Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Dogs of Babel

3.51 of 5 stars 3.51 · rating details · 11,079 ratings · 1,618 reviews

The quirky premise of Carolyn Parkhurst's debut novel, The Dogs of Babel, is original enough: after his wife Lexy dies after falling from a tree, linguistics professor Paul Iverson becomes obsessed with teaching their dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Lorelei (the sole witness to the tragedy), to speak so he can find out the truth about Lexy's death--was it accidental or di...more

Hardcover, 264 pages

Published November 1st 2005 by Little, Brown (first published 2003)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

May 24, 2007 Erin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book, in a word, stinks. And now I shall tell you why.

The main character marries a woman named Lexy. Lexy is terribly mysterious, and vibrant, and creative, and such and so on. Okay, whatever, she dies by falling out of an apple tree. Now that I have been browbeaten with the symbolism, let's go to a flashback so Parkhurst can work up some sympathy for this dead chick. By having her suggest that they take a spur of the moment trip to Disneyland! Which I hate! Which should be firebombed! Whi...more

like 31 likes · see review

Mar 31, 2007 Wormie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who likes good writing and can forgive a plot flaw

The writing style is sweet and sensitive, the emotion real, and the story compelling. Dr. Paul Iverson, professor of linguistics, comes home from work one night to find his yard filled with police. His wife, Lexy, has fallen from the apple tree in their yard and died. The death was declared an accident and Paul, was left alone to nurse his grief.

In the days to follow, Paul notices some oddities around the house. Lorelei, the couple’s Rhodesian Ridgeback, was the only witness to the accident. Pa...more The writing style is sweet and sensitive, the emotion real, and the story compelling. Dr. Paul Iverson, professor of linguistics, comes home from work one night to find his yard filled with police. His wife, Lexy, has fallen from the apple tree in their yard and died. The death was declared an accident and Paul, was left alone to nurse his grief.

In the days to follow, Paul notices some oddities around the house. Lorelei, the couple’s Rhodesian Ridgeback, was the only witness to the accident. Paul decides that he must use his skill as a linguist to teach Lorelei to communicate so that she can tell him what she saw and solve the mystery of Lexy’s death.

Parkhurst’s novel is anything but a mystery. It is a story of love and of coping with loss. Paul narrates the novel bouncing back and forth from present to past. He shares the story of his and Lexy’s romance. How they met and fell in love, and how her death left him broken.

Parkhurst descriptions are palpable. Paul and Lexy’s love is sweet, at times nauseatingly so. Paul’s grief is gut wrenching and often truly painful to experience. The novel will make the reader laugh and cry. It doesn’t hammer us with plot detail; but slowly unwraps like a silky fabric releasing emotions from its soft folds.

Communication is a major theme in the book. Paul, as a linguist, favors the power of language; Lexy, an artist, is often better able to communicate through her art. Lexy’s inability to communicate effectively through language often leaves her frustrated and depressed. These differences in style often lead to misunderstandings in their relationship.

Parkhurst makes all this work. She has an intriguing story. She writes poetically with feeling. She infuses symbolism in her writing: the biblical references to the Tower of Babel and the apple tree in the Garden of Eden, Lexy’s masks which both hide and reveal truths, square eggs which alter the appearance but not the substance of a common item. She addresses fact and faith, honesty and deception, and love and resentment. I loved this book….until…
…

For some reason, in the middle of this wonderful novel, Parkhurst made a sharp turn and detoured into several chapters of a freakish, sci-fi storyline. This wonderful story of emotion and grief is replaced with an action-mystery about a secret society of men performing horrific experiments on dogs in the name of science. This side story was so out of place with the quiet beauty of the rest of the novel. It distracted me from the beauty of the novel, and I almost didn’t want to finish the book.

Including this sub-plot in the book, in my opinion, was Parkhurst’s fatal flaw. When I finished the novel, I was quite disappointed. I spent a few days trying to understand why this horrific sub-plot was included in the novel, and what it added to the story that otherwise would have been lacking. I came up blank. It was only in preparation to write a somewhat scathing review, that I realized that overall The Dogs of Babel is a beautiful novel. If I could have skipped several chapters as I read, I would have been raving about this novel and about Parkhurst’s writing.

