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The Lost Dog
Tom Loxley is holed up in a remote bush shack trying to finish his book on Henry James when his beloved dog goes missing. What follows is a triumph of storytelling, as The Lost Dog loops back and forth in time to take the reader on a spellbinding journey into worlds far removed from the present tragedy.
Set in present day Australia and mid-twentieth century India here is a haunting, layered work that brilliantly counterpoints new cityscapes and their inhabitants with the untamed, ancient continent beyond. With its atmosphere of menace and an acute sense of the unexplained in any story, it illuminates the collision of the wild and the civilised, modernity and the past, home and exile.
The Lost Dog is a mystery and a love story, an exploration of art and nature, a mediation on aging and the passage of time. It is a book of wonders: a gripping contemporary novel which examines the weight of history as well as different ways of understanding the world.
Set in present day Australia and mid-twentieth century India here is a haunting, layered work that brilliantly counterpoints new cityscapes and their inhabitants with the untamed, ancient continent beyond. With its atmosphere of menace and an acute sense of the unexplained in any story, it illuminates the collision of the wild and the civilised, modernity and the past, home and exile.
The Lost Dog is a mystery and a love story, an exploration of art and nature, a mediation on aging and the passage of time. It is a book of wonders: a gripping contemporary novel which examines the weight of history as well as different ways of understanding the world.
345 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
37 people are currently reading
902 people want to read
About the author
Michelle de Kretser
17 books329 followersMichelle de Kretser is an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka but moved to Australia when she was 14.
She was educated in Melbourne and Paris, and published her first novel, 'The Rose Grower' in 1999. Her second novel, published in 2003, 'The Hamilton Case' was winner of the Tasmania Pacific Prize, the Encore Award (UK) and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Southeast Asia and Pacific). 'The Lost Dog' was published in 2007. It was one of 13 books on the long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. From 1989 to 1992 she was a founding editor of the Australian Women's Book Review.
She was educated in Melbourne and Paris, and published her first novel, 'The Rose Grower' in 1999. Her second novel, published in 2003, 'The Hamilton Case' was winner of the Tasmania Pacific Prize, the Encore Award (UK) and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Southeast Asia and Pacific). 'The Lost Dog' was published in 2007. It was one of 13 books on the long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. From 1989 to 1992 she was a founding editor of the Australian Women's Book Review.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 170 reviews
August 4, 2008
I have some really mixed feelings about this book.
Parts of it were wonderful, engrossing - I'd get caught up in a line of story and enjoy the trip to the end.
The problem was, many of them didn't mesh. Things were often unclear. Some of the lines were - awful. Lines like 'the sweat and spice of her spoor' made me cringe. I don't even want to get started on the annoying tendency (so very modern, no?) to focus on human waste. It comes across as trying to be edgy and raw and instead is predictable and annoying.
And yet, the story of Atwood walking into the ocean - that was well done. Tom's childhood, his father - I loved those. Young Iris was interesting.
The relationship between Iris and Tom ultimately failed for me. I got no real feeling that they were mother and son, no sense of history - which is particularly sad in a book that kept trying to tell their story of each other.
Tom's relationship with Nelly was singularly lacking. It never worked. The only relationship that felt even remotely real was the hints of what it was like with Karen, and, of course, the dog.
Parts of it were wonderful, engrossing - I'd get caught up in a line of story and enjoy the trip to the end.
The problem was, many of them didn't mesh. Things were often unclear. Some of the lines were - awful. Lines like 'the sweat and spice of her spoor' made me cringe. I don't even want to get started on the annoying tendency (so very modern, no?) to focus on human waste. It comes across as trying to be edgy and raw and instead is predictable and annoying.
And yet, the story of Atwood walking into the ocean - that was well done. Tom's childhood, his father - I loved those. Young Iris was interesting.
The relationship between Iris and Tom ultimately failed for me. I got no real feeling that they were mother and son, no sense of history - which is particularly sad in a book that kept trying to tell their story of each other.
Tom's relationship with Nelly was singularly lacking. It never worked. The only relationship that felt even remotely real was the hints of what it was like with Karen, and, of course, the dog.
January 14, 2008
This book was beautiful! Meditations on art, love, relationships, connections with dogs, Melbourne, rural Victoria, and just exquisitely written. I felt like I was reading a painting.
October 25, 2010
I always wanted to read this book. But one day I was stopped outside a traffic light near her (the authors) house & I saw a huge dog (yes looks like the cover dog) do a gigantic poop on the footpath infront of a bunch of kids that were walking past.
I then watched the owner Michelle de Kretser yank the dog back home without scooping up the poop.
Now it has ruined the book for me. Everytime I see the title I think of the authors huge dog, pooing with reckless abandon and her lack of respect for our inner city streets and other inhabitants.
I then watched the owner Michelle de Kretser yank the dog back home without scooping up the poop.
Now it has ruined the book for me. Everytime I see the title I think of the authors huge dog, pooing with reckless abandon and her lack of respect for our inner city streets and other inhabitants.
June 27, 2010
I've been really getting into Aussie fiction as of late. This is an author I've not read before but she has a very interesting writing style. She's actually Sri Lankan but has been living in Australia for most of her life. The protagonist of this novel also immigrated to Australia when he was a teenager after beginning it in India. The novel doesn't focus on race nearly as much as it does aging, family, and a mysterious sort of relationship between a writer and an artist. One thing disarming about the novel is the sheer honesty and absence of kitsch that is apparent throughout the text, especially when tackling the nature of the relationship between the protagonist and his mother. I also liked how it left somewhat open ended in solving a mystery that we very slowly gain bits of pieces of information about, as the main character himself does, throughout the story. The lost dog is, in some ways, what ties it all together but in a completely different way seems to be a metaphor for something very important that is unfathomly found eventually.
Some memorable quotes:
p.85 "Tom said the scene reminded him of a woodcut in an old book of children's tales. It was like something remembered from a dream, said Nelly. 'Something marvelous and strange you can almost see under the skin of reality.'
p.146 "A perfect city is one you can walk out of."
p.183 "As long as we stay with Audrey, we have a roof over our heads. What can go wrong if you have a roof over your head?"
"It can fall in and crush you," said Tom.
p.233 "Tom knew that a lucky country was one where history happened to other people."
p.248-249 "To possess a city fully, it is necessary to have known it as a child, for children bring their private cartographies to the mapping of public places."
p. 285 "She sculpted the past according to whim, as a child plays with the future, each having an abundance of material."
"How could you know when something was the last time? wondered Iris. The last time a stranger turned to look at you in the street, the last time you could stand up while putting on your knickers, the last time there was no pain when you tried to turn over in bed, the last time you imagined your life would change for the better..."
p.298 "What was overwhelming, however, was the astonishment: the sheer scandal of falling. Tom was returned, in one swift instant, to childhood; for children, not having learned to stand on their dignity, are accustomed to being slapped by the earth."
Some memorable quotes:
p.85 "Tom said the scene reminded him of a woodcut in an old book of children's tales. It was like something remembered from a dream, said Nelly. 'Something marvelous and strange you can almost see under the skin of reality.'
p.146 "A perfect city is one you can walk out of."
p.183 "As long as we stay with Audrey, we have a roof over our heads. What can go wrong if you have a roof over your head?"
"It can fall in and crush you," said Tom.
p.233 "Tom knew that a lucky country was one where history happened to other people."
p.248-249 "To possess a city fully, it is necessary to have known it as a child, for children bring their private cartographies to the mapping of public places."
p. 285 "She sculpted the past according to whim, as a child plays with the future, each having an abundance of material."
"How could you know when something was the last time? wondered Iris. The last time a stranger turned to look at you in the street, the last time you could stand up while putting on your knickers, the last time there was no pain when you tried to turn over in bed, the last time you imagined your life would change for the better..."
p.298 "What was overwhelming, however, was the astonishment: the sheer scandal of falling. Tom was returned, in one swift instant, to childhood; for children, not having learned to stand on their dignity, are accustomed to being slapped by the earth."
February 15, 2011
So onto THE LOST DOG by Michelle de Krester. This tells the story of a man who loses his dog. He is in the middle of some kind of half hearted love affair, and we cut back and forth between the love affair and the hunt for the dog. This is one literary-ass book. It is so literature I kind of want to barf a bit. It was full of images. There they are buying like whatever, noodles or something, and the noodle seller has . . . exquisite hands. Oh yes. Oh god. Part way through I just had to stop and read the author bio and the back flap, and what do you know, she is a professor of English Lit. Barforama. But other than that it was okay. And don't worry I'm still also on Trollope's DR THORNE. More on this later.
More of my reviews at www.booksof2010.blogspot.com
More of my reviews at www.booksof2010.blogspot.com
August 6, 2008
The first (for me) of this year's Booker Prize nominees. I loved the style of it, but the substance left much to be desired. The main character was distant but not unsympathetic, but I never understood what pulled him towards Nelly. His interest in her made me care less about him, not more.
As a slightly irrelevant side note, I wish every writing fiction 101 course would start by explaining that no one post-Daphne du Maurier should think they can successfully pull off the character without a name. Because they can't. Even when that unnamed character is a dog.
As a slightly irrelevant side note, I wish every writing fiction 101 course would start by explaining that no one post-Daphne du Maurier should think they can successfully pull off the character without a name. Because they can't. Even when that unnamed character is a dog.
May 21, 2011
**** A Henry James Question.;
I still don't have time for writing reviews until end of semester - else I'll fail my course & I have missed too many days this month with this consumptive-like cough to warrant that happening without fueling the fire. Anyhow I could not comment on this one till I had read some Henry James (of which I've now read one novella of his - In the Cage). Why the need to read Henry James? Other's have likened de Kretser's writing to James and also the main character in The Lost Dog is writing a book on James. So far there is no obvious connection other than intensity of rumination. The link I feel is more tenuous and alludes perhaps to ghosts, which abound here but not In the Cage. Perhaps The Ambassadors which I have, might guide me. Anyone care to suggest another Henry James I should read?. I've look at the GR reviews on various James books, everyone seems to think he's a genius but can't say why? Is there any other author who writes like James that I should be aware of - perhaps more modern that might help me access him?
**************************************************
Library borrow. Something light. thoughts to come.
I still don't have time for writing reviews until end of semester - else I'll fail my course & I have missed too many days this month with this consumptive-like cough to warrant that happening without fueling the fire. Anyhow I could not comment on this one till I had read some Henry James (of which I've now read one novella of his - In the Cage). Why the need to read Henry James? Other's have likened de Kretser's writing to James and also the main character in The Lost Dog is writing a book on James. So far there is no obvious connection other than intensity of rumination. The link I feel is more tenuous and alludes perhaps to ghosts, which abound here but not In the Cage. Perhaps The Ambassadors which I have, might guide me. Anyone care to suggest another Henry James I should read?. I've look at the GR reviews on various James books, everyone seems to think he's a genius but can't say why? Is there any other author who writes like James that I should be aware of - perhaps more modern that might help me access him?
**************************************************
Library borrow. Something light. thoughts to come.
February 17, 2021
Confusing and disappointing. Quite a few very beautifully written passages, lost amongst utter nonsense.
October 17, 2014
4.5 stars. I love de Kretser's turn of phrase. So many sections I underlined on my kindle. An example (which may lose something out of context), about the narrator's disapproving aunt Audrey with whom his mother lives: "Audrey said, 'I draw the line at nursing'. There were many such lines, existence taking on for his aunt the aspect of a dense cross-hatching."
May 30, 2018
Boring! Boring! Boring! could not wait to finish. So wordy! Weak story line. Too much talk on poo. The author seems intent on discussing various aspects of poo. Ridiculous!
Well, what would I know - de Krester is a highly successful writer and she surely has a way with putting words together but this story was completely lost on me. Totally depressing.
Well, what would I know - de Krester is a highly successful writer and she surely has a way with putting words together but this story was completely lost on me. Totally depressing.
May 10, 2009
This was a book that sounded interesting from the info on the dust jacket, and I enjoyed reading it. The story is written mainly from the viewpoint of Tom Loxley, a grown man who currently lives in Australia, but spent many of his growing up years in India. At the beginning of the book, his dog runs away, having broken the knot in the rope that tied him up. Loxley is afraid of what might happen to his dog, lost in the Australian bush, and sets out to try and find him.
He ends up being helped by Nelly Zhang, an artist he knows and with whom he is smitten. We get to know Nelly and her artistic friends, as well as learning the story of Nelly's husband, who mysteriously disappeared years ago. Tom Loxley becomes obsessed with her story, and wants to determine whether or not she may have killed her husband.
Also playing a large role in the book is Tom's mother, Iris, who is living in the guest house of a relative as she declines from age, and what sounds to be Alzheimers.
I enjoyed this book, as it was different from a lot of others I have read. The descriptions of Tom Loxley's childhood in India, and the Australia which is still so strange to him, were well written and interesting. His swings of mood regarding whether or not he will find the dog (who is never actually given a name in the book) seem real, especially if you have ever had a pet suddenly disappear. The story goes back and forth between the present day and the past, weaving the lives of the characters into the plot fairly seamlessly.
I found these two passages from the book to be particularly striking:
(When Tom is remembering how Nelly told him about different homes in the Artists' Preserve, where she had her home and studio)
"To possess a city fully, it is necessary to have known it as a child, for children bring their private cartography to the mapping of public spaces. The chart of Tom's secret emblems was differently plotted. Oceans separated from the sites featured on it."
(And this one especially, when someone talks to him about the possibility of never finding the dog)
"'There's a limit to how much you can do ... It's not like losing a kiddie, is it? Count your blessings he's only a dog.'
Love without limits was reserved for only his species. To display great affection for an animal invariably invoked censure. Tom felt ashamed to admit to it. It was judged excessive: overflowing a limit that was couched in philosophical distinction, as the line that divided the rational, human creature from all others. Animals, deemed incapable of reason, did not deserve the same degree of love."
This story intrigued me enough that I am likely to try and read some of de Krester's other work to see if she is someone I want to follow.
He ends up being helped by Nelly Zhang, an artist he knows and with whom he is smitten. We get to know Nelly and her artistic friends, as well as learning the story of Nelly's husband, who mysteriously disappeared years ago. Tom Loxley becomes obsessed with her story, and wants to determine whether or not she may have killed her husband.
Also playing a large role in the book is Tom's mother, Iris, who is living in the guest house of a relative as she declines from age, and what sounds to be Alzheimers.
I enjoyed this book, as it was different from a lot of others I have read. The descriptions of Tom Loxley's childhood in India, and the Australia which is still so strange to him, were well written and interesting. His swings of mood regarding whether or not he will find the dog (who is never actually given a name in the book) seem real, especially if you have ever had a pet suddenly disappear. The story goes back and forth between the present day and the past, weaving the lives of the characters into the plot fairly seamlessly.
I found these two passages from the book to be particularly striking:
(When Tom is remembering how Nelly told him about different homes in the Artists' Preserve, where she had her home and studio)
"To possess a city fully, it is necessary to have known it as a child, for children bring their private cartography to the mapping of public spaces. The chart of Tom's secret emblems was differently plotted. Oceans separated from the sites featured on it."
(And this one especially, when someone talks to him about the possibility of never finding the dog)
"'There's a limit to how much you can do ... It's not like losing a kiddie, is it? Count your blessings he's only a dog.'
Love without limits was reserved for only his species. To display great affection for an animal invariably invoked censure. Tom felt ashamed to admit to it. It was judged excessive: overflowing a limit that was couched in philosophical distinction, as the line that divided the rational, human creature from all others. Animals, deemed incapable of reason, did not deserve the same degree of love."
This story intrigued me enough that I am likely to try and read some of de Krester's other work to see if she is someone I want to follow.
May 1, 2025
I wish I could say I loved this book .. I loved the cover!!, it's what made me pick it up in the first place and the plot sounded intriguing. The trouble with it mostly is that the writing is very flowery and descriptive .. overly so in most cases .. and it got in the way of the plot. I put it down more than I picked it up which obviously isn't good .. and is not the way forward for someone who wants to read all her books on her TBR pile this year!!
Some parts of it I liked .. The bits of the book that dealt with Tom's Mother and Aunt were good and it was those bits ... and the searches for 'the dog' (for all the description he doesn't even have a name!) that I enjoyed most. The parts about the mysterious and arty Nelly I found boring .. I didn't really care enough about her to make unravelling her history interesting.
A.S. Byatt gives it a glowing review .. and for lovers of rich, artistic, abstract prose .. it's probably perfect. For bears of very small brain .. it was a struggle. Still a great cover though!!
Some parts of it I liked .. The bits of the book that dealt with Tom's Mother and Aunt were good and it was those bits ... and the searches for 'the dog' (for all the description he doesn't even have a name!) that I enjoyed most. The parts about the mysterious and arty Nelly I found boring .. I didn't really care enough about her to make unravelling her history interesting.
A.S. Byatt gives it a glowing review .. and for lovers of rich, artistic, abstract prose .. it's probably perfect. For bears of very small brain .. it was a struggle. Still a great cover though!!
March 6, 2014
This book is beautifully written and artfully told. I would have gotten more out of it if I had read more Henry James more recently. The insights into human relationships are often unexpected and astutely observed. It is not an obvious book in any way; it moves between time periods, advancing the story piecemeal. This is largely successful, although at times just served to get me lost. My only criticism is that there were moments where the writing felt a little contrived.
Many of the reviews here are profoundly disheartening. It is a very literary novel. If you want a linear page-turner that unfurls predictably from its title and reveals a neat little conclusion in the last chapter, you are in the wrong section of the bookstore.
Many of the reviews here are profoundly disheartening. It is a very literary novel. If you want a linear page-turner that unfurls predictably from its title and reveals a neat little conclusion in the last chapter, you are in the wrong section of the bookstore.
