Split into four seasons - the spill, simmer, falter, wither of the title - the book charts a year in the life of 57-year-old Ray, a social misfit, who buys a rescue dog - “a vicious little bugger” but a “good ratter, alright” - with one eye whom he dubs, appropriately, “One Eye”: And then I picked up Sara Baume’s Spill Simmer Falter Wither - which had been sitting on my bedside table since February - and I had to reassess my prejudice against dogs in literature, for in this beautifully written debut novel we follow the up-and-down relationship between one man and his dog, and it is truly an impressive achievement. (Please note this book has also been published by Windmill Books.)Įarlier this year I read the 2015 Giller Prize-winning Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis and I thought that may well put me off reading anything about fictional canines ever again. Fiction – paperback Tramp Press 215 pages 2015.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |