![]() From the outset, he is aware of more than he discloses. But his heartache has made him an untrustworthy narrator. ''Here is what we know, those of us who can speak to tell a story,'' Paul begins, ostensibly presenting clues as he discovers them. ![]() ![]() Lorelei is the sole witness to this event, and Paul resolves to make her reveal what happened. ![]() When the book opens, Paul, a linguist who lives in suburban Virginia, has just learned that his wife, Lexy Ransome, has died in their backyard in a mysterious fall from an apple tree. But after allowing myself to be swept up in her story - which, because of its extreme implausibility, required some effort - I found that I had gained fresh insights into those as well. Paul Iverson, the narrator of the book, compares the rough strip that runs down the dog's back to the stiff velvet upholstery on one of his grandmother's chairs, fabric that seemed prickly yet ''when you flattened a bit of the nap with your finger, you could feel the softness that lay between the individual threads.'' In contrast, I thought I knew a lot about love and grief, the other elements central to Parkhurst's book. But her descriptions made me feel as if I'd grown up with them. ![]() I knew very little about Rhodesian Ridgebacks when I began reading ''The Dogs of Babel,'' Carolyn Parkhurst's inventive first novel, in which a Ridgeback named Lorelei figures prominently. ![]()
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