Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley

Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley
Buy Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: General Fiction
Reviewer: John Lloyd
Summary: A startlingly different debut novel, even if it's grounded firmly in the adage of writing what you know. Some elements sit awkwardly, but I can see why it'll be much loved by many.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 320	Date: July 2016
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781471154348
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Meet Ted Flask. A middle-aged, gay Los Angelino, he has the one love of his life. While the fall-out of relationships with men sends him to therapy, he can rely on Lily, the Dachshund. They've been together through thick and thin, ever since the little pup – the runt, no less – seemed to pick Ted out. Ted's sister's unusual marriage was almost marred by Lily being under the surgeon's knife, at great expense – but on the whole they have life sorted. He tries to write, but Friday night is board games, Saturday night is movie night, and Sunday night is pizza night. Oh, and yes, Lily talks to Ted, either in FULLY! CAPITALISED! EVER! EXCLAMATORY! BARKS! or in regular speech. Oh, and yes, Lily has an octopus on her head.

Now, while you might sit through this book debating how literally Lily does do that speaking, and I think it's up for debate for a long time, you only turn a couple of pages to work out that it's not literally an octopus. Except the said 'octopus' is quite happy to be called, and to behave like, an octopus. It too goes along with the metaphor, even when we know what it exactly is. And what it is is bound to stir up the emotions of a book that can be really funny, and quite gallingly sincere.

I can see, however, many people thinking the approach is too twee, for all that they might be laughing. The quirk might be a step too far towards the unusual. Give a human an octopus, not a dog, they might say. But this isn't a book about Ted, nor about Lily. It's about love. Love in the most straightening, heart-breaking situation. Lily needs Ted, and even though she seems to accept and understand the biology of the octopus, she is quite blasé about it – she is a mature dog, of course, even if she does have the occasional childish moment. And of course Ted needs Lily – that goes without saying; he readily picks his therapist apart in his mind, he has a best friend but no real partner to turn to, and he probably doesn't need anyone else because he has Lily.

So this book is about the smugness of a person with a dog – that perfect match that makes a person say they need nothing and nobody else, until of course they do. Like I say, it's about love. It's about a chap looking back and seeing just how much his life is affected by the singular, small presence of a sausage dog of all things, and of the impossibility of seeing any of that affect as at all negative. Like I say, love. It's certainly not about Los Angeles, or being gay, or being middle-aged and a failed writer with none of the standard relationships it's common in society to have. It's about something much bigger. It's a small book that has such an unusual quirk the intended movie version would have quite a left-field director, yet the story would be quite universal. If you take against that quirk I can see it frustrating, and I can see people riling against a certain large section, which should remain for you to discover and which is about all I can mark it down on, but for many others – especially dog owners – this will be kibble from heaven.

I must thank the publishers for my review copy.

For something else that is happy/sad, serious and romantic, we could recommend The Museum of You by Carys Bray.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley at Amazon.com.

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