The inclusion of this bizarre sub-plot breaks the flow of the novel, and I must only give a 2 star rating to the book. However, for the most part I loved Parkhurst’s style and sensitivity, and would like to give her and her writing four stars, perhaps five. So I find myself in the odd situation of recommending this book, even though I can’t give it a better rating. I do think that Parkhurst’s writing is wonderful and should be experienced, but I think that in this debut novel she became a bit too ambitious, and tried to pack a bit too much into the story. (less)

like 20 likes · see review

Dec 16, 2007 Joseph Soltero rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone

Ah, where do I begin reviewing this book? Let me start by saying that this book is not about what it's promoted to be. It's marketed as a book about a grieving widower who tries to teach his dog, the sole witness to his late wife's death, to talk. And yes, this book is about that, but it is not solely about that.

This novel is an intense exploration of one man's profound and painful experience of grief - especially when it's over a mysterious death. Did she die accidentally or did she kill hersel...more

like 39 likes · see review

Aug 28, 2007 Molly Woods rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What I learned from this book? Don't marry a woman who creates artsy masks for a living because she will attempt and/or succeed at suicide. If someone who makes arty masks for a living doesn't at first succeed at suicide, he/she should try harder. I also learned: don't try and make your dog talk. Why? Because dogs can't talk. Even if you do terrible, terrible things to them, surgical-wise. Similarly, if someone attached a whale penis to you, you wouldn't be able to sex on a lady whale. You'd jus...more

like 19 likes · see review

Jun 21, 2011 Adrienne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this very quickly not because it was bad but because I wanted to find out 'what happened' and after I'd got over the doginess parts (I'm a cat person) and appriciated them for what they were the story just streamed through my mind.

Paul and Lexy and are seemingly happily married, everything is going well for them, then tragedy strikes and Lexy dies in an apparant accident, the only witness is Lorelei the couples dog, and of course she can't tell.

In his grief Paul slips slowly into a dark...more

like 6 likes · see review

Apr 10, 2008 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this book up in a bookstore last summer, and I began reading it while waiting for my companions. While I've read many mystery novels, this one seemed unique and stuck in my mind even after replacing it on the shelf just a few pages in.

I was surprised when I finally purchased this book nearly a year later to find that it is a lot more than a mystery novel and more than just a story (albeit a great one) about grief and loss. It is also a story about romance, mental illness, fear of bringi...more

like 5 likes · see review

Jul 15, 2007 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: fiction

This is hands down my favorite novel, maybe not of all time, but definitely of anything I've read in the last few years (and that encompasses a fair amount of books). It is so moving and so well written. The language is beautiful. Every sentence made me think, "Damn. Wish I'd written that!" Very lovely, poetic, heartbreaking. I can't say enough good things about this book. Highly recommended. It's about a man's grief and attempts to learn what really happened after his wife's sudden death. Didn'...more

like 13 likes · see review

Jun 26, 2008 Tania rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: my enemies

Shelves: animals, contemporary-fiction, crime-mystery, reviled-book-burning-pile

I HATED this book. And I rarely hate a book, even if I don't enjoy it. But this one... everything about it left a bad taste in my mouth. The whole reading experience was just a downward spiral of depression and desperation. With disgusting and gratuitous descriptions of animal abuse, and its completely unlikable characters, this book was almost painful to read. I persevered, hoping that I would be rewarded for my suffering with an uplifting or fascinating twist. Yet even when the big "mystery" w...more

like 15 likes · see review

Jul 02, 2007 Ally Armistead rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Elyse

Enjoyed this book immensely, and finished in two days. It's a contemporary novel, lyrically written. It's a beautiful masterpiece of paper mache masks, linguistics, codes in book titles, incongruities at a crime scene, patterns in language, the love of a dog, canine speech, canine abuse, mental illness, fear of bringing children into the world, marriage, issues of openness and honesty, grief, mystery, and letting go. Ultimately, it's an exploration in how we go through the many stages of losing...more

like 5 likes · see review

May 27, 2007 Kristin Little rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Dogs of Babel is a beautiful and tragic tale of love and loss. The slow revealing of the main couple's past is well woven and easily believeable. The completely crazy part was the talking dog theme that Carolyn Parkhurst overreached on...

