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Sat 02 Feb 2010Harsh lives, rendered with compassion
FICTION:Even the Dogs, By Jon McGregor, Bloomsbury, 195pp. £12.99
The dead man is Robert, an alcoholic who lived alone apart from whoever happened to come and get drunk with him and collapse into a sleep beyond sleep. Robert stayed in his flat, fat and too weary, too weak to move. In return for allowing various drunks and addicts to stay in his flat, he sent them for messages, or accepted the food they brought him and his dog. Long after his wife had given up on his drinking and taken their child and moved away, Robert, an ex-service man who was never quite right, remained in the flat they had once decorated together. He stayed on there, drinking and remembering but usually forgetting.
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