I just had to post this image of the new cover when I saw it on the Book Design Review Blog (a great blog, by the way).
Timbuktu is a short novel following a homeless man, Willy G. Christmas, and his dog, Dr. Bones, who wonders about an afterlife his owner referred to as "Timbuktu." As usual, there are rogue written texts in Auster's book-- Christmas locks his manuscripts in a bus station locker where they remain after his death. We don't know what they say. But another author takes over-- Dr. Bones, the dog, whose story shouldn't even be available in written form. But here it is in Auster's unusual book. Christmas's writings might be more complex or more successful, and the story we get from Dr. Bones constantly refers back to the unavailable ideal manuscripts hidden in the Greyhound lockers. What remains is a humble and tragic novel.
