The Dog of the North: LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023
£9.19£9.99 (-8%)
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023
The darkly comic new novel from the bestselling author of The Portable Veblen
’Incredibly funny and very moving’ BELLA MACKIE
‘A blissful novel that I want to give to everyone I love’ NINA STIBBE
‘Even funnier, even more romantic than McKenzie’s wonderful last’ KAREN JOY FOWLER
Penny Rush has problems. Her marriage is over, she’s quit her job, her parents have been missing in the Australian outback for five years and now she’s back home in Santa Barbara, dealing with mounting family crises and living out of a borrowed van named The Dog of the North.
The Dog is replete with gingham curtains, wood panelling, a piñata, clunky brakes and difficult steering. It’s also Penny’s getaway car from the curveballs life’s throwing at her. With an uncertain future ahead of her, could the road she’s on lead her back to herself?
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Additional information
| Publisher | Fourth Estate (15 Feb. 2024) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 336 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0008561451 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0008561451 |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 2.1 x 19.8 cm |
by Rosamond C
I was not sure at first . Set in America. Penny went back to help her grandparents who were divorced . Her grandfather had a horrid second wife. The grandmother was mad but clever. Lots of twists . Penny’s parents had disappeared in Australia. So a closure was needed that. It’s a weird book . You also had a camper van, a dog, an accountant and love. Also a sister in Australia and a house that needs sorting .You need to read it.
by Kipper
A rumbustious picaresque of a tale.
by coco
Encouraged by the amusing book cover with a synopsis suggesting a darkly comic plot (plus my sneaky peek at enthusiastic 5* reviews), I started to read with enthusiasm. What went wrong. It puzzles me why I seem to be in the minority and almost hated the book. Yes, I did laugh a few times but had absolutely no empathy with the characters, most of them seemed unpleasant. Penny’s grandmother, weirdly known only by her family name of Pincer (who does that), was offensively disagreeable. I felt indifferent to Bert, just wished him a speedy recovery. Penny’s biological father Gaspard was scarily unbalanced. The one interesting character was Penny’s elderly grandfather Arlo, but his much younger wife Doris was coarse, obnoxious and probably evil.
I lost interest at the point when Penny and her grandfather depart for Australia to search for her parents who disappeared FIVE years ago. DNF
by LibraryGeek12
This book defies description, but loosely it revolves around Penny, who has just quit her job and left her husband, and sets off to sort out some family problems, particularly those surrounding her fiercely independent, maverick grandmother who is hiding some dark secrets of her own. At a later point, she travels to Australia with her grandfather to try and find closure about the mysterious disappearance of her mother and stepfather in the outback five years ago. Along the way she endures various health crises (her own and those of others), is stalked by the biological father who has caused her much childhood trauma, makes some new friends and develops a romantic attachment. This does not do justice to the plot, but that would be an impossible task. Fresh and funny, sometimes moving, totally surreal yet somehow also absorbing, this book will not appeal to everybody but is a delightful breath of fresh air for anyone who likes to push genre boundaries and to read something really different from the mass of novels out there. I did think it ended rather abruptly with a lot of loose ties- is it possible that McKenzie plans to revisit her lovable cast of oddballs? That would be something to look forward to.
by Donna Smith
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie
Penny is escaping a failed marriage and career in a dental practice, rushing to the aid of her Grandma Pincer, and her Grandad Arlo. The Dog of the North is the van she borrows from Burt her Grandma’s accountant to sleep in and travel.
I loved this book – Penny’s story is accompanied by an entire cast of quirky characters who give comedy and heart to the story. I loved Penny and rooted for her all the way. Very VERY highly recommended!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.