From Publishers Weekly

In this memoir, based on a column Harrington wrote for The Bark magazine, the author narrates a canine-loving tale of life in New York City during the heady late 1990s. Crammed into a tiny studio on the Lower East Side, she and her boyfriend, Ted, like many city couples, live together as much to save on rent as to audition their compatibility. Into this makeshift space they bring Rex, a needy shelter dog, angry and skittish from prior abuse. Rex quickly becomes the center of their relationship and their lives. Agreed on their love for the dog, Harrington and Ted argue about training methods and breed—he says strict and setter, she soft and spaniel—and through pooch parenting they grow closer. Harrington and Ted make friends at the dog run and soothe Rex by staying home nightly with take-out. Harrington has crafted a sweet story—with cute asides detailing Rex's Halloween costume contest, his first time squirrel hunting off-leash and zany neighborhood dog people and their advice—that should appeal to urban dog lovers and New Yorkers. (Reviewed 2/20/06)

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From Chronogram

Local Author Writes Local Bestseller

Thirtyish freelancer Harrington and her boyfriend traded a carefree downtown lifestyle for joint custody of an unruly mutt—"Setter X" at the shelter—who rocked their world. Based on her award-winning humor column for The Bark, this fetching memoir will satisfy anybody who's ever been owned by a dog. (Reviewed 4/1/06)

From BookPage

Puppy love

What does a hip, arty, self-interested and semi-committed couple in a closet-sized New York City apartment do when they tire of their jaded lives? They decide to rescue a dog with "issues," of course. Canine turns into guru and delightful mayhem ensues in Rex and the City: A Woman, a Man and a Dysfunctional Dog. Author Lee Harrington writes the award-winning eponymous humor column for The Bark magazine, and in her book she relates the life-changing events stemming from the fateful summer day when she and her live-in boyfriend Ted stopped at a shelter ("where John F. Kennedy got his dog" she notes) to "just look." With memories of beloved childhood pets running through their heads, they bring home a growling, cowering spaniel-mix puppy named Rex who refuses to act like any dog they've ever known. Tension mounts in the cramped apartment as the restless couple (she is an aspiring novelist, Ted's a documentary filmmaker) struggle to adjust and promptly begin to argue over everything from how to discipline the dog and where he should sleep to his hunting breed identity. When Rex develops separation anxiety right around puberty, all bets are off on who goes first—the dog or their relationship. Harrington's wry, self-depreciating intelligence is completely winning as she readily admits her insecurities and captures their struggles to form a family in a sophisticated, yet isolating city. While the story sometimes feels stretched to book length, with plenty of paragraphs on the emergence of the adorable Rex's inner Lassie, not one dog lover on earth will turn down a metaphoric walk with this loveable pair and their kooky canine. (Reviewed 4/1/06)