Timbuktu

Pocketbok. London : Faber. 2000. 186 sidor.

Nära nyskick. Meet Mr Bones, the canine hero of Paul Auster's remarkable new novel, Timbuktu, his first work of fiction in five years. Mr Bones is the sidekick and confidant of Willy G. Christmas, the brilliant, troubled and altogether original poet-saint from Brooklyn. Like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza before them, they sally forth on a last great adventure, heading for Baltimore, Maryland, in search of Willy's high school teacher, Bea Swanson. Years have passed since Willy last saw his beloved mentor, who knew him in his previous incarnation as William Gurevitch, the son of Polish war refugees. But is Mrs Swanson still alive? And if she isn't, what will prevent Willy from vanishing into that other world known as Timbuktu?
'Now this joy of a book, a true love story, which is as sensitive as it is daring - after all, Auster is a serious writer - and funny, confirms he has a sense of pathos to match his cleverness.
Above all, the sheer appeal of the narrative never upstages the relaxed elegance of a uniquely well-written, intelligent and beguiling performance. The Irish Times
'In a world in which many people get treated like dogs, Paul Auster has elected to tell us the story of a dog's life, and by the end of this brief, extraordinary book he has made us think, feel and even dream along with his canine Mr Bones. By stepping outside the frame of our own species, Auster allows us to see ourselves afresh, through the eyes of the loving, half-comprehending, half-mystified aliens who live within our homes. Salman Rushdie