A Friend of the Flock: Tales of a Country Veterinarian - Hardcover

McCormack, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517706121 ISBN 13: 9780517706121

Publisher: Crown, 1997

Synopsis

In the welcome sequel to Fields and Pastures New, country veterinarian and storyteller extraordinaire Dr. John McCormack continues his warm and witty reminiscences of his experience tending to the animals and people of Choctaw County, Alabama.

John McCormack's stories of rural life in the 1960s are beloved by animal enthusiasts everywhere. In his first book, his readers were introduced to Choctaw County through the eyes of a newcomer to the community, as Dr. McCormack and his wife and children settled into their new home, befriending animal owners and their animals. In A Friend of the Flock, McCormack revisits the memorable characters that make up Butler, Alabama, and introduces others, including a cowboy who loses his clothes to an ornery calf, a hog who gets a facelift, the members of the local hunt club, and many more farmers, ranchers, pet owners, dogs, cats, sheep, cows, and even one parakeet with a bad headache.

Dr. McCormack and his family build a new clinic for their growing veterinary practice and join in the life of Choctaw County, treating livestock and pets and acquiring some of their own. Much as James Herriot did with the Yorkshire countryside, John McCormack captures every comical and heartwarming detail of rural Southern life in this touching account of putting down roots, traveling the dirt roads, and becoming a trusted member of a community. With its charming, familiar places, and some fresh faces and tales to boot, A Friend of the Flock is a treat for McCormack fans old and new.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. John McCormack is Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. He lives in Athens, Georgia.

From the Back Cover

"I can relate to Dr. McCormack on page after page of this book. In his writing he beguilingly captures the laughter and tears of the veterinary scene. A heartwarming read for the animal lover."
--James Herriot

"Fields and Pastures New promises to captivate any reader, animal lover or not."
--Jennifer Jenkins, Southern Living

From the Inside Flap

me sequel to Fields and Pastures New, country veterinarian and storyteller extraordinaire Dr. John McCormack continues his warm and witty reminiscences of his experience tending to the animals and people of Choctaw County, Alabama.<br><br>John McCormack's stories of rural life in the 1960s are beloved by animal enthusiasts everywhere. In his first book, his readers were introduced to Choctaw County through the eyes of a newcomer to the community, as Dr. McCormack and his wife and children settled into their new home, befriending animal owners and their animals. In A Friend of the Flock, McCormack revisits the memorable characters that make up Butler, Alabama, and introduces others, including a cowboy who loses his clothes to an ornery calf, a hog who gets a facelift, the members of the local hunt club, and many more farmers, ranchers, pet owners, dogs, cats, sheep, cows, and even one parakeet with a bad headache.<br><br>Dr. McCormack and his family build a new clinic for their growing vete

Reviews

YA?As heartwarming and captivating as Fields and Pastures New (Crown, 1995), this sequel continues the early career of the first veterinarian of Choctaw County (AL). The home folks welcome the McCormacks, who readily become treasured members of the community. Sense of place; love; and caring of family, neighbors, and friends (human and animal) shine through in these stories that are both funny and sad. One home visit requires that Doc operate on a pig's face to remove a tumor. The surgery goes well, but the sow remembers who had given her that long needle. When Doc returns later that week to remove the sutures, the pig refuses to let him anywhere near her. Townsfolks refer to that event as Doc's first sow facelift. YAs who discover this American soulmate of James Herriot will ask for McCormack's earlier book, and will keep an eye out for his further adventures.?Judy Sokoll, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

McCormack's (Fields and Pastures New, 1995) rural, deep South veterinary practice provides a wealth of anecdotes, which he relates in a crusty, quick-tempered style. Since he moved to Alabama's Choctaw County some 35 years back, McCormack has seen to most every barnyard complaint: ovine, bovine, and otherwise. When he is not busy castrating bulls and deworming sheep, he can be found on porcine beautification errands, plucking bones from dogs' throats, letting the gas out of a cow's stomach, or, in one sad episode, frightening a parakeet to death. He's no James Herriot: He flashes anger, is fast to pigeonhole people, he can be a tad superior to the local rubes, and can display an irksome primness (hiccuping is for him a ``rude noise,'' liquor the cause for a raised eyebrow). And the animals here get rather less narrative attention than the motley neighbors who are both his joy and his bane: Clatis Tew and Speed Whitted, Vester Crowson and the self-taught ex-vet Carney Sam Jenkins, dispenser of elegant homespun medical nuggets (``A sheep is born lookin' for a place to die''). Each of 25 chapters tells of an incident in his days afield and in his clinic; from each he has drawn a moral with which he tidies up the story, and more often than not they feel obvious or condescending: ``People who don't tend to the needs of their animals shouldn't be allowed to own them'' or ``There's a good lesson to be learned from dreaming too big and at the wrong time.'' To be read more as a cautionary tale for aspiring rural vets than as a warmhearted peek at a country doctor's tribulations. (Literary Guild alternate selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0517706121
• ISBN 13: 9780517706121
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 266