Who can resist? For a minute, I thought I was still reading Faust, a book I can't finish but keep reading captivated by the poetry without following the story. I received a free copy of this audiobook from MacMillan Audio via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own. Rescue is an exiting book that should appeal to anyone who likes historical fiction about WWII that includes plenty of adventure and danger. I’m really not sure what the author was aiming for with this character. The impression I got was that he wanted us to see the character as a multifaceted presence. He was the bad boy, so to speak, but broken, and in possession of the ability to change for the better. The issue was that this guy exhibited the tendencies of an abuser. It was extremely bothersome to me. He did not ever abuse Bettina, but his behavior was problematic, and Bettina accepted it in a way that presented a concerning message. For example, she relishes in his possessiveness (the author notes that it feels good to her) and such behavior is not a good thing.

One of the love options was incredibly creepy from the start and, although it seemed like Bettina could sense that, she was not heeding the red flags. I cannot say I was extremely fond of the other option, either, and I did feel he did a few uncomfortable things, but I’d still choose him over what was behind door number two. The strongest part about this book is that it is told partly (a major part) from a dog's POV. The weakest part about this book is that the other part is told from a human's. I will say that I was pleased with the ending. Early on, I considered how the author might go about things, and there was only one conclusion that I felt would satisfy me. Fortunately, the author seemed to feel the same way, as that’s the route he took.

The Rescue of Ravenwood – at a glance

Look at the different colours used in the illustrations. Can you use paint to try and mix some of these colours? Sure,” we said, figuring that the doctor was going to show him one of those models of a skeleton or something like that. A few minutes later, the doctor returned with Ryan, a serious expression on his face. Until that moment, neither my wife nor I had considered that something might be seriously wrong with Ryan. Because the words had come out of nowhere, we were staggered by what he’d said.

I don’t know. But we do recommend getting another test, this time on his hearing, so we can be sure nothing is physically wrong with him.” The book covers multiple POVs and time periods. One of those POVs is Felix’s, the dog. I can struggle with books where dogs are anthropomorphized. And I had mixed feelings here. It worked fine when Parker limited Felix’s understanding to a few words, expressions and emotions. When he tried to veer further afield, I had problems. It sometimes got a little clunky when Parker would contain plot points in Felix/Joe’s section and then clarify that the dog didn’t understand what was happening or being said. Compare this book to the original. Can you make a list of similarities and differences between the two? The Rescue is the third book in a trilogy-in-reverse. It takes place before An Outcast of the Islands, which in turn took place before Almayer’s Folly, each work acting almost as a prequel to the last. However, the 20-year gestation has perhaps changed some of Conrad’s original concerns.That’s how our year was spent. On and on, evaluation after evaluation, without answers, without a plan of action, without knowing what was wrong with our son or whether it was going to be okay. In the meantime Bettina Blazak a young reporter for the local Laguna Beach paper ”The Coastal Eddy” is doing research about Street Dogs –they are dogs that don’t have an owner and are dirty, and might be injured. When captured they are treated and placed in a shelter for adoption. However, in his final phase, Conrad gave himself over to far more romantic tales, with characters who were far too idealised to exist in real life. While Conrad was not given to writing upbeat stories at the best of times, the later stories were almost doomed to an unhappy ending, because it was simply inconceivable that the romantic characters could do anything conceivably mundane, such as live like any normal married couple. Joe is a very good dog. Always eager to please the humans on his team, he regularly outperforms every other dog when it comes to sniffing out contraband items, despite not even coming close to fitting the image of the usual working canine:

The other fish aren’t very kind to the little striped fish. How should they have behaved? Can you write a story with similar issues? I was not prepared for this book. I thought it was going to be a fun thriller that included a dog. I was mistaken. Unfortunately, this book just didn't work. Plot elements strained credulity -- and, yes, I understand that the book was written for a younger audience. (Oh! And the audio was just dreadful. The main character was raised in France with a British father and a French mother, and three other main characters were German. So why did the reader (who had an American English accent) give some of the characters ( really bad) accents, but others had no accents?)I put the phone up to Ryan’s ear, held out a tiny piece of candy, mouthed what I wanted him to say, and he said to his mom:

Joe was recovering from a bullet wound, and Bettina learned that, 35 days ago, a boy found the injured dog on a Tijuana street and carried him to the clinic. There Joe was saved by an emergency operation. Rainbow Fish swims in his ‘school of fish’. Can you find out collective nouns for other animals? Could you make a poster to teach others about them all? You can tell this author is an animal person. Joe (one very special Mexican street dog) is hands down the best part of the book and fortunately, while he's had some sad, hard times in his short life, he always ends up surrounded by people that care for him. To some extent, he is choosing between the native Hassim and Immada, who he regards as his own children, and members of his own race. In the circumstances, he does as many others have done, and chooses his own kind, precipitating the disaster. However, while his decision may be wrong, Conrad is sympathetic to his plight. Indeed, it is the European characters that bring the work to life, whilst the Malay characters are too shadowy to engage our interest. Conrad sides with the Europeans every bit as much as Lingard does. It did include a dog, but it was not fun. This is not a criticism. I definitely prefer the type of story The Rescue communicates. I just did not know that’s what I’d be getting myself into.This author is an auto read for me, so I don't really pay attention to what the new book is about, just know when it comes out and I request it from the library. So I had no clue what this about going in, but I loved it! I really loved how we got so much of Joe/Felix's life, what he liked, what he didn't, what he knew, what he didn't. All this around several humans who were really going through some things. It was strange and awkward and not at all what I had expected. But in a strange and awkward way, I really didn’t mind” (274). In the introduction Conrad relates that he started "The Rescue" before all of his masterpieces ( The Nigger of the Narcissus, Heart of Darkness, and Lord Jim and it was sitting there in an unfinished state while he wrote those books that are very related to the present one. However, those books were written with a hand of fire, while this one was written with a hand of smoke. Conrad is also uncertain how to present his heroine. We cannot help being drawn to Edith Travers, and in some respects her relationship towards Lingard is like that of an Ibsen heroine – romantic, passionate, fascinating the man in a harpy like manner, yet inspiring him. However, in Ibsen, they seek to inspire their lover to action, whereas Edith inspires Lingard to stasis.