But he can't do it alone he needs Lorelei's help. Reeling from grief, Paul is determined to decipher this evidence and unlock the mystery of her death. In the days and weeks that follow, Paul begins to notice strange 'clues' in their home: books rearranged on their shelves, a mysterious phone call, and other suggestions that nothing about Lexy's last afternoon was quite what it seemed. The only witness was their dog, Lorelei, whose anguished barking brought help to the scene-but too late. He returns home one day to find that his wife, Lexy, has died under strange circumstances. Parkhurst possesses a wealth of inspired ideas, and no doubt many readers will respond to the book, but one hopes that the author's future efforts will be packed with richer character development and less schmaltz.Paul Iverson's Life Changes in an instant. But his mask-maker wife Lexy-Paul's driving inspiration-is a character whose spur-of-the-moment outbursts, spontaneous fits of anger, and supposedly charming sense of whimsy (on their first date, they drive from Virginia to Disney World, eating only appetizers and side dishes along the way), become so annoying and grating that it's hard to believe anyone could ever put up with her, let alone teach their dog to speak for her.ĭespite its cloying tone, The Dogs of Babel marks a notable debut.

Parkhurst's Paul Iverson can certainly be appealing at times, and his heartbreak is often quite palpable ('.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.'). Cleo-like TV psychic to an underground sect of abusive canine linguists-to ever allow the reader to feel any real sympathy for the main characters.

Unfortunately, the second half of The Dogs of Babel takes too many odd twists and turns-everything from a Ms. The first 100 pages or so bring to mind another noteworthy debut, Alice Sebold's brilliant exploration of grief, The Lovely Bones. In short, accelerating chapters Parkhurst alternates between Paul's strange and passionate efforts to get Lorelei to communicate and his heartfelt memories of his whirlwind relationship with Lexy. 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 did Lexy commit suicide?

The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst