![]() She was left with her grandparents after her parents went to Australia, so she’s sort of taken responsibility for them. I think that despite all of the trouble that these people in her family are causing her, she still loves them, and that’s where the resignation comes from. Her life is being upended, but she has this attitude that’s a little resigned and also kind of a little bit amused, too. ![]() I realized that she was someone who was awkward and maybe a little obtuse, and I’m really drawn to that kind of character, like the butler, Stevens, in “The Remains of the Day,” or Etsuko in another Kazuo Ishiguro novel, “A Pale View of Hills.” I just really like studying that kind of self-deluded or self-deceived character. Her voice evolved as soon as she was on the train. I didn’t even know that the whole part about Australia would be in it when I started. But it didn’t really take off until I switched to first person and put her on the train to Santa Barbara, and then it really just clicked after that and came to me really fast in just about a year. Was there any particular element that came to you first?Īfter the last one, I was sketching some scenes that involved the grandparents, but it was in the third person, and also some scenes involving the character of Burt Lampey. There are so many moving parts in this novel. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity and length. McKenzie answered questions about her novel via Zoom from her home in Santa Cruz. McKenzie will discuss “The Dog of the North” at an event at Vroman’s in Pasadena on March 15, along with fellow author Yxta Maya Murray. There’s also the matters of Burt’s Pomeranian, Kweecoats a mysterious device her grandmother calls “the Scintillator” and the titular dog, which is not a dog at all, but rather Burt’s rusty old Econoline. That would be stressful enough, but Penny also has to deal with her ailing grandfather, who’s determined to find Penny’s absent parents, who went missing in Australia years before. Pincer, Penny’s unstable, mad scientist grandmother lives in the town, and Pincer’s accountant, Burt Lampey, has asked Penny for help while a cleaning crew tackles the disaster area that is Pincer’s house. The book, which arrives in stores March 14, mostly takes place in Santa Barbara, where 35-year-old Penny Rush has gone via train after leaving her husband and her job in Santa Cruz. She hasn’t gone far with her latest comic novel, “The Dog of the North” - the title a tribute to one of her favorite writers, “The Dog of the South” author Charles Portis. Related: Sign up for our free newsletter about books, authors, reading and more The novelist has lived here her whole life, with the exception of a few years in Boston, and the state is the setting for her first three novels: “Stop That Girl,” “MacGregor Tells the World,” and “The Portable Veblen,” the last of which was set in Palo Alto and was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction. ![]() Elizabeth McKenzie just can’t quit California.
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