In the book, The main character (Paul Iverson), devastated by the loss of his dearly loved wife, makes a desperate attempt to make sense of her death by trying to teach his dog to talk. What at first is a poigniant and heart-rending (albeit futile) struggle...more

like 4 likes · see review

Apr 22, 2007 Meredith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This book is a really beautiful and rather gentle portrait of grief. It's about a linguistics professor whose wife falls to her death out of their apple tree in their backyard, with only their dog as a witness. In the year following her loss, the professor copes by trying to teach his dog to speak - knowing full well that it's a little nuts - in the hopes of learning if she really fell, or let herself fall. He's not crazy, nor is the story cheesy, but as complex and difficult as real life and lo...more

like 4 likes · see review

Jan 18, 2010 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, read-in-2010

Above and beyond any opinions formed, Carolyn Parkhurst takes an incredible risk in her debut novel: a series of risks that in and of itself sets this book apart from others, in this reader's experience. And while the risks the author took worked for my reading preferences, for some they won't. While this book is by no means a difficult read as far as word choice and literature goes, even the most sensitive of readers upon turning the last page will have missed at least one thing that makes this...more Above and beyond any opinions formed, Carolyn Parkhurst takes an incredible risk in her debut novel: a series of risks that in and of itself sets this book apart from others, in this reader's experience. And while the risks the author took worked for my reading preferences, for some they won't. While this book is by no means a difficult read as far as word choice and literature goes, even the most sensitive of readers upon turning the last page will have missed at least one thing that makes this book so beautiful. I say this not to insult anyone, but only because this book respects its subjects, characters, and devices so earnestly that the full spectrum of just how delicately each aspect of its organization is created can not be fully reached in just one read. And yet, despite this (or perhaps because of it), the book is deeply satisfying and whole if the reader chooses to visit it once.

After scanning the first page of reviews, I find it vastly important to address how a book can be received so well by some and shunned by others. The best way I know how to put it is approach. Those who have been spared the struggle of deep grief, or have never felt so deeply about something to find rationality in the irrational, or have been taught that the world of mental illness is a lesson in histrionics and manipulation rather than a physiological complication that can not be cured but managed ... well, they would find this book almost childish and even repulsive. And what I find tragic about that is that the very essence and substance of the novel told through its bulls-eye messages some just simply not wont hear but can't.

And is that a failure for that person? Absolutely not. There is no innate personality or intellectual problem with the readers who hit the one star.

But for those lucky (and unfortunately simultaneously unlucky) readers who are able to humbly give this 5 stars, this is the signature of a person who can not imagine giving it anything less. Simply because it's that good. I couldn't possibly know for sure, but I'd guess maybe they were wowed by the simple poetry of the writing, the use of symbolism pulled off, the careful decisions to make the experience not too heavy in emotion for the reader but not so intellectual that it's flat. Or maybe they will be amazed by the author's uncanny ability to pull off first person POV in a way that doesn't even seem to read as first person. Or maybe it's the nuances of the characters, how they develop and why they must develop and how naked and vulnerable they are in their humanity or how true to life even the simplest thing they do is. Or maybe the light, and at some times profound layers upon layers that this book offers will delight a reader who loves to read between the lines for hidden truths, at times more profound than the ones that are right in front of them in the story.

There is another theory - perhaps people will simply love this book because they will catch a subtle (or not so subtle) glimpse at themselves in the characters. And yet, some may be repulsed by this notion: we don't want these characters to be real. We beg that they aren't because there's a bit of them in us, too. We are breakable and strong. We are all joined together by this ridiculous and hideous and miraculous thing we call "life" and its horrors and dreams and beauty. And we wish that this book could be something else; perhaps something that promises that we can escape our humanity some how. But this book will not waiver in speaking its truth no matter how much we might not want to face it. No, it will grab the reader by the shoulders, show them strange haunting suffering of its characters and command the reader to become a little bit more aware of what it means to exist in this world.

Lastly, I do not take it upon myself to review this book simply because I read it. I must review it instead because (and I say this with the upmost respect and honesty) it is the most brilliant piece of work I've ever read. Enjoyable, tragically beautiful and real and strangely compelling and hauntingly familiar. The brightest gem I've read and one that I'd recommend to anyone.(less)

like 5 likes · see review

Mar 24, 2009 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who enjoy torturing their pets?

Shelves: fiction, heartbreak, horror, objectively-terrible-pretentious

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like 10 likes · see review

Jan 20, 2011 Msmurphybylaw rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: why-i-don-t-read-best-sellers

*****There may be some spoilers, but this review is not a synopsis****

I'm not sure why I decided to make this my first written review on GR. Maybe it is because this story conflicts in defining mental illness, artists and Tarot cards so harshly that it sandpapered my brain, or maybe it's an easy way to get my feet wet. Recently I've shied away from reading best sellers and books with 'O' stickers on them for varied reasons. It's been a slow summer and I haven't been sleeping well so I thumbed t...more *****There may be some spoilers, but this review is not a synopsis****

I'm not sure why I decided to make this my first written review on GR. Maybe it is because this story conflicts in defining mental illness, artists and Tarot cards so harshly that it sandpapered my brain, or maybe it's an easy way to get my feet wet. Recently I've shied away from reading best sellers and books with 'O' stickers on them for varied reasons. It's been a slow summer and I haven't been sleeping well so I thumbed through a stack of books my daughter brought home from library sale and this is the jewel I pulled from the stack.