October 5, 2009
In the acknowledgments section of this book it states that it draws directly and obliquely on various works by Henry James. Well since I have not read any Henry James I missed all that. I saw that this book was called The Lost Dog, and silly me picked it up looking for a story about a dog. But after finishing the book, I know many personal, desciptive details of an old woman's repeated fecal accidents. I know personal details about an artist named Nelly and her missing husband. But I don't even know the name of the dog mentioned in the title. This book is not about a dog. Don't call a book The Lost Dog if you are not going to even tell me the name of the dog.
May 15, 2014
Pretentious crap. Literally, because the author is so in love with excrement as a metaphor that she devotes too much ink to describing bowel movements - human and animal. Overly mannered "look at how clever I am!" modernistic prose, no resolution and unlikable characters. Except the unnamed, never described fully dog, who makes 2 brief appearances and is the only likable being in this entire book.
September 5, 2009
Really fine piece of contemporary fiction set in Melbourne Australia and written by a Sri Lankan immmigrant with amazing prose, complex insights and complicated but skillful use of flash backs.
September 23, 2011
An overarching, aching mystery with exquisitely observed mundane detail.
September 10, 2013
Beautifully written and compelling read.
Read
March 8, 2022DNF at 50 percent. Just too boring!
January 15, 2025
Loved it - think it's the kind of book you get more out of if you read over a couple of days rather than weeks. Beautiful depictions of the tensions of childhood and adulthood, family, and the beautiful, innocent companionship of pets to whom we owe so much. Some lines I want to remember. "It would always be possible to stroll around to the back of knowledge and look at it from the other side."
Read
December 24, 2021Although pithily written, I found this altogether too superficial to pull me beyond the first chapter.
March 10, 2018
Overall I did not completely love this book. There were some phrases I found stunning and some of the descriptions too were vivid and engaging. The title was distracting for me as an animal lover - the dog, despite the occasional evocations of it did not really seem to have much substance. The patchwork nature of the narrative I sometimes found hard to follow
July 17, 2020
Lots of beautiful descriptions - a lot of the language is really vivid and evocative. But the story is pretty dull. Had to struggle to get through it. The flashes of really inspired writing kept me going, but the narrative was an uphill struggle.
February 28, 2013
Michelle de Kretser writes and sounds like a poet. The short pithy perfectly constructed lines in The Lost Dog, have great appeal. The opening two lines completely set the story up; not many books have ever achieved this. The book is worth buying for those two lines alone.
It’s good to see a modern book carrying modern connections in it, such as the references to the usage of modern technology. Many contemporary books do not contain references to the things we use every day, and that makes them seem out of touch and unreal. The Lost Dog blends this into the contemporary, and into a drifting story that weaves through the life of a stubborn and sensitive man, the lead character, Tom Loxley.
There’s a sincere portrayal of a man and his union with a dog. The way an animal can get and remain under the skin of ever the hardest of men, not that Loxley is hard man. The book shows just how strong and permanent that union can be.
In many moments throughout the book, the image of that dog come back to Loxley, and these are some of the most poignant parts of the book. I feel it’s clear that de Kretser has a close relationship with animals, to be able to render them as she has.
Normally, I’m not a lover of description, but when de Kretser does it, I get something out of it. The poetic imagery she is able to assign to even the smallest and most insignificant of objects, places and characters, actually adds fuel to the story, and it didn’t turn me away as description does in so many other books.
At times, I did feel lost though. I haven’t figured out if it was due to the depth of the story, or the sophisticated interlacing of ideas and memories; the lead does find himself in memory a lot. This is something I’ve seen in the writing of other authors, like Patrick White, who I love.
While there are many aspects to this books, such as the complexities of inner-city life, relationships, art and artists, a very Melbourne duo. Then, there’s the poetry quoted, and a keen observation for so many things. But, I found the connections between Loxley and the lost dog, the most touching in a book that will stay with me, for its opening lines alone.
I’ll be getting de Kretser’s latest book, Questions of Travel. Which will come in convenient, because according to a member of my club, “It’s a book, we will have to do?”
It’s good to see a modern book carrying modern connections in it, such as the references to the usage of modern technology. Many contemporary books do not contain references to the things we use every day, and that makes them seem out of touch and unreal. The Lost Dog blends this into the contemporary, and into a drifting story that weaves through the life of a stubborn and sensitive man, the lead character, Tom Loxley.
There’s a sincere portrayal of a man and his union with a dog. The way an animal can get and remain under the skin of ever the hardest of men, not that Loxley is hard man. The book shows just how strong and permanent that union can be.
In many moments throughout the book, the image of that dog come back to Loxley, and these are some of the most poignant parts of the book. I feel it’s clear that de Kretser has a close relationship with animals, to be able to render them as she has.
Normally, I’m not a lover of description, but when de Kretser does it, I get something out of it. The poetic imagery she is able to assign to even the smallest and most insignificant of objects, places and characters, actually adds fuel to the story, and it didn’t turn me away as description does in so many other books.
At times, I did feel lost though. I haven’t figured out if it was due to the depth of the story, or the sophisticated interlacing of ideas and memories; the lead does find himself in memory a lot. This is something I’ve seen in the writing of other authors, like Patrick White, who I love.
While there are many aspects to this books, such as the complexities of inner-city life, relationships, art and artists, a very Melbourne duo. Then, there’s the poetry quoted, and a keen observation for so many things. But, I found the connections between Loxley and the lost dog, the most touching in a book that will stay with me, for its opening lines alone.
I’ll be getting de Kretser’s latest book, Questions of Travel. Which will come in convenient, because according to a member of my club, “It’s a book, we will have to do?”
February 4, 2021
I love Michelle de Kretser as a writer, and I enjoyed this book tremendously - with certain reservations.
Plot-wise, I guess you would call it a mystery. In fact, in common with a lot of classics of the genre, there are actually two mysteries running through the book concurrently. There is the mystery of the titular dog, conducted in the here and now. And there is also Tom’s gradual unravelling of the mystery of Nelly’s past, in particular the disappearance of her husband and her relationship with certain other characters.
Style-wise, Michelle de Kretser operates in the realm of what I would call the High Australian Literary style. That is to say, her writing contains many of the stylistic traits that one is used to running across in Australian literary novels. There’s the near-compulsive list making, the unexpected and daring verb, the mock-heroic multi-syllabic depiction of everyday things and events, the digressive telling of minor stories within the framework of the main story - all the hallmarks of the modern Australian literary novel. What sets Michelle de Kretser apart from most other practitioners of the style is that she is simply better at it than they are. She has more innate talent, a better sense of rhythm, and her sentences simply read and sound better. This becomes especially apparent when you listen to her work in audiobook form, where the musicality of her phrase-making really comes to the fore.
There were aspects of this book that I thought were extremely well done - vividly and intelligently imagined and very skilfully depicted. For instance - the physical and psychological realities of the relationship between Tom and his aging, declining mother were superbly rendered. The fumblings and uncertainties and accidental discoveries involved in Tom’s gradual immersion into Nelly’s circle were also done with a sure hand. If you have ever, as an adult, been introduced into a friendship group of long standing, and been perplexed and baffled as you tried to grasp the intricacies of the various bonds and the individual and collective histories of its members, you will identify with Tom. The depiction of a certain artsy/academic/bohemian way of being and living in early 21st century Melbourne is also very skilfully and observantly done.
My main reservation with the book is that it is perhaps a little over-stuffed, especially in its fairly relentless search for, and pointing out of, symbolism and wider meaning in everyday things and events. Especially in the first (say) 2/3 of the book, nothing - no matter how quotidian or commonplace - is able to be mentioned without its wider and deeper significance being remarked upon and explored at some length. Poor old Tom cannot drive past a fence without thinking about how it is “hymning” private ownership or some such thing. Every traffic light, every chair, every dress, every bag of mixed lollies has to be held up to the light and scrutinised and speculated upon as to its symbolism and wider implications. It is pretty exhausting. At times, having just read of the wealth of meaning embodied by a pot plant or a set of curtains, I felt like saying to the author (like Mr Burns to Lisa Simpson), “My God, are you always on?”. As well as getting a little monotonous, this constant search for wider meaning also (in my view, anyway) hamstrings the telling of the story by constantly dragging the reader away from the plot. In the last 1/3 or so of the book, when there is a lot of denouement to be done, the symbolic stuff drops off a bit, which greatly aids the narrative flow.
The above-named is my main reservation about the book. My other reservation - which I find comes up a lot when I read Australian writing - is the weird inability of Australian writers to render the speech of characters of working-class and/or rural background. Being from both a working-class and a rural background myself, my personal experience is that people with my sort of background and upbringing speak pretty much like normal human beings. And yet, when working-class and rural people bob up in Australian novels, they speak in some sort of strange, alien-sounding patois which resembles nothing that I have ever heard emerging from a human mouth. They drop every g. They drop every h. They eschew all pronouns and speak in ultra-short sentences that contain only nouns and verbs. They constantly, apropos nothing, mention the weather. Despite theoretically being laconic, they suddenly embark on rhetorical flights of fancy involving long, complicated similes and metaphors. They can’t get through the most workaday conversation without offering up an emphatically delivered, unasked-for slice of boilerplate folk wisdom. Michelle de Kretser’s own stab at depicting working class rural speech is to have one of her female characters speak in perfectly correct, perfectly understandable sentences and then to tack the words “and that” on the end. It is axiomatic to say that most Australian authors come from solidly middle-class backgrounds, and are privately educated to a disproportionate degree, but why do they have to have such a tin ear about this stuff? Is it just that they never meet people from outside their own class? Or that they don’t listen? Or is it that they believe that people really talk like this because that is how they talk in books, so the whole thing becomes self-perpetuating?
That previous paragraph is pretty long. The length is more about me getting something off my chest than anything. The ham-fisted depiction of some aspects of everyday speech is no more a problem in this book than it is in Australian literature generally. Another mildly annoying thing that Michelle de Kretser does is to occasionally make working-class people, their jobs and interests and so forth, the butt of an archly worded throwaway gag, which I am sure goes down well at a reading at the Wheeler Centre, but it gets up my nose a bit. To be fair to her, there is also no writer in Australia who has a better ear for the platitudes and inanities and inarticulacies of educated, middle-class inner-city dwellers as well. The speech patterns of a particular minor character in this book are a masterclass in that respect.
Plot-wise, I guess you would call it a mystery. In fact, in common with a lot of classics of the genre, there are actually two mysteries running through the book concurrently. There is the mystery of the titular dog, conducted in the here and now. And there is also Tom’s gradual unravelling of the mystery of Nelly’s past, in particular the disappearance of her husband and her relationship with certain other characters.
Style-wise, Michelle de Kretser operates in the realm of what I would call the High Australian Literary style. That is to say, her writing contains many of the stylistic traits that one is used to running across in Australian literary novels. There’s the near-compulsive list making, the unexpected and daring verb, the mock-heroic multi-syllabic depiction of everyday things and events, the digressive telling of minor stories within the framework of the main story - all the hallmarks of the modern Australian literary novel. What sets Michelle de Kretser apart from most other practitioners of the style is that she is simply better at it than they are. She has more innate talent, a better sense of rhythm, and her sentences simply read and sound better. This becomes especially apparent when you listen to her work in audiobook form, where the musicality of her phrase-making really comes to the fore.
There were aspects of this book that I thought were extremely well done - vividly and intelligently imagined and very skilfully depicted. For instance - the physical and psychological realities of the relationship between Tom and his aging, declining mother were superbly rendered. The fumblings and uncertainties and accidental discoveries involved in Tom’s gradual immersion into Nelly’s circle were also done with a sure hand. If you have ever, as an adult, been introduced into a friendship group of long standing, and been perplexed and baffled as you tried to grasp the intricacies of the various bonds and the individual and collective histories of its members, you will identify with Tom. The depiction of a certain artsy/academic/bohemian way of being and living in early 21st century Melbourne is also very skilfully and observantly done.
My main reservation with the book is that it is perhaps a little over-stuffed, especially in its fairly relentless search for, and pointing out of, symbolism and wider meaning in everyday things and events. Especially in the first (say) 2/3 of the book, nothing - no matter how quotidian or commonplace - is able to be mentioned without its wider and deeper significance being remarked upon and explored at some length. Poor old Tom cannot drive past a fence without thinking about how it is “hymning” private ownership or some such thing. Every traffic light, every chair, every dress, every bag of mixed lollies has to be held up to the light and scrutinised and speculated upon as to its symbolism and wider implications. It is pretty exhausting. At times, having just read of the wealth of meaning embodied by a pot plant or a set of curtains, I felt like saying to the author (like Mr Burns to Lisa Simpson), “My God, are you always on?”. As well as getting a little monotonous, this constant search for wider meaning also (in my view, anyway) hamstrings the telling of the story by constantly dragging the reader away from the plot. In the last 1/3 or so of the book, when there is a lot of denouement to be done, the symbolic stuff drops off a bit, which greatly aids the narrative flow.
The above-named is my main reservation about the book. My other reservation - which I find comes up a lot when I read Australian writing - is the weird inability of Australian writers to render the speech of characters of working-class and/or rural background. Being from both a working-class and a rural background myself, my personal experience is that people with my sort of background and upbringing speak pretty much like normal human beings. And yet, when working-class and rural people bob up in Australian novels, they speak in some sort of strange, alien-sounding patois which resembles nothing that I have ever heard emerging from a human mouth. They drop every g. They drop every h. They eschew all pronouns and speak in ultra-short sentences that contain only nouns and verbs. They constantly, apropos nothing, mention the weather. Despite theoretically being laconic, they suddenly embark on rhetorical flights of fancy involving long, complicated similes and metaphors. They can’t get through the most workaday conversation without offering up an emphatically delivered, unasked-for slice of boilerplate folk wisdom. Michelle de Kretser’s own stab at depicting working class rural speech is to have one of her female characters speak in perfectly correct, perfectly understandable sentences and then to tack the words “and that” on the end. It is axiomatic to say that most Australian authors come from solidly middle-class backgrounds, and are privately educated to a disproportionate degree, but why do they have to have such a tin ear about this stuff? Is it just that they never meet people from outside their own class? Or that they don’t listen? Or is it that they believe that people really talk like this because that is how they talk in books, so the whole thing becomes self-perpetuating?
