31 - the dogs of babel

i picked this book up at my parents' house, so it isn't something that would have caught my eye on my own.  that said, i really enjoyed reading it.  the premise is horribly sad: a man comes home from work to find that his wife has fallen out of a tree in their backyard and has died. their dog, Lorelei, witnessed it all.  the first chapter of this book sucked me in faster than any other book i've read lately.  The rest of the book is the journey through the husband's grief and how he just can't accept the explanation for his wife's death.  a linguist, he decides that he is going to teach the dog to talk so she can explain what happened that day.  

farfetched?  a little.  but i think that is why i liked the book so much.  the linguistics plot is interesting and somewhat creepy.  i haven't don't much research to find out if carolyn parkhurst imagined a lot of the "facts" that appear in the novel or if they come from actual historical accounts.  if they are imagined, then WOW.  she does an amazing job of creating very realistic science.  if the are based on historical events, then WOW.  disturbing.