The lost dog

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Tom Loxley is holed up in a cottage in the bush, trying to finish his book on Henry James, when his dog goes missing, trailing a length of orange twine. As Tom searches it becomes clear that he needs to unravel other puzzles in his life and the story shifts between past and present, taking in his parents' mixed-race marriage in India, their arrival in Australia in the 1970s, Tom's own failed marriage, and his current involvement with Nelly Zhang, an artist with her own secrets and mysteries.

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2008.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

While staying in a remote cabin trying to finish his book on Henry James, divorced college professor Tom Loxley loses his dog and sets out to find him in the Australian outback. Accompanying him is Nellie Zhang, a highly regarded contemporary artist with a scandal in her past--and a woman with whom Tom would like to be more than just friends. Tom's search for the dog is mirrored by multiple needs: to understand his past as an immigrant from India, to grasp both Nellie's art and her personal history (information about which is doled out in fragments), to be sensitive to his mother's growing disabilities, and to anchor himself in the present. De Kretser, whose The Hamilton Case was a 2004 New York Times Notable Book, overlays her protagonist's perceptions with layers of imagery--from nature, Henry James's ghost stories, contemporary art, urban decay, and renewal--creating a nuanced portrait of a man in his time. The novel, like Tom, is multicultural, intelligent, challenging, and, ultimately, rewarding. Recommended for all literary fiction collections.--Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

De Kretser (The Hamilton Case) presents an intimate and subtle look at Tom Loxley, a well-intentioned but solipsistic Henry James scholar and childless divorce, as he searches for his missing dog in the Australian bush. While the overarching story follows Tom's search during a little over a week in November 2001, flashbacks reveal Tom's infatuation with Nelly Zhang, an artist tainted by scandal-from her controversial paintings to the disappearance and presumed murder of her husband, Felix, a bond trader who got into some shady dealings. As Tom puts the finishing touches on his book about James and "the uncanny" and searches for his dog, de Kretser fleshes out Tom's obsession with Nelly-from the connection he feels to her incendiary paintings (one exhibition was dubbed "Nelly's Nasties" in the press) to the sleuthing about her past that he's done under scholarly pretenses. Things progress rapidly, with a few unexpected turns thrown in as Tom and Nelly get together, the murky circumstances surrounding Felix's disappearance are (somewhat) cleared up and the matter of the missing dog is settled. De Kretser's unadorned, direct sentences illustrate her characters' flaws and desires, and she does an admirable job of illuminating how life and art overlap in the 21st century. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

De Kretser (The Hamilton Case, 2004) renders prose that's spare and sublime. It's too bad the protagonist of her third novel is such a self-absorbed bore. Tom Loxley, a divorced professor living in Australia, spends his days dwelling on life's minutia. This even includes his personal scent ( varnished wood with a bass note of cumin, notes Tom, the same aroma as his late father). So when his dog goes missing in the Australian bush, it leads to endless rumination about what might have transpired. Some distraction is provided by Tom's friend, Nelly, an eccentric painter whose life has the whiff of scandal (her husband disappeared under suspicious circumstances). Also of concern is Tom's mother, Iris, a once-indomitable woman quickly withering with age. Tom's scholarly pursuits (he's writing a book on Henry James) are often upstaged by carnal preoccupations (namely, lust for Nelly, who repeatedly refuses his advances). And then there's the matter of the dog. The mystery surrounding Nelly is by far the most interesting part of a book that sags under the weight of Tom's tedious ways.--Block, Allison Copyright 2008 Booklist