The Dog of the North: LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023

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This is a story of pain and healing yet narrated in a different, funny way. We are aware of the problems but still there is a tinge of humor along with sadness or helplessness. I enjoyed reading it and I admire the author who has different style of writing. Penny shows many signs of being neurodivergent without explicitly saying it herself. A very accidentally apt book for me as I started reading it during neurodivergent awareness week and didn’t realise that the book touched on topics involving this when I started it. However I did see much of myself in Penny and felt a comfort in reading about the world through her eyes, which I oftentimes find missing in many of the fictional pieces I read. Zany and fun . . . Penny is always sharp, ready for the other shoe to drop, and lovable. This spinning, upside-down rollercoaster of a novel is a delightful portrait of the definitive chaos of love and family and perfect for fans of Carl Hiassen and George Saunders.” — Booklist

How was your experience writing Dog of the North influenced by your experience writing The Portable Veblen? In the beginning, we see Ann as an eight-year-old who is abandoned by her pregnant mother who sends her to her grandmother in Europe. In that completely alien nation, Ann discovers some disturbing things about her grandmother. Apparently, she is an extreme iconoclast and she shares her beliefs with that little girl which turns Ann’s mind. Ann then grows up to be a college girl, but her disfigured family still haunts her. Her grandmother’s reappearance in her college campus leaves Ann stunned and scared. The woman is an original thinker. She has her own opinions and she doesn’t suffer fools. She’s not afraid to speak her mind. And she’s as strong as an ox, let me tell you. You should see her jump into the Dog”.

The Dog of the North

Her stepsister, Margaret settled in Australia with a perfect family and good life. Actually, this one is a boon. It would have to be Dale Lampey, the defence attorney from San Francisco who, despite Penny’s initial belief that he resembles a hedgehog, is really quite dashing. Over a yummy Mexican meal and margaritas, Burt and Penny we’re getting to know each other. Burt was a trusted accountant to Penny’s grandmother. Everything that occurred spontaneously and unexpectedly in the narrative was very fun. Challenging, often, is biding my time until the next right move presents itself. One line on the cover should have told me that my expectations might be a little off. The one that says Shortlisted For The Women's Prize For Fiction. The Women's Prize For Fiction normally goes to quite literary books. The 2022 winner was Ruth Ozeki’s The Book of Form and Emptiness. The 2021 winner was Susanna Clarke's Piranesi. It's not the kind of prize a Redemption By Roadtrip novel is likely to win unless it goes way off-piste.

Not so much beyond the dog’s name, but I did understand that Penny is on a type of quest. And I think one thing she admires about Burt is his quixotic optimism. So, I think [the Don Quixote connection] kind of resonates. It was remarked that the van in Dog of the North is sort of like Don Quixote’s horse Rocinante, which, again, was not a connection I had thought of…but I love that the spirit of that beloved novel might hover near this one. Many thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for the eARC of this fantastic, hilarious, charming read. I'm not familiar with the author's other books, but I read that she was a past National Book Award nominee, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with this, and I was correct. I have been — with Elizabeth for a few hours — in the Saratoga library one mid week morning years ago …From the cover and the publisher's summary, I assumed The Dog Of The North was going to be another take on the familiar theme of Redemption By Roadtrip. One of those books where a likeable woman has arrived, through a series of unfortunate events, at a point where the life she'd expected to live has imploded so she sets out on a lone quest to find a new place where she can belong and along the way, she encounters larger-than-life characters who help her discover her inner strength and some of whom become her found-family when she finally starts to build a life that will help her be her true self. Cue sunset and happy-ever-after music. It's a good theme and I'd have been happy to see a few new twists on old tropes. Darkly absurd and slyly insightful. A genuinely comic novel and a potent, poignant investigation into grief and the myriad ways we flailingly, failingly attempt to avoid the pains of loss. Miranda Popkey, author of Topics of Conversation -