I would have given it one star, but I understand grief and I understand suicide. Real suicide, not the apple tree tumbling suicide that fairy tales and talking dog stories are made of. Grief can make sane people do a number of inconceivably mad acts. I applaud the author's attempt of working her story through the husband's grief, so I added a star.

My biggest beef with the book is that it is entirely too contrived for my taste. All stories, for the most part, are planned and prepared, but I crave development that blossoms organically. Force feeding a baby bomb trick that the narrator knew from the beginning is not clever, it is just plain sneaky and bad writing. Weren't we in this story together? Cutting and gutting doggies to talk could have been an interesting tool that led to a fascinating window of something truly unique to peer into, instead it was used as a device to get the collar off the dog and an avenue for Paul to meet his new girlfriend. Isn't that kind of a cheap shot at Lexy?

Let's take a look at the inconsistencies of Lexy's character. She is supposed to be crazy, I guess. But her mental illness doesn't really add up from what I can gather in the story. She sort of behaves as an eccentric-borderline-bipolar would, but the author doesn't give us any medical history of mental illness. I am bothered that the author chose to make Lexy an artist and further stereotype the art community as wrist-cutters and capricious one-week Disney-daters. The history we do get is framed ever so sweetly in her husband's odd nostalgic dialog of her senior year in high school. Later when they are married, she has a few tantrums, but am I to believe that this character is suicidal and so utterly delusional that she sees apparitions? Some may argue that she is suicidal and that she has a dark side. I couldn't find it in the book or the character. It simply didn't jibe for me. I guess I must live in a much darker world than Paul or Lexy ever did. The query that racks my noggin the most though is why? Why wouldn't someone so mentally unstable for so many years get some sort of help. She'll talk to a psychic? Why not a psychiatrist?

In short I found the husband's character too often had a feminine voice. Altogether he irritated me, but he was grieving so I'll let it slide.

Finally this book had a lot of potential and if the author had taken the time to be more thorough in her research she could have written a very good book. There were some fine ingredients, but it lacked any real flavor and was terribly under-baked. (less)

like 7 likes · see review

Aug 18, 2012 Jennifer (aka EM) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: going-to-the-dogs

The Art of Racing in the Rain meets The Time Traveller's Wife. An exploration of marriage, communication, love, loss, grief. Kind of sidles up to canine-human communication as a metaphor for the difficulty of knowing someone else, understanding who they are, what they're saying, what it means as a relationship begins and develops. Going in, I thought this was the central theme but it evolved differently than I expected.

The book is manipulative, there's no getting around it, in the same way as R...more

like 10 likes · see review

Jul 09, 2007 Cassandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anybody who likes depressing stuff

One of my favorite books ever. I don't know if any book I've read has hit me so hard in the chestal region as this one. I was so emotionally invested in this book, and when I re-read it again recently, it was no different. The entire last 30 or so pages of the book I was just crying, trying to read through my tears. For me, what this book is basically about is a man trying to cope with the death of his wife, and about putting the pieces together to figure out how and why exactly she died. I love...more

like 3 likes · see review

Jul 09, 2007 Shelley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a animal lover this was a very emotional book for me. There were lots of similarities between my mom and Lexy and Rascal and Lorlei, and Paul and Lorlei to David and Rascal. Anyway, like Lorelei we rescued Rascal who had been sitting in the exact same spot on the side of the road for over two weeks and finally my mom (on our way to Sunday School) stopped (in church clothes) and rescued this dog. He, like Lorlei, had been obviously beaten and then abandoned.

Rascal ended up being one of the bi...more As a animal lover this was a very emotional book for me. There were lots of similarities between my mom and Lexy and Rascal and Lorlei, and Paul and Lorlei to David and Rascal. Anyway, like Lorelei we rescued Rascal who had been sitting in the exact same spot on the side of the road for over two weeks and finally my mom (on our way to Sunday School) stopped (in church clothes) and rescued this dog. He, like Lorlei, had been obviously beaten and then abandoned.

Rascal ended up being one of the biggest blessings of my whole life and I think like Paul, while he loved Lorlei didn't realize what a wonderful asset the animal really was until Lexy was gone. The same thing happened with David. After my mom died, Rascal was his life and I was grateful that David had him.

More than once I would come in and find David lying on the floor, belly down, face to face with Rascal. I think they were talking to each other....

Rascal, like Lorlei, would not ease up when they found their rescuers dead bodies in trying to alert someone that something had happened.

The messages Lexy left behind also remind me of my mom. Sometimes I wonder if somehow she knew she was at the end. After she died, I found little notes taped up under drawers and sticky notes in books she liked that she knew someday I'd read. I also think she knew I'd be a teacher. I was lucky enough to have had a contact of hers at school reach me and let me have all her teaching materials. Why Bonnie Loher kept these I don't know, but I'm so glad she did. In her lesson plan books she had scriptures, quotes she liked, but she also had accomplishments of students and my accomplishments growing up. "Shelley brought home her first spelling test today. She of course made a 100."

Anyway, all this and so much more reminded me of my situation. I bawled through this book and while most of the time I repress thoughts of my mother and my life with her, it felt good to have a good dramatic cry, so it was cathartic at the same time. (less)

like 3 likes · see review

Aug 07, 2007 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Dog lovers

Type: Novel
How I Heard About It: My friend Jordan wrote a paper on it for psychology class on the possibilities of animal language. She got a good grade so I figured it was worth a read.
How I procured it: The Wooster Book Company
Ratings (1-5) Story: 4.5 Writing: Don't remember
Would I read it again? Yes, in fact it's in my queue right now.
Who would I recommend it to? Science lovers, animal lovers, anyone who loves a good intriguing story.
Did it remind me of anything? Not at the time, although I t...more

like 1 like · see review

Jun 12, 2007 Christina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After finishing this book, I went into such a funk. Had I seen a Hallmark commercial of any kind, I probably would have started bawling.

However, this is not to say that this book isn't fantastic. It absolutely is. This book made me think and it touched me in an obvious way. This is a quite a different reaction from many of the other books I have read, which are often meaningless ways to pass some time.

This is a story about an incredibly deep romance between two people. The two participants are s...more

like 3 likes · see review

Feb 24, 2008 Luke rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: dog lovers, romantics

Recommended to Luke by: Emily

Shelves: fiction

I found The Dogs of Babel to be an engaging and at times quite gripping read. The basic premise (a man who tries to find out more about his wife's seemingly accidental death by teaching their dog--the only witness--to talk) was excellent, and I thought Parkhurst did a good job of creating flawed but likable characters (though the wife, Lexy, became progressively more difficult for me to like or sympathize with).

This is one of those books that my wife has read like eight times, and having finally...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 15, 2009 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Funny, strange, sad, beautiful... I read some of the other reviews posted, and I didn't see a single one that mentioned the humor. Yes, the whole sci-fi flavored dog experiment thing in the middle of the book is bizarre and a little incongruous, but was nobody else laughing? What I enjoyed was the ridiculousness of Paul's quest to teach his dog to talk, juxtaposed against the beauty and sadness of the tragic love affair between him and his wife.

like 4 likes · see review

Nov 23, 2008 Erica rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

interesting but not quite interesting enough

like 1 like · see review

Jan 16, 2009 Jessie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wow. This may not be everyman's book, but it struck deep chords with me.

like 4 likes · see review

Feb 17, 2009 Charlie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A good but depressing read. I checked it out when I saw that it had been translated into 17 languages. I figured it must be good to deserve that... I'm not sure I would have gone through all that work myself, but whatever.

This book depressed me greatly. I was upset / weepy for at least an entire day after I read it, maybe longer. Seriously -- ask my husband. It's about a guy who comes home to find his wife dead at the foot of their apple tree and her dog frantically running around their back yar...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 12, 2009 bookczuk rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, books-about-books, good-but-made-me-sad, great-title

I found this book enthralling, but sad. Sad for Paul, sad for Lorelei, and sad for poor, troubled Lexy, who burned so bright and so fast.

