Real People Don't Own Monkeys: And Other Stories of Pets, Their People and the Vets Who See It All by J. Veronika Kiklevich

I was really looking forward to this book, being a Vet student and a voracious reader, I try to read as much as possible on my future profession. Compared to many of the other books written by vets that I have read, this one seems a bit less structured which gives an almost stream of conscious vibe to what you are reading. The problem with stream of conscious in this book is that there are many times when the author changes direction and you feel that some threads are left unfinished, some things don't seem to flow with a lot of logical sense, and many of the stories left me scratching my head wondering why the author elected to include them.

I guess I was hoping for more on the actual animals, or more actual reality in what I felt I was reading. I wasn't looking to hear about her calling an owner every night in the middle of the night and hanging up on them because they had woken her up once with a concern (granted it was probably drug induced) for their animal. Some of the book comes across as a bit snarky, some of it meaningful, but sadly very little of it really came across as heartfelt. There is an almost visible wall between the author and the reader, where it felt like she was trying to hard to be funny and never really delved into the truth. Perhaps the intent was to keep it light hearted, but when discussing vets who harm animals or blowing up a bird or microwaving a dead cat so the owner wouldn't know it had been thrown in the freezer... it all just felt hollow.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate this book, I just had hoped for so much more.