Dog war /

The story of devout Precious Higginson, whose husband's midlife crisis--I crave peak --entails moving to a mountain so secluded that as a venue for slaughtering a helpless housewife, for tying her up on the bedpost and leisurely beating her brains out, this new house had no equal, still has its laugh-out-loud moments, for it is sweetened by Jamaican-patois dialogue from Winkler's homeland and wry, tongue-in-cheek narration. Suddenly widowed, Precious closes the isolated house and tries living with, first, her married son, then, her married daughter in Miami, and both times unsuccessfully. Although son and daughter acclimate to her habit of lying down beneath the bed (Dat is where I do my best thinking ), employment with lodgings in a mansion seems to guarantee Precious relative independence. She rattles around the place with resident Indian factotum Mannish, with nothing to do until the mansion's vehemently vegetarian, animal-lover mistress returns. Pampered pooch Riccardo is remanded to Precious, and though he likes his new maid (sometimes carnally), it means war in this delicious comedy of manners. --Whitney Scott Copyright 2007 Booklist

An acclaimed comic novelist in his native Jamaica, Winkler (The Lunatic) makes a long overdue American debut with this laugh riot. His heroine is Precious Higginson, a Christian Jamaican woman of 47 whose conventional worldview and proud, pious manner make her unintentionally funny. After her husband dies unexpectedly, Precious moves in with her son and his wife, but pudding-loving Precious and her health-nut daughter-in-law quickly turn the house into a war zone. It's off to America then to stay with her daughter, a Miami police officer, and her hairdressing husband, Henry, an emasculated "too-too" man who irritates her. After Henry makes a pass, Precious takes a job as live-in housekeeper at a Fort Lauderdale mansion. There, she cares for a spoiled dog, Riccardo; argues with Riccardo's animal rights zealot owner, Mistress Lucy, who declares Precious "speciest" for failing to appreciate it when Riccardo pees on her new shoes; and, after "brief Christian resistance," allows Mannish, Mistress Lucy's much peed-upon Indian chauffeur, into her bed. Precious learns much about the limits of piety as the indignities mount and her beliefs are challenged in increasingly outrageous ways. Winkler's wit, his ear for dialect and the sublime creation that is Precious add up to one howlingly funny book. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved