GENERAL INFORMATION
TITLE: SUN DOG
AUTHOR: MONIQUE ROFFEY
PAGES: 390
PUBLISHER: SIMON & SCHUSTER
YEAR: 2002
GENRE: MAGIC REALISM
COVER TYPE: PAPER BACK
www.amazon.co.uk/Sun-Dog-Monique-Roffey/dp/1849833036
BLURB FROM THE COVER
August is a large, awkward recluse, with blood-orange hair and sun-shy eyes, hiding away behind the counter of a Shepherd’s Bush deli. One winter’s day two things happen which begin to change him completely; his mother’s old lover, Cosmo, shambles back into his life, and he discovers a rash on his arm – a rash that looks like frost. A rash that is frost.
While Cosmo taunts him with doubts about the identity of his father, August finds his body changing with the seasons. But what surprises him most is that, for the first time, he begins to feel marvelous. Over a year’s wondrous metamorphosis – through snowstorms, heatwave and eclipse – August changes into himself.
Around him, other lives are being explored in quieter ways. Henry practices French for her new lover. The deli’s motherly owner, Rose, begins to see a South American playboy. The local eccentric, Cedric, loudly declaims the virtues of trees, and women And the formidable Flora helps August uncover the truth about his birth.
EXTRACT
There’d always been a problem with the light. Ever since August had first opened his eyes, he’d found it hard to look out through them.
REVIEW
Sun Dog is a library book, the last in my current pile and the last Roffey novel I’ve checked out. I loved Sun Dog. It was completely different from Roffey’s other novels I’ve read recently. Sun Dog is one of those rare novels that make you glad such wonderful pieces of writing exist in the world. I think it’s Roffey’s best. Roffey is another author I’ve added to my list of must read’s.
Sun Dog is one of the most original novels I’ve ever read. August’s body copies whatever happens to the weather. In the winter his skin breaks out in frost. Snow falls from his head. In the spring he blooms flowers and buds from every orifice. In the summer his skin becomes so dry it cracks open. When it rains body pours from him. I thought Roffey would reveal his father was a god or something but Roffey never gives us any real explanation for his oddness. August has been sensitive to the sun like an albino since birth. He learns his biological father was a gardener who had a gift with plants. Perhaps his father’s body was also affected by the weather. August learns his strange metamorphosis was triggered with the death of his biological father. I loved reading Roffey’s beautiful descriptions of August’s metamorphosis.
I loved the setting of Sun Dog. Unlike her other novels that have been set in Trinidad, Roffey sets Sun Dog in Shepard’s Bush in London. Roffey’s beautiful writing and vivid descriptions bring the city to memorable life. Much of the action takes place in the deli where August works. Roffey manages to make the deli beautiful, rich, vibrating and fascinating. I loved reading about August at work, arranging cheeses and cakes and delicacies. I also really enjoyed the sections where August was out and about in the city. Roffey made the city come to brilliant and memorable life.
The characterisation was spot on in Sun Dog. I thought August was great. He was one of the best and most original characters I’ve ever read. I fell in love with him a little bit. The other characters were equally well written. I loved Rose, August’s boss at the deli. August discovers she was born a man and has had a full sex change. August decides this explains a lot of things about her that he was always wondered. She was a lovely person and the scenes involving her were among my favorite. I thought, Henry, his co-worker at the deli was a great character. She was a nice contrast to August. I also found other minor characters were equally well written.
I love the way Roffey explores relationships in Sun Dog. August’s life starts to spiral out of control when Cosmo, his mother’s old lover turns up. This man has a profound effect on him. Rose, his boss dotes on him like a mother. His relationship with Henry, his co-worker is odd. There is sexual tension between them. Yet at times Henry seems to be cruel and dismissive. Henry is loved up with her French boyfriend, Yves for most of the novel until the relationship turns abusive. Henry becomes painfully thin and dyes her hair blonde. She seems very depressed a lot of the time until she leaves him. Rose goes on a cruise on holiday and meets a man who comes to England to find and woo her. Their relationship was very tender and sweet. August has a complicated relationship with his mother. She was a hippie and he had a fragmented childhood in various communes. She lied to him about his father all of his life and August’s biological father died before he knew he existed. I like the way Roffey explores the complexities of relationships in Sun Dog.
Sun Dog is very different from Roffey’s other novel. It’s her debut novel. Unlike The White Woman the Green Bicycle and Archipelago, it isn’t set in Trinidad. I liked that Roffey chose to set her debut novel closer to home. I wonder why she chose to go in such a different direction with her other novels. I hope she writes more like Sun Dog. I loved it. Every page was rich joy to read.
RATING
Up next: The Lost Boy by Camilla Lackberg. This is a library book.
