Book Review of Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet
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book stats:
240 pages, published in 2022
you may enjoy this book if you like:
Literary Fiction * Books set in Arizona * Contemporary Fiction
travel inspiration:
The majority of this novel is set in Arizona, the new resident of main character Gil. Gil has just moved to the area from New York City and some smaller segments of the story are set there as well. Gil’s interest in the environment and wildlife around him help bring the Arizona setting to life, a relatively easy task for the author given that she herself resides in Tucson, Arizona.
about the author: Lydia millet
Since publishing her first novel, Omnivores, in 1996, Lydia Millet has produced over a dozen novels and story collections. Dinosaurs is her fifteenth work. She has won a number of prizes and recognitions for her novels, including being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Love in Infant Monkeys (2010), and being shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction for A Children’s Bible (2020), which the New York Times also named one of the top ten best books in 2020. Dinosaurs has received accolades and was named one of 2022’s top ten books of fiction by Publisher’s Weekly.
review of dinosaurs by lydia millet
Gil has decided it is time to make a change in his life and so, sight unseen, he purchases a home in Arizona and heads out - on foot - from New York. After months of walking across the country with long, desolate roads, truck stop food and truck stop companions, he arrives at his new home in the Arizona desert, a home he later nicknames “the castle”.
His next door neighbors live, ironically and interestingly, in a glass house, which means nothing that goes on in their home is hidden from Gil. Upon meeting them, they quickly establish a friendship and Gil becomes a de facto member of their tribe, developing unique relationships with the husband, wife, son, and daughter.
Gil is an empathetic soul, concerned about people and the disappearing animals, a result of climate change. Due to a family tragedy, that set Gil up for a mostly lonely life, he inherited unimaginable wealth at an early age and has been burdened by that reality. When he first started working as a young adult and prospective employees would come in to drop off applications, he felt guilty for taking a job that others needed and he did not. So, he did the only thing that seemed practical to him: he stopped working. But Gil did not turn into a man of leisure; instead, he worked just as hard at volunteer organizations, working 60 hour weeks in New York and later serving as a dedicated volunteer at a women’s shelter in Arizona. Volunteering became his guilt-free way to work. This is very much part-and-parcel of Gil’s way to be in and among the world.
Gil cares most for the underdogs - whether serving as a companion for the women at the shelter to accompany them in public as a way to keep them safe from their abusers, helping his neighbor, Tom, put an end to bullying, or staking look-outs for whomever is mysteriously killing birds at night in the local area.
The birds are, of course, the ‘dinosaurs’ of the title - the creatures that have survived since the days of the dinosaurs and are now confronted with threats from humans - be it climate change or more direct forms of attack like shootings.
Millet weaves a tale of interesting characters who are each confronting their own inner questions about who they are and what their lives mean amidst a world that is on a collision course with environmental chaos. Even the school bully is - at the end of the day - a victim of circumstance.
Millet’s language, descriptions, and off-beat aspects to the story make it entertaining and tough to put down, even though upon stepping back, Gil is ultimately a big pushover who lacks true agency in his own life.
This was my first introduction to this author - and in retrospect I’m not sure how she never made it onto my radar before! Dinosaurs is well worth the read, and I look forward to exploring more of Millet’s novels to see what else I’ve missed out on!
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