Grassdogs

by Mark O'Flynn

A compelling debut from a Varuna Award-winner, saturated in the landscape of rural Australia they were a river of dogs. Loose skeins of cloud drifted high above, floating to the east, foretelling of cold nights. the paddocks rolled smoothly beneath his feet ... they rested against the windbreaks of fallen trees. they slept in the lee of a half-built haystack; left the next day at dawn before its builder returned. While he was daunted by the demands of his responsibilities, Edgar loved this companionable, aimless end. He wished it might never finish. tony tindale is a young lawyer sent on a mission to rescue an uncle he barely knows from prison. What he discovers is a man innocent in the ways of the world, brought up on a desperate farm in the west of New South Wales and orphaned too soon, whose only solace is the dogs who find him. A natural target for suspicion in the small, isolated community, inevitably one day Edgar is found in the wrong place at the wrong time ... Where can he be truly free?

Genres: Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published May 31, 2006

About the author

Mark O’Flynn’s novel The Last Days of Ava Langdon (UQP) was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2017. A collection of short stories, Dental Tourism (Puncher & Wattmann), appeared in 2020. His recent collections of poetry are Undercoat (Liquid Amber Press, 2022) and Einstein’s Brain (Puncher & Wattmann, 2022).

Reviews

[Rachael De · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this book on the street and thought It sounded interesting. I had just read the book “Perfume” and thought this book had similar vibes. It was a nice, easy read and I like that it was set in Aus.

[Initially NO · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that draws the reader into an interesting plot line and character development. A nephew tells the story of his ‘doppelganger’ uncle, who is falsely imprisoned for murder, cannot read or write and has been living with a pack of dogs.

There are many scenes in this book that stand out. Where Edgar wrestles a police dog to its death and how Edgar acquires food for his pack of dogs from supermarkets frightened he will unleash one of them.

The character of Edgar is very alive and maintains our interest throughout the book. I find myself at the end of this book wanting more. Mark O’Flynn is definitely a writer to read more of.

This story was apparently based on an anecdote local to Hanging Rock. How the hanging part was blown off by a couple of farm boys using dynamite. The book was published in 2006, but the actual story is probably set back 20 or so years ago. Descriptions of the area are certainly not recent. Hanging Rock being constantly covered in tourists feet and very much no longer a place to get a body buried and lost in. Still a spooky place though, think there’s something in the rocks that gives that strange feeling. It’s hard to explain, but once you visit you feel it.

[Sianne Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling read. I couldn't put it down. But it is odd. I am not even sure how to review this one. A strange story about a emotionally stunted, perhaps intellectually impaired man, through his childhood with uncaring parents, their passing while he was still quite young and how he survived without them. An estranged sister eventually turns up, but you just gotta wonder if he was better off without her interference. Well worth a read, but it is not the run of the mill book.

[Vicki Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. Descriptions well done. But overall, quite a strange one. Really liked how the author didn't spell everything out. Quite a few loose ends at the conclusion of the book which allows the story to linger with all the "what ifs". Would like to score higher but don't feel it us a great book , just a good one.

[Fleur · Rating 3 out of 5]

My neighbour's brother wrote this - really strange but good. I liked the descriptions of farming land but felt very sad about how the main character.

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't a huge fan of this book till right towards the end where it came together beautifully