For most of my life Red Dog has been a legend. We were born in the same year, call the same town home, and I feel like we have traveled the same amount. He just happens to be much more famous than I, even if he was a humble dog. He’s a symbol of both where I come from and of the strength and love that I strive to be. He’s a legend.
So, it should be no surprise that the moment I saw his name blazon across a novella in a cafe bookstore today, that I bought it and read it within hours. It was only after I returned home that I realised that it is written by the author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernières.
Red Dog was a mate for the whole of the North West of Western Australia during the late 1970s. Wandering through towns, hitching a ride with the locals, and sitting outside of shop fronts for the welcome cool breeze afforded by the air conditioning inside. I remember being a proud young kid (perhaps at the age of six or seven) when my parents told me he visited their store one day.
Red Dog is a novella filled with fifteen short snippets of his life. Each gleaned from de Bernières research while in Western Australia for two weeks. It tells a tale of a brave, loving but independent dog who captured the hearts of many. In the tales a real sense of personality explodes to life to give the reader a great impression of life in and around the Pilbara, an area bordered by a red harsh desert and the cool blue Indian Ocean, and how Red Dog fostered such love.
The novella does not seem to be for children, but is written in an innocent manner that would make it approachable by the like. It does not seem to be for children because although it is heartwarming, it is a sad tale. Red Dog spent half of his life searching for his owner, John, who died one night without Red Dog’s knowledge. On his travels up and down the coast of Western Australia he made many friends, who all accepted that he was a transient character, that would be gone one morning, to return days, months or maybe years later. Red Dog died in 79 after he was poisoned by unknown people for unknown reasons. This broke the hearts of many, including an eight year old boy born in Dampier.
Each of the fifteen stories could be read individually, and if chosen carefully could suit a bed time tale for children. They would love his light hearted adventures and his amusing, though smelly, habits. The work as a whole is not powerful for its artistic prowess, but because it’s based on a wonderful true story. de Bernières does take some liberty in allowing some fiction, and in his words, ?The stories I have told here are all based upon what really happened to him, but I have invented all of the characters, partly because I know very little about the real people in Red Dog’s life, and partly because I would not want to offend any of them by misrepresenting them. The only character who is ‘real’ is John.?.
It’s because Red Dog is a legend, that I had to take the time out, and although not a theme I’d normally cover in this Blog, mention the tail. For those people here to read about technology, please forgive my indulgence.
Over-all a simple, easy to read book about a marvelous Dog. Nothing in-depth or literary stupendous, but good for a quick read. The story means more to me than most because I’ve known of Red Dog since I was a pup.
