Customer Reviews

Red Dog

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is bound to become a classic, like "The Snow Goose". De Berniere has captured a disappearing Australia - frontier Western Australia in the not-too distant past.

Like many good novels in the last decade ("Dirt Music","Cloud Street" "The Shark Net"), it is set in Western Australia. It is a story for all ages, told in simple, unfussy narrative. It does not idealise the dog, its friends or enemies. I am suprised that it has been dismissed by some as a "children's book". I cannot imagine why.

Any dog lover would be delighted by this novella.

I just hope it's not made into a film. It's a narrative that can only live on the page.

It can be read in a few hours, but its effect will last for years.

John MacKay, Sydney Australia

Louis De Bernieres has written some marvelous literature. "Red Dog", is a wonderful true story about a dog that befriended a good portion of Australia, and has been memorialized with a bronze statue as well as other books. Faithful readers of this author will likely be disappointed if they expect another sweeping novel. This short story does not appear to have been planned, as it unfolds with crisp episodes in the remarkable life of this canine. It is extremely unusual in that the book has been illustrated with what appear to be etchings. Illustration has sadly become the domain of primarily very expensive, limited edition, small press books.

This is not a child's book, perhaps for young readers in Junior High, but not for young children. This is a book about adults and how a remarkably charismatic canine changed their lives. This is not a fairly tale, it includes the realities of very trying circumstances and the people who pioneer the way in this extremely difficult environment. When it gets hot in the USA warnings suggest certain groups stay indoors. When it gets hot down under, warnings are issued for gas tanks that are prone to explode when exposed to the sun!

I think it is great that an author who has established himself as an accomplished literary writer would have the courage to step well away from what has worked for him repeatedly. I was reminded of some of John Steinbeck's work that centered around animals, both his own and fictional. If John Steinbeck can make the change I believe it is safe for other accomplished authors to explore unfamiliar genres, and they do not deserve to be punished for doing so. This is especially the case when the results are so worthwhile. I was going to give this 4 stars but I stepped it up to 5. The book was punished and I wanted to even out what is a brief but entering read.

Personally I was lost on what to think about this particular book of Bernieres. I am an avid fan of Bernieres and have gone through all of his books in a sip, either loving them to the death or tossing them away (I am particularly talking about the Partisan's Daughter) yet this book left me unsure of myself.

First of all the brilliance of Louis de Bernieres' writing seemed to be absent from this one, it sure wasn't The War Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, much less witty and a lot more direct. Leaving nothing to the imagination (well of course aside from the story but there was another quality with Don Emmanuel) it was truly writing like it should be told to a child on a bedside. Sure that doesn't make it less notable but it usually lacks wittiness when it lacks maturity. And I was looking forward to some wittiness that'll make me smile and giggle on my own for no apparent reason.

But I cannot go on denying the fact that it is a lovely and heartwarming story that like it is so common in Bernieres' work lets you in on another culture that you did not know that much about, this time, Australian. A dog's relationship with humans could not have been told better. And you still cried and laughed without getting bored throughout the book.

It's not a huge or heavy book that will take too much of your time, it's a very nice book to relax, to take your mind off of things and to connect with life again but it's not an excellent book.

If you like dogs, you'll enjoy this book. Much of the negative reaction to it seems to result from comparing it to de Bernieres's earlier works. One of my favorite authors, a Scot named George Mackay Brown, wrote lyrical, serious works set in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. He also wrote children's books about the tribulations of Fankle the cat. To criticize Fankle's misadventures in his household for lacking the depth of, say, a magical-real B/brown study on the nature of war, would be ridiculous. So it goes for some of the attacks on this book. It's fun, it's charming without being cloying, and, for all its probable embellishments, it goes a long way toward highlighting the life of a dog who clearly meant a lot to a lot of people.

After seeing (and thoroughly enjoying) the movie I was excited to read the book to get a more in debth look at the characters. However at just 115 pages I don't feel like I got nearly as much from the book as I did from just seeing the movie. This is odd because it's usually the other way around. Anyway the book seemed to do a disservice to a delightful story by compressing it into such a short novel. I'd advise on just getting the DVD.

I can't sum it up any better than John MacKay has in his review of it here.

But worth repeating is the last line of his review;

"It can be read in a few hours, but its effect will last for years."

If you can,buy the illustrated version.The wonderful drawings by Alan Baker added so much to the reading experience for me,making it more of a work of art than just a book.

