Scooter Chronicles

Yesterday evening, I finished reading “Outside the Dog Museum” by Jonathan Carroll.

Here is a synopsis from Publishers Weekly via Amazon.Com:

Here his narrator is a curmudgeonly genius, the aphorizing architect Harry Radcliffe, who, with the aid of a maverick therapist, has recently recovered from a mental collapse and is ready to reexamine his constructs of reality. He’s also rebounding from an amicable divorce and conducts affairs with two fabulous females. Various developments - including an earthquake from which Radcliffe’s party is miraculously rescued by a Middle Eastern sultan and the therapist’s dog - oblige Radcliffe to accept the sultan’s commission to build a vast dog museum. When war breaks out in the sultan’s realm and he is killed, his son - a romantic rival for one of Radcliffe’s lady loves - presses Radcliffe to build the museum on his property in Austria and promises to pay in magic. After further astonishing feats (leaping into other identities, the momentary reincarnation of the dead, etc.) the picaresque tone, surprisingly, yields at the end to a reprise of a biblical theme, turning this spirited novel into something like a moral tale.

I had been wanting now for a while to read something of Carroll’s work. Though part of me was worried about taking a chance. I always got the feeling that his work was more metaphysical then I would be able to handle. Because of this, he seems to have an odd following. He’s an American, now living in Austria, however his book are hard to find here in the States. On the other side of that, his books are rather popular in Europe. From what I understand, this book is similar to his others, meaning they are a bit fantastical, but not really. There are elements of magic, but you can’t compare his work to Neil Gaiman’s or others that write urban fantasy. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was very easy to slip into reading.

The characters aren’t too terribly deep. In many respects it works for this story. Some of the uniqueness of the story would have been hidden under more character development. Also, given the nature of Harry’s personality, and with the story being his first person narrative, it was another plus.

Jonathan Carroll

To be honest, if there were many messages in the story, I may have missed some, if not most, of them. But overall, the story was interesting enough to keep me tagging along. Some of the magic, or reasons things were happening, were not explained. Also, at times, I got the feeling that the characters just accepted the fact that there was magic at times, and unless it was very distressing, didn’t question it. I missed having some explanation, but without much at all, and the characters reactions, it worked out to be another plus for the story.

The only thing that had me scratching me head was the ending. There some explanation was needed. Unless it was hidden under what I read and didn’t get it. It wasn’t bad. I sometimes like books that still leave questions unanswered. But the abrupt ending seemed to leave too much of a void, given one of the main reasons stated for the building of this Dog Museum.

The book hasn’t put me off of Carroll’s writing. It was more accessible then I expected, and I like the odd thing or two happening from time to time. This may have been a good book to start with, and I am interested in seeing what his other books will bring me.