I'd marked several places to comment on, but don't think I shall, now. This is a book about language, words, and emotions...and reading the language of a soul.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
When his wife dies in a fall from a tree in their backyard, linguist Paul Iverson is wild with despair. In the days that follow, Paul becomes certain that Lexy's death was no accident....more

like · see review

Mar 13, 2013 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's thanks to LJ that I ran across this book, The Dogs of Babel, when someone on the community TheQuestionClub asked what books people thought were overrated or underrated. The Dogs of Babel was reported by at least a couple of readers/posters to be highly underrated. Naturally that meant I must try it.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the book, finding it interesting, entertaining, and multi-layered. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it severely "underrated" myself, but it is a good so...more It's thanks to LJ that I ran across this book, The Dogs of Babel, when someone on the community TheQuestionClub asked what books people thought were overrated or underrated. The Dogs of Babel was reported by at least a couple of readers/posters to be highly underrated. Naturally that meant I must try it.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the book, finding it interesting, entertaining, and multi-layered. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it severely "underrated" myself, but it is a good solid work that is unique in many ways.

The author, Carolyn Parkhurst tells the story of a man who is suddenly at a loss under slightly mysterious circumstances. His wife has died, fallen from the apple tree in their backyard, the only witness a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

The man, Paul, is plagued by the question of if his wife fell by accident or if she allowed herself to fall. He looks back over his life and times with Lexy but finds nothing definitive, only further questions. Seeking the truth, there is nowhere to turn but the only witness to the event - Lorelei, the dog. A professor in linguistics by profession, Paul's obsession to learn the truth from Lorelei takes an odd turn where he decides he must teach his dog to speak. If only she can speak, then he would know the truth. Paul drops out of his life and begins this obsession. His grief and need to endow Lorelei with the ability to communicate brings him into some unsavory circumstances where he ultimately realizes that this obsession is bringing not truth, but pain, and the answers he was seeking were already there.

The characters are well-written and intriguing. We really get to know the multi-layered Lexy through Paul's memories of their life together, and as we read we wonder along with Paul that burning question of whether this beautiful and artistic woman took her own life or not.

The author writes beautifully - with crafted words and images and ideas. Many times I stopped to reread a sentence or a paragraph for the sheer loveliness of it and the clarity of thought the author is able to express.

"Suicide is just a moment, Lexy told me. This is how she described it to me. For just a moment, it doesn't matter that you've got people who love you and the sun is shining and there's a movie coming out this weekend that you've been dying to see. It hits you all of a sudden that nothing is ever going to be okay, ever, and you kind of dare yourself: Is this it? You start thinking that you've known this was coming all along, but you don't know if today's going to be the day. And if you think about it too much, it's probably not. But you dare yourself. You pick up a knife and press it gently into your skin, you look out a nineteenth-story window and you think, I could just do it. I could just do it. And most of the time, you look at the height and you get scared, or you think about the poor people on the sidewalk below - what if there are kids coming home from school and they have to spend the rest of their lives trying to forget this terrible thing you're going to make them see? And the moment's over. You think about how sad it would've been if you never got to see that movie, and you look at your dog and wonder who would've taken care of her if you had gone. And you go back to normal. But you keep it there in your mind. Even if you never take yourself up on it, it gives you a kind of comfort to know that day is yours to choose. You tuck it away in your brain like sour candy tucked into your cheek, and the puckering memory it leaves behind, the rough pleasure of running your tongue over its strange terrain, is exactly the same."

...

"I remember, always I remember, that she brought solace to my life as well as grief. That for every dark moment we shared between us, there was a moment of such brightness I almost could not bear to look at it head-on. I try to remember the woman she was and not the woman I have built out of spare parts to comfort me in my mourning."

Overall, The Dogs of Babel is a beautiful book that I'm glad that I read. I may read it again sometime. It feels like the kind of book you can do that with.(less)

like · see review

Mar 08, 2013 Robin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-about-animals, who-dun-it

I wanted to like this book. I liked the main character, and there were moments I liked his wife. I certainly liked their dog, but then, I prefer many dogs to most humans, so that was hardly surprising. Like real people I may not find entirely appealing, both of the main human characters had moments when I wondered just how daft or dense they were to not notice key pieces of information about each other, or perhaps most of all, about themselves. There were moments when this felt so obviously like...more
I wanted to like this book. I liked the main character, and there were moments I liked his wife. I certainly liked their dog, but then, I prefer many dogs to most humans, so that was hardly surprising. Like real people I may not find entirely appealing, both of the main human characters had moments when I wondered just how daft or dense they were to not notice key pieces of information about each other, or perhaps most of all, about themselves. There were moments when this felt so obviously like the author's device to keep the story moving, to postpone revelations, that I found it difficult to buy into the characters themselves.