That previous paragraph is pretty long. The length is more about me getting something off my chest than anything. The ham-fisted depiction of some aspects of everyday speech is no more a problem in this book than it is in Australian literature generally. Another mildly annoying thing that Michelle de Kretser does is to occasionally make working-class people, their jobs and interests and so forth, the butt of an archly worded throwaway gag, which I am sure goes down well at a reading at the Wheeler Centre, but it gets up my nose a bit. To be fair to her, there is also no writer in Australia who has a better ear for the platitudes and inanities and inarticulacies of educated, middle-class inner-city dwellers as well. The speech patterns of a particular minor character in this book are a masterclass in that respect.
January 16, 2021
I'm not sure how I ended up with this book. I don't remember buying it so I think it might have been a gift. It was in my ' to read' pile so I gave it a chance.
The prose in this book is beautiful. It is easily my favorite thing about this novel. It is well worth a read if you love language.
Everything else is a mess. The characters are flat and unlikable- too stuck in their own heads to be relatable in any real way. Character matters to me and I was 200 pages in asking myself why I was still reading about any of these people. A 747 could have dropped out of the sky crushing Tom beneath it and I would have been perfectly happy with that. The only thing that really kept me reading was trying to find out what happened to the missing dog.
The plot was fantastically disjointed and the time skips made events hard to follow. My motivation to pick apart who was who and what was happening was nonexistent.
At the end of the day all the pretty language won't make up for the fact that I got bored reading this and forcing myself to the end felt like a chore.
The prose in this book is beautiful. It is easily my favorite thing about this novel. It is well worth a read if you love language.
Everything else is a mess. The characters are flat and unlikable- too stuck in their own heads to be relatable in any real way. Character matters to me and I was 200 pages in asking myself why I was still reading about any of these people. A 747 could have dropped out of the sky crushing Tom beneath it and I would have been perfectly happy with that. The only thing that really kept me reading was trying to find out what happened to the missing dog.
The plot was fantastically disjointed and the time skips made events hard to follow. My motivation to pick apart who was who and what was happening was nonexistent.
At the end of the day all the pretty language won't make up for the fact that I got bored reading this and forcing myself to the end felt like a chore.
August 11, 2008
Very well written although at times the prose felt too artful and a bit cloying. Perhaps a case of too much of a good thing?
I would have liked a little bit more focus on Tom and his dog and Tom and his mother than Tom and Nelly and the art scene as they annoyed me a bit.
I liked the way the search for the dog allowed Tom to search his memory, and his heart as well for other missing thoughts and feelings.
For further thoughts on this book and other Booker Prize nominated titles - the kingfisher scrapbook
I would have liked a little bit more focus on Tom and his dog and Tom and his mother than Tom and Nelly and the art scene as they annoyed me a bit.
I liked the way the search for the dog allowed Tom to search his memory, and his heart as well for other missing thoughts and feelings.
For further thoughts on this book and other Booker Prize nominated titles - the kingfisher scrapbook
August 3, 2015
Picked this up at the library because the description on the inside flap intrigued me. When I got to the end of the book I thought "What happened?" It's a story about a man who as a child moved from India to Australia who is fascinated by a woman artist, Nelly. He has just lost his dog in the bush and is searching for him and dealing with his aging mother who has become incontinent. The narrative jumps back and forth in time; it was confusing and difficult to remember characters when their names popped up again after a long space. I was disappointed and I really am not sure what happened in the story, but I might try another book by this author some day.
October 23, 2015
A review on the front pages of the book quoted that " this was the best book they ever read." Clearly they mustn't have read ANY. Very disappointing considering that De Kretser clearly has the skill to be a good writer but it lacked plot, couldn't sympathise with the characters because the depiction was all too distant and impersonal. Felt like a kid who ploughed through a very average two course dinner awaiting some salvation from the dessert menu and instead was served boiled cabbage instead of the pavlova. That's some hours of my life I'll never get back.
April 7, 2014
I just couldn't finish this. I never got to that point where I cared for the characters. It's unusual for me not to finish a book, but when a book stops me from wanting to read it is time to give up.
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