Outside the Dog Museum – Jonathan Carroll
Like most of Jonathan Carroll’s novels, Outside the Dog Museum starts out as a fairly normal novel set in modern day America. Harry Radcliffe is a celebrated architect recovering from a mysterious nervous breakdown. He is not a particularly pleasant individual. Recently divorced, he is dating both Claire and Fanny, two strong-minded women, who know about each other. He is also being pursued by the Sultan of a small middle eastern state to build a multi-million dollar dog museum. Then things gradually start to diverge from normality. It would be doing Jonathan Carroll and his books a disservice to describe them as Fantasy or even Horror. Rather, they are Surreal and Magical. In this book, the divergence initially concerns the people he meets, such as his strange therapist Venasque; his Swedish friend Palm or his “mentor” Hasenhuttl. Eventually the magic changes him, helping him to grow. As usual, in the middle section of the book it is difficult to see and understand what is going on, but ultimately a perfectly logical and quite profound explanation is given for the storyline. This is what is so good about Jonathan Carroll’s books, the powerful ideas which are introduced and expounded so subtly, make them feel perfectly reasonable despite being so bizarre and otherworldly. Outside the Dog Museum is very well written with powerful characterisations. It is one of his best works, and I cannot recommend it too highly. Sadly he is not stocked in any great quantities. If you find any of his works. Don’t hesitate to buy and read them immediately.
Publisher: Orb Date: 1992 Pages: 267 Pages Price: £9.99 ISBN: 0-765-31185-2 Format: Trade paperback Reviewed by: Rod Cameron Date Reviewed: May 2006