Sweet and believable | Timbuktu: A Novel

In the mood for something sentimental? | Timbuktu: A Novel | Paul Auster

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	• Timbuktu: A Novel Paul Auster Picador, 2000 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 110 reviews view larger image
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A Charming Novel By An Unpredictable Author

I absolutely admire Paul Auster because whenever I pick up one of his books, I totally have no idea what to expect. You've surely noticed how some authors basically tell the same story over and over again? Not Auster. I've read quite a few of his works by now, and while he has similar themes delving into aspects of humanity, he delivers each and every one of said themes in a totally original and captivating manner.

Timbuktu is unlike anything I thought Auster capable of writing. Our narrator and protagonist is Mr. Bones, a through-and-through mutt owned by a delusional and kind-hearted vagabond named Willy. We see life through Mr. Bones' eyes, and Auster does a magnificent job of breaking we humans down to our most essential characteristics. Mr. Bones sees life as it is, and sees us for who we are.

The story took a while to heat up because Willy proclaimed early on that death awaited him. The only problem was, while death certainly awaited him, I got irritated waiting for Willy to finally die so that Mr. Bones' next step in life could begin. Once Willy headed for Timbuktu and Mr. Bones blazed a new trail in the world, I could hardly put the book down.

Again, I can hardly believe the man who wrote The New York Trilogy, an utterly experimental and complex work, also wrote Timbuktu, a short novel told to us from the experiences of a dog.

Auster is a true artist, a man willing to write whatever he wants despite externally imposed conventions, and I dare you to resist the warmth and charm of this story and Mr. Bones. Furthermore, I challenge you to keep a dry eye on the last page.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

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Sweet and believable

Everyone who shares their life with a dog has undoubtedly wondered how cognizant their canine friend is. How much can a dog reason? How much do they truly understand? Many times, writers anthropomorphize animals making their narratives unbelievable and outlandish. This is not the case with Paul Auster's Timbuktu, which follows a short time in the life of old dog: Mr. Bones.

Mr. Bones is the companion of Willy G. Christmas, a homeless poet of questionable mental health. But Willy is sick and soon Mr. Bones's life will change irrevocably. Auster tells the story from Mr. Bones's point of view, taking into consideration all the things most important to our canine companions, and never crossing over into the unbelievability of over-anthropomorphizing.

A lovely read.

- C.A.Wulff, author of Born Without a Tail

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In the mood for something sentimental?

Are you in the mood for something sentimental? How about a book on the sadness of a dog's existence?
Paul Auster has taken a simple idea to a whole other level of reality and in the process has created a work that would transform human perception of the average canine awareness.

Yet, I have to say the story was a bit much for me to swallow. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs (heck, I wrote `The Basenji Revelation' after all) and sometimes I wonder what they feel, think and dream. I had a dog and know for certain that it understood me (I hope not to the degree of Timbuktu's main character). But then the dog died and now I change the radio channel when I hear a sentimental melody which brings forth the memories of us walking together down the street (I still can't get over the fact that my dog suffered the heart condition that eventually killed it). Yes, I change the channel and quickly drain the pan of overflowing nostalgia, which is what I should have done long before reaching the final pages of Timbuktu (Well, what can I say, I love Mr. Auster's writing style).

The story is written from the perspective of a dog by the name of Mr. Bones and follows up with its experiences as it looses one master, finds another, then a third, before it finally succumbs to the desire to escape the pain of its miserable, sickly existence in exchange for the chance to go Human Heaven called Timbuktu (Oh, the beauty of fiction).

If you love dogs and have recently lost one, this book will warm up your heart and then perhaps help you with your grief (although I'm still angry at Fate for the loss of my little pooch).

by Simon Cleveland

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All You Need Is Love

This is a charming, lightweight fable narrated by a wise old dog named Mr. Bones. Mr. Bones is the sidekick of Willy G. Christmas, a schizophrenic homeless man who is prone to Tom-Waits-like rants and Joycean word-play.

Mr. Bones has spent his entire life with Willy. Now that Willy was close to death, "it was next to impossible for [Mr. Bones] to imagine a world that did not have his master in it." As Mr. Bones astutely observes, "it was more than just love or devotion that caused Mr. Bones to dread what was coming. It was pure ontological terror. Subtract Willy from the world, and the odds were that the world itself would cease to exist."

But Willy does die, and Mr. Bones goes on, sustained by his memories of Willy and the new adventures that fill his life. He eventually finds love in a suburban family, "in the America of two-car garages, home-improvement loans, and neo-Renaissance shopping malls." Willy had always railed against these things, but "the fact was that Mr. Bones had no objections" to these trappings of the good life. Eventually, though, his longing for Willy gets the best of him and he realizes what he needs to do to remain true to himself.

This book is sweetly sentimental, in the style of "The Velveteen Rabbit" or "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." It's a book to read when it's raining outside and you're feeling low, with a cup of hot tea and some cinnamon toast -- preferably with a big old dog at your feet. Like an old Beatles song, it may seem simple at first but the emotions that are expressed are remarkably true.

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Mr. Bones, the canine hero of Paul Auster's astonishing new book, is the sidekick and confidant of Willy G. Christmas, a brilliant and troubled homeless man from Brooklyn. As Willy's body slowly expires, he sets off with Mr. Bones for Baltimore in search of his high school English teacher and a new home for his companion. Mr. Bones is our witness during their journey, and out of his thoughts, Paul Auster has spun one of the richest, most compelling tales in American fiction.