There were times when the writing was beautiful and evocative, but there were other moments when suddenly it was stilted and felt rushed but those moments didn't necessarily coincide with moments when the characters might be feeling rushed, so it jarred on me.

Having some experience both with having planned to take my own life (though not having gone through with it, obviously) and with having people in my life having made the attempt with varying degrees of "success" (depending on your perspective) I found myself torn by the character of Lexi. I both appreciated the fact that she was not portrayed as some sort of perpetually morose psuedo-Goth but also vaguely insulted by how dim she came across at times. It was not so much that Lexi's choices and interpretations were erratic - which could be entirely plausible - it was that, again, she came across as almost willfully ignoring the obvious because the author needed the character to do so in order to further the machinations of the plot.

I felt like the author had a few good ideas (the note on the book spines, a compellingly artistic character who creates masks both literally and metaphorically) and some agendas (people who kill themselves are often ambivalent about the act and that there are people who perpetuate incredible cruelty upon animals by convincing themselves that it is in the best interests of both the animals and humankind, when in fact it is no such thing) and decided to try and address all of this in one piece of work. Unfortunately, that's quite a lot of divergent points to braid into a cohesive whole, and more than once, they seem to get away from her, like unruly puppies, and although she does her best to get them back onto the path she's got in mind, her attempts are clumsy and so evident that they took me out of the story.

In the end, I felt as sorry for the author as for the main character and his dog, as if I wanted to give her a soft punch on the side of the shoulder and say "It's ok, slugger, you'll get it next time, but it was a good try!"(less)

like · see review

Jan 19, 2013 Lindsay rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

if I could give it 2.5, I would because I like the dog. otherwise, it's kinda just okay. Am I the only one who thought it was poorly written? The author said it took her 2 years to write. I understand writing is an art form and it takes differently to everyone, but I read this book in 5 hours. Anyway, we have this mysterious death of charming Lexy. Of course her husband is going to search for answers, we as humans always need to rationalize the irrational. So, I get that he's trying some crazy t...more

like · see review

Jan 05, 2013 Andreasoldier rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting.
It is supposedly a mystery but it is also a love story and profound exploration of grief.
The book opens with the death of a woman, witnessed only by her dog, when she falls from an apple tree. Police rule it an accident, but her widower is so sure.
Paul Iverson is a typical professor, his speciality is language. He decides to take a sabbatical to try to teach the couple's dog Lorelie to speak so he can find out how and maybe why his wife...more I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting.
It is supposedly a mystery but it is also a love story and profound exploration of grief.
The book opens with the death of a woman, witnessed only by her dog, when she falls from an apple tree. Police rule it an accident, but her widower is so sure.
Paul Iverson is a typical professor, his speciality is language. He decides to take a sabbatical to try to teach the couple's dog Lorelie to speak so he can find out how and maybe why his wife died. Even as he tries to go forward, he takes a back to the beginning when the two met.
He has a schedule, his books and a regulated life until he buys a tool for making square boiled eggs from a woman running a yard sale.
He makes the square eggs and decides to bring some to her - she never used the tool -- and the woman Lexy suggests taking a ride.
Soon the two are driving to DisneyLand, no complete meals, no stopping. Paul falls in love with Lexy's devil-may-care attitude, and soon they are married.
Lexy is an artist, who specializes in papier mache masks, a symbol perhaps of her own interior life, for it soon becomes apparent that Lexy suffers from bouts of depression.
So the question is was her death suicide or an accident? Paul believes Lorelie knows the answer, and tries to teach her to speak, to type, to pick flashcards with symbols as he searches for answers.
More of the mystery is solved as Paul moves through the stages of his grief, until finally he arrives at an answer he can live with.
***Spoiler alert**
The police ruled her death an accident, Paul, and the author, rule it suicide, for good reasons.
However, I believe that while Lexy may have been thinking of killing herself, she died accidentlally, slipping out of the tree.
At one point in the book, she talks about a previous attempt, and how it was enough for her to know she could do it, to be in that moment of knowing. I think that that was where she was when she was up in that tree, and that she slipped and fell.(less)

like · see review

Nov 29, 2012 Karen Hansen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Carolyn Parkhurst's debut novel, The Dogs of Babel has been sitting on my bookshelf for years and i finally decided to give it a shot and devoured it in less than twenty-four hours. it's a quick read, that's impossible to put down.

