'Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About' review

Content creator Isabel Klee stumbled upon social media stardom with her rescue pup, Simon, after she began fostering dogs and chronicling her experiences online. Her new memoir, Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About, delivers universal appeal about her early years in New York City and will reach well beyond her established online fanbase.

Think a dog lover-themed, COVID-era Chicken Soup for the Soul meets Lena Dunham’s Girls with a rom-com ending. In fact, Universal Content Productions has already optioned it for a TV series with Klee as executive producer.

Every rom-com is better with a dog

Klee is a humble heroine. While contemplating taking in a potentially difficult rescue Chihuahua, Twinkle, she says, “The problem with me was, I thought every dog deserved the chance to get better. Even when it was a bad idea.”

Comparisons with her dating life (“My first boyfriend and my first foster dog had a lot in common. Namely, I had no idea what I was doing with either of them.”) give way to coming-of-age stories and lessons on love, trust, and letting go.

Klee’s writing style excels at describing firsts: meet-cutes in bars, the poignant moment a new foster dog arrives via transfer (or gains her trust thanks to a piece of ham), a first kiss. Her voice—honest, sisterly, tender, and insightful—occasionally lands with savage humor (a scene about a rat on the train tracks and another about the “pots of vomit” after a Buschwick house party among them). But her story deepens after she adopts her epileptic forever dog, Simon, navigates the pandemic, and returns to fostering after a five-year break.

As the final chapters center Klee’s relationship with boyfriend, Jacob, the writing takes on a more rhythmic quality with emotional resonance. Despite a confusing timeline, the “other things” cried about make their way into prose with touching effect.

I found myself teary at times, recalling my own grief after losing a beloved soulmate dog, and lighter having opened my heart to Isabel’s world, a testament to the book’s insistent focus on hope, resilience, and love. After all, “Hard things happen to make the good moments even better, a shining light to lift the darkest shadow.”