Book Review - The Girl with the Dogs by Anna Funder:

“The Girl with the Dogs is a poinganatly, beautiful novella about what is really precious in life.” ( The Saturday paper) “Amid the debris of her friends' relationships, Tess has a marriage that's comparatively unscathed. But she's at a hinge moment, poised between her present life and the one she decided against in her youth. What could she have made of her life had she chosen differently? And what will she risk to find out? Deceptively concise, The Girl with the Dogs is a masterful story about life from beginning to end, and about the brief moments of choice that have enduring consequences.” (Ref Dymocks reviews)

When she was twenty-one Tess had lived with Mitya (Dimitri Voronin), a Russian artist who lived on Capri. The relationship lasted for less than a year but ever since she had kept the memory of him like an Aladdin’s lamp inside her, something she can take out from time to time and rub and see it glow. Tess met Mitya when she was on Capri working as a dog walker, hence the name of the novella. Now years later she is back in Australia, happily married to Dan. They have three children; Charlotte thirteen years old and the twins Tom and Lorna, are six . Tess leaves for a publishing conference in London. “ London is more like itself than Tess remembers.” Alone in her hotel room she is having imaginary conversations with Mitya.”She feels excited and ridiculous, middle-aged and adolescent, as if she never grew-up.” The next day she catches a train to Paris. “What does she want from him?” She can’t expain what she is doing, even to herself, is the flutter in her stomach for Mitya or a new one , from deceit. Tess looks him up on Facebook and finds out he has a showing at a gallery. She decides to go and view his work, with the hope of a reunion. The reunion produces a different version of their split-up than Tess remembers, leaving her eager to get home to Dan and the kids and her life in Australia.

Review:

The book club meeting was a bit light-on for members this month, only four of us. As the book was a novella and a very quick read we didn’t have a very long discussion. We decided that it was a very everyday story, that often happens as we get older and reflect on periods of our past. Unresolved relationships and memories, at unexpectant times, come to mind and set our minds to ”what ifs”. The letter from Dan’s ex sets Tess off thinking of her ex. The group exchanged stories of similar unresolved and surprising periods from our own and friends and family’s pasts. I think from the discussion we all found it a worth while read that filled in a few hours. 

Thank you to Margaret Cassidy for the review