I will treasure my copy in the years ahead.

Just one correction to the "Glossary of Australian-isms" in the book.

It says a "Stubbie" is a can of beer.But a "Stubbie" is a small bottle of beer.

A can of beer is called a "Tinnie",even though now-days they are made out of aluminum.

My preference as a beer drinker is the "Stubbie",as I think the beer tastes better and is less of a fuss to drink out of.

Here's to Louis De Bernieres.I raise my "Stubbie" to you for a tale well read.

(tail well red...get it?...never mind)

Cheers!

I wish I had known Red Dog, since reading Louis de Bernieres story of The Dog Of The North-West, owned by no one, loved by all. I keep going over and over it in my mind its such a heart warming story it captures the essence of all that is good in most of mankind, the dog and the people in his life are all such solid grass roots characters you almost feel you know them.I'm so glad Louis past through the town of Karratha and saw the bronze statue of Red and wrote this wonderful book, without him this amazing true story of Red Dog and his uniqueness would never have been told to the wider world.Incidentally here in N>Z the Foundation for the Blind have this book in their library for the visually impaired.

Red Dog is an exceptional, heart-breaking, heart-warming story. True and unforgettable, it is a must read for any age.

We consider Canis familiaris a "domestic breed", but there are some dogs who cannot abide constant human contact. A brief contact, particularly for meals or temporary shelter is enough. Then, it's off again on a fresh exploration or hunt. Such a dog was the rust-coloured kelpie living in Western Australia's Pilbara mining territory. Known as "Red Dog" for obvious reasons, this animal moved through the human community entirely on his own terms. De Bernieres traces much of Red Dog's life, or at least what could be determined from interviews and newspaper accounts, presenting it as a continuous story. It's a captivating read from the opening page.

Although this book might be considered in the "young folks" genre of the "Lassie" or "Shep" variety, Red Dog was real. Giving him a name would have been out of place. De Bernieres introduces him as "Tally Ho", but that was in his early years when Red Dog's centre of operations was a caravan inhabited by an older couple. Moving into a mining community, Red Dog discovered how to manipulate the miners, all men without companions, and the surrounding communities. They petted, fed and sheltered him in turns. He cadged rides in buses, cars, even on the train running south to Perth, nearly 1500 kilometres distant. As the town grew, Red Dog improved his tastes, hitting hotels and restaurants for culinary leftovers. He took up with one of the workers, but John's death in the bush led Red Dog to further his explorations. He was seeking his lost "master".

The stories of Red Dog's wanderings give de Bernieres an opportunity to apply his descriptive skills to the people and the countryside. He fully captures the Australian inflections, and notes how a mining town was a magnet for itinerants. Immigrants of varied origins accumulated in the mining environment, learning co-operation and "mateship" while retaining their individuality. Australian men "don't cry", but it was acceptable when an Italian rough cries over a Red Dog injury - "because that's what Italian men do". Australia may be "the island continent", but that doesn't mean uniformity of outlook. The local policeman is vividly expressive about the local selectors putting out strychnine to reduce the dingo population.

Red Dog's story is almost unique in animal lore. We are fortunate that a writer of de Bernieres' talents was the one who spent the time and effort to reconstruct Red Dog's story. He's produced an outstanding account, one which appeals to all ages and to any nationality. Anybody who's owned a dog will find this a welcoming read. Those who haven't shared part of their life with a floppy-eared, tongue-wagging, devoted, endlessly challenging animal will learn here what they've been missing. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

If this author didn't have a bestseller or five already under his belt, I'd like to have heard him try and pitch this book to a publisher- "Well, it's a collection of true stories about a flatulent red dog in Western Australia, and, along the way, we all learn something about human nature, the immigrant experience and the incipient stirrings of a new culture in the Southern hemisphere." Luckily, Louis DeBernieres has enough money to do whatever he pleases these days and as a result we have this book of mythic vignettes from the life of one `Red Dog'.

Written in a style and vocabulary that wouldn't challenge your average 12-year-old, Red Dog relates stories as told to the author by people who actually knew the titular beastie. The Aussie dialect jumps off the page like a colourful episode of Neighbours as swagmen, kookaburras and `strewthing' all put in regular appearances and bring the warmly described characters to life.

It won't take you more than a couple of hours to read the whole book, but even so, I'd recommend reading it a chapter at a time over several days as its effects are subtle and you'll be sorry you finished it so quickly. I can't think of another book that covers this kind of ground so well.