Many years ago, i read Parkhurst's second novel, Lost and Found, about contestants on a reality television show and really enjoyed it. It was a fun read and a theme that interested me. Her debut novel is more of a mystery, a theme that i don't often find appealing, wh...more Carolyn Parkhurst's debut novel, The Dogs of Babel has been sitting on my bookshelf for years and i finally decided to give it a shot and devoured it in less than twenty-four hours. it's a quick read, that's impossible to put down.

Many years ago, i read Parkhurst's second novel, Lost and Found, about contestants on a reality television show and really enjoyed it. It was a fun read and a theme that interested me. Her debut novel is more of a mystery, a theme that i don't often find appealing, which is why i think that i let it languish on the shelf for so many years.

However, this is not so much a straightforward mystery, but told from the perspective of a grieving husband trying to figure out the details of his young wife's untimely death. Her death is never a question of foul play. Lexy, Paul's seemingly bipolar young wife, has died from falling from the top of a tree in their backyard. in the aftermath, Paul sorts through clues to determine if Lexy accidentally slipped or committed suicide.

in his grief, Paul begins to fixate on Lorelei, the family dog and only witness to Lexy's death. Paul is a linguistics professor and begins to get obsessed with the idea of teaching Lorelei to communicate, specifically to speak. It sounds crazy and may be, but grief can lead to some insane ideas.

Warning, this novel has a very disturbing, creepy twist. It actually made me feel sick to my stomach to read.

The book has many beautifully written flashbacks, detailing Lexy and Paul relationship. i loved the theme of masks, woven in throughout. The story has many tender moments, but Lexy and Paul feel like a real couple, a couple that has many flaws. it's this rooting in reality, that balances Paul's outlandish behavior as a husband in grief and unreliable narrator. It also makes the reader relate and like both main characters, rooting for them to ultimately have a positive outcome, despite the tragedy of Lexy's death.

A very well-crafted debut novel from Parkhurst. i am excited to read her future novels.

Please visit my blog http://www.alwayspackedforadventure.com (less)

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (33)

More editions...

Genres

Mystery

53 users

Book Club

45 users

Animals

43 users

Animals > Dogs

41 users

Contemporary

31 users

Adult Fiction

20 users

Adult

15 users

Novels

14 users

Death

13 users

Literary Fiction

12 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Carolyn Parkhurst

Carolyn Parkhurst is an American author who has published two books. Her first, the 2003 best-seller The Dogs of Babel, was a New York Times Notable Book. She followed that effort with Lost and Found in June 2006.

Parkhurst received her B.A. degree from Wesleyan University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from American University.

She currently resides in Washington, D.C.

More about Carolyn Parkhurst...

Books by Carolyn Parkhurst

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Dogs of Babel

4 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Dogs of Babel

“Suicide is just a moment, Lexy told me. This is how she described it to me. For just a moment, it doesn't matter that you've got people who love you and the sun is shining and there's a movie coming out this weekend that you've been dying to see. It hits you all of a sudden that nothing is ever going to be okay, ever, and you kind of dare yourself. You pick up a knife and press it gently to your skin, you look out a nineteenth-story window and you think, I could just do it. I could just do it. And most of the time, you look at the height and you get scared, or you think about the poor people on the sidewalk below - what if there are kids coming home from school and they have to spend the rest of their lives trying to forget this terrible thing you're going to make them see? And the moment's over. You think about how sad it would've been if you never got to see that movie, and you look at your dog and wonder who would've taken care of her if you had gone. And you go back to normal. But you keep it there in your mind. Even if you never take yourself up on it, it gives you a kind of comfort to know that the day is yours to choose. You tuck it away in your brain like sour candy tucked in your cheek, and the puckering memory it leaves behind, the rough pleasure of running your tongue over its strange terrain, is exactly the same.... The day was hers to choose, and perhaps in that treetop moment when she looked down and saw the yard, the world, her life, spread out below her, perhaps she chose to plunge toward it headlong. Perhaps she saw before her a lifetime of walking on the ruined earth and chose instead a single moment in the air” — 132 people liked it

“It's not the content of our dreams that gives our second heart its dark color; it's the thoughts that go through our heads in those wakeful moments when sleep won't come. And those are the things we never tell anyone at all.” — 38 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Dogs of Babel
avg rating	preview: The Dogs of Babel Goodreads rating: 3.51 (11079 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228360.The_Dogs_of_Babel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172886115l/228360.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228360.The_Dogs_of_Babel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst[/url]

The Dogs of Babel

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website