The Dog of the North

A Novel

By: Elizabeth McKenzie

Narrated by: Katherine Littrell

* Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize * A New Yorker Best Book of the Year * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction *

“I’m in love with a grieving misfit driving around with a donkey-shaped piñata in an old van held together by duct tape…the great miracle of McKenzie’s writing… is how she manages to transform misery into gentle humor…darkly hilarious.” —The Washington Post

“An addictive read with an ultimately hopeful core that recalls Haruki Murakami, Sayaka Murata, Richard Brautigan, and Miranda July” – Sanjena Sathian, author of Gold Diggers

Penny Rush has problems. Her marriage is over; she’s quit her job. Her mother and stepfather went missing in the Australian outback five years ago; her mentally unbalanced father provokes her; her grandmother Dr. Pincer keeps experiments in the refrigerator and something worse in the woodshed. But Penny is a virtuoso at what’s possible when all else fails.

Elizabeth McKenzie, the National Book Award–nominated author of The Portable Veblen, follows Penny on her quest for a fresh start. There will be a road trip in the Dog of the North, an old van with gingham curtains, a piñata, and stiff brakes. There will be injury and peril. There will be a dog named Kweecoats and two brothers who may share a toupee. There will be questions: Why is a detective investigating her grandmother. What is “the Scintillator”? And can Penny recognize a good thing when it finally comes her way?

This slyly humorous, thoroughly winsome novel finds the purpose in life’s curveballs, insisting that even when we are painfully warped by those we love most, we can be brought closer to our truest selves.

Entertaining listen

The story is unexpected and has moments of insight that I keep thinking back on. The narration is excellent.

Beautiful story

Loved every moment, so much on the themes of the chaos in our families and chosen families. The characters felt so real. Don’t miss this read.

Nice story, vacuous and incomplete ending

I liked this harried story about an insecure and confused thirty something in LA and later Australia. Crazy grandmother and lovable older characters will warm you. The ending almost ruined the book and left me wanting something complete. Not here.

What fun!

This book is a rolling good time! Don’t miss it! But don’t listen on the train— because you will giggle and snort and slap your knee. You might even cry. Just don’t embarrass Penny! She has enough problems with her divorce, her dreary job, her disappeared parents, her crazy grandmother— and her grandmother’s accountant’s health challenges. For some reason all that is very funny when EM writes it.

What a hoot!

First of all, the narration was fabulous. I felt as if I were watching the book unfold in front of my eyes. The characters were quirky and the situations they were put in had me in stitches. Very enjoyable listen.