019.