Timbuktu by Paul Auster

"For the loneliness you foster/ I suggest Paul Auster/ A book called Timbuktu."

That's a lyric from the song "Put a Penny in the Slot" by Fionn Regan. Ever since I heard it, years ago, I've looked for this book. Today I found it at Capitol Hill Books and promptly bought it.

Mr. Bones is the narrator of this book. Mr. Bones is a dog whose owner, Willy G. Christmas, is dying. The two have been together for the past seven years, the most recent four spent on the road-vagabond style- searching for Willy's high school teacher. Willy is looking to bequeath his life's work to someone responsible, so that his legacy will carry on. Simultaneously, he has been giving Mr. Bones lessons in life: where to go once he is without a human, and where his human will go once he passes on-a place Willy calls Timbuktu.

Mr. Bones has visions that come to him in the form of dreams. These dreams have always come to pass in reality, culminating in Willy's death. On the lam, attempting to escape all policemen or anyone similar (surely sealing a fate leading to a dogcatcher!), our dog friend eventually finds a family. Completely suburban and nuclear, this family is at once completely foreign (they name him Sparky!) and comforting (they bathe him!) to Mr. Bones.

I knew at page 4 when Bones refers to "ontological terror" that this would be a book I could get behind. While the ending was a bit tragic, I didn't find myself feeling any more or less lonely (the expectation set by Fionn Regan years back). As an aside, upon finishing this book, I met a random guy who has three unfinished novels. When asked his favorite modern writers, he answered with Paul Auster, and told me that there is another title that will "make me want to slit my wrists." As this is my fourth Auster book to date, I can't wait to see what the next one does to me.

"But God paid no attention to him or else could not find him."

"It was the first time he had understood that memory was a real place that one could visit; and that to spend a few moments among the dead was not necessarily bad for you, that it could in fact be a source of great comfort and happiness."