Dinosaurs

An intimate and introspective look at one man's search for meaning in his life after a traumatic breakup. Millet writes with a delicate hand, Gil's story is respectfully told and his relationships with his neighbours and friends feel realistic and well thought out. An author I would definitely read again.

Gil leaves the life he has in New York and starts over in Arizona, buying a house sight unseen except for some Internet photos, and he chooses to begin his new life with a walk out west. He gets settled in his new home, and it isn't long before the house next door, also for sale, has new owners and a family soon moves in. The house next door has a glass wall that permits Gil to look in on their day-to-day activities. Gil and the family quickly get to know each other and become friends.

A quietly meditative book that centers on Gil, a man with a traumatic start to life, but who has a gift for establishing relationships with people, who has a magical way of daring to gently speak truth and work through difficulties, who is a deep and genuine friend to all he comes to know.

The author is masterful at creating scenes that are emotionally resonant without resorting to tanks and cannonballs. Millet draws an intricate picture of life in our world, pulling in elements of human society as well as the natural world, and respects her readers enough to allow us to take away from the scenes what we will. And we do. Dinosaurs is the sort of story that makes us keep going back to the book after we have finished it and rereading parts and thinking about the story and the characters again and again.

I hesitate to mention A Man Called Ove, because there's less concrete plot pieces in common, more a vibe. Gil is a man who is slowly recovering from a bad break up, not the death of his wife, and he's less a crabby old guy than an independently wealthy middle-aged man trying to feel he's doing something worthwhile. His wealth and how people react to it is a topic discussed, but it's less the way the narrative is propelled (no poor-little-rich-boy angle), and more something of a convenient plot device. The story can focus on Gil meeting his neighbours and those he interacts with when volunteering because it's not focused on his need to have a job. In a larger, busier book, maybe the story could be reframed to include him working for a living, but the intimate scale works, as does the motivation of Gil constantly looking to help. People's flaws and the ugly and random things that can happen are not shied away from, but there's a current of strength and warmth that I enjoyed. I like to think it's a well-written case for UBI. What might we do if we had the time outside work? And furthermore how valuable a person's time and caring is, even above their ability to contribute funds. It's Gil taking an interest, taking action, that makes the biggest differences to his friends/found-family. While he's encountered people that want to use him for money, it's the people in his life currently that appreciate him so much more for what he does because he cares. It's becoming very clear I am partial to any books that take time to speak about birds; there is at least one significant plot point involving them in this book, but I think any space made for idle appreciation of feathered friends improves my opinion of a book. 😊 There's a thinner thread of environmental awareness also wound through the book, I think the sentiment is best expressed by the bird passages.