Book Summary and Reviews of A Dog in Georgia by Lauren Grodstein

A Dog in Georgia by Lauren Grodstein

A Dog in Georgia

by Lauren Grodstein

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2025, 272 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Amy Webb is a chef. Or rather, she was a chef. Somewhere along the way she also became a wife and a stepmother and an emergency contact, and the part of her that was a chef disappeared entirely– along with her sense of self.

Which is why she is currently in the republic of Georgia, on a mission to find a lost dog named Angel, and, more importantly, the life's purpose she once took for granted.

For months, Amy has escaped by watching Youtube videos of Angel walking the children of Tbilisi to school. When Angel goes missing, Amy volunteers to go find him. The fact that her husband may be having (another) affair and her stepson is away at college probably has something to do with it. Who is Amy, after all, if she's not taking care of other people?

But to her surprise, Angel proves elusive, and while she does make friends with a number of stray dogs, what she finds in Tblisi is entirely human. Is she happy in her marriage? What happened to her career? Why doesn't she ever cook anymore, even just for herself?

Helping her on this journey of self-discovery is a rebellious teenager, a mysterious and attractive Russian, and several post-Soviet grandmothers. And, of course, the rich food and culture and complicated politics of Georgia itself.

After a lifetime of looking away from her own needs and appetites, Amy is forced to confront what she really wants and how to finally find herself -

And a dog.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"The pleasure of the novel is in watching Amy's transformation, which, despite being a well-worn trope, feels genuine. Readers will be transported." —Publishers Weekly

"Dog lovers (and all others) will find much pleasure in this charming story." ―Library Journal

This information about A Dog in Georgia was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Lauren Grodstein Author Biography

Photo: Nina Subin

Lauren Grodstein is the author of Our Short History, The Washington Post Book of the Year The Explanation for Everything, and the New York Times-bestselling A Friend of the Family, among other works. Her stories, essays, and articles have appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies, and have been translated into French, German, Chinese, and Italian, among other languages. Her work has also appeared in Elle, The New York Times, Refinery29, Salon.com, Barrelhouse, Post Road, and The Washington Post. She is a professor of English at Rutgers University-Camden, where she teaches in the MFA program in creative writing.

Author Interview
Link to Lauren Grodstein's Website

Other books by Lauren Grodstein at BookBrowse
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