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TIMBUKTU

Review by Sara Serrao

"... how do you move in a world of fog
that's always changing things
makes me wish that I could be a dog ..."
Tom Waits - I don't wanna grow up

I think I'm not the only one to be keen on animals. I can't say how many books I owne on that subject. Professors and scientists always describe our best friends' behaviour among themselves and towards us. But what about their feelings and thoughts? Is their mind really so simple as it is thought to be?
One day a clergyman told me animals can't enter a Church because they have no soul. Would Saint Francesco from Assisi agree? Paul Auster wouldn't for sure.

Mr Bones is the most complete portrait of a dog. And what's a dog's life based on? The search for someone to follow; some one-night lover to have nice puppies with; a piece of flesh now and then; freedom.

Nobody else could be a better master than Willy: an outcast, a dreamer, a lonely man wandering in his world of poetry with his lovely four-legged friend Mr Bones. The dog adores him: his skin, his voice and all the odd habits he has. Willy adores his dog and what's more important he trusts him. He knows a dog is more than it's given us to see. He has a power in his mind a man can't even imagine.

Mr Bones foresees events, he's clever and sensitive, he's proud and brave. He loses his master suddenly but he knows what to do. Willy had told him everything about the possibility of that sad experience and he just acts as he should. His master's voice meant everything to him: Mr Bones knows his suggestions were precious and they can help him to survive properly. But when Mr Bones faces Willy's death he feels just like any other being would: his heart is filled with grief and sorrow; earth cracks under his paws, sky blackens ... no - nothing of that happens. The world goes on. Nobody cares.

And Mr Bones begins his adventure and realizes he's become a common dog: he runs quickly along the streets, with his tail between his legs - nowhere to go to.

Pigeons escape his mouth. A child takes him home where he has to hide from the Chinese father who can't stand dogs. Willy had told him that Chinese restaurants are dangerous for him. He runs away for miles and rests in a wide field where he has a dream with Willy talking to him. A family adopts him: he has a dog's bed in the garden, children to play with and something to eat everyday. But then a doctor deprives him of his precious testicles and, as it often happens to dogs who have their masters going on holiday, he has to stay in a kennel for some time.

It's winter and when he escapes from his cage he furiously runs in the white snow of the forest. He feels high fever melting his mind and dreams his beloved Willy once again. He had told him he would have gone to Timbuktu after closing his eyes forever - Timbuktu, a distant place where every being can be happy. And when Mr Bones' eyes open he hears the sound of cars running on the street. He follows it and there he can see Willy on the other side of the road. Mr Bones decides to cross the street running in order to see if a car can help him reaching his Willy - to Timbuktu.

Anybody who has a dog knows how deep the relation master-pet can be. That's why I think this novel should be read by people who don't know the wonderful universe of animals - and dogs in particular.
What strikes the reader's mind is Mr Bones' faithfullness to his Willy: he should have felt better in the big house with children and everything he needed. But it wasn't so.

He had grown up with his crazy Willy, he had walked for miles with him sharing love and pains. He felt he was free with him and since he loved him he trusted his words too. Willy felt the same: Mr Bones was no ordinary dog - he was his dog.

Forever.

Have you ever seen those dogs living with their masters on the road? No chill, no rain, no hunger would let them abandon their human friends. Love has nothing to do with comforts. Dogs know. And man?

God gave us cats so that we could touch the tiger.

God gave us dogs so that we could understand how we should be.

God knows dogs don't need Churches.

Dedicated to Auster's dog Jack and to my four-legged best friends Carol and Chopin.