Timothy, or Notes of an Abject Reptile by Verlyn Klinkenborg is a unique book. Told from the unusual viewpoint of a Greek tortoise which actually lived at the home of amateur naturalist Rev. Gilbert White in the late 1700’s and is memorialized in the Reverend’s diaries. Those diaries were filled with new ideas on plants & gardening techiniques and became quite famous as the “how to” guides of their time. Thus Timothy is fondly remembered & his shell resides in a British museum to this day.
The book is wonderfully atmospheric with it’s descriptions(”asparagus forests”) & use of old-fashioned words (”embosomed”). The style is so eloquent that the reader can almost smell the flowers that Timothy samples in the garden or feel the leaves he shuffles through on a sunny morning. He’s not a Disney tortoise, breaking into song & dance, but rather a philosophical one who turns his keen eye on not only nature, but of the humans surrounding him. He recounts his life, not only on the Greek isle before he was captutred, but also at the home of a relative of Rev. White before coming to live with him. The narration is not sentimental, but rather poignant, an ancient being that is not always treated kindly.
There is a mix of poetry & metaphysics in the descriptions & observations of Timothy, so vivid that many become Zen-like experiences. It conveys a wisdom & depth that feels ethereal. One comes away with the feeling that looking at things from six inches off the ground provides an endless horizon.
Vintage, 2007, 192 pp., ISBN: 0679737537
Just thought I’d add that the book appears to have been released in the UK as ‘Timothy’s Book’ by Portobello Books. (I must say I prefer the ‘Timothy; or, the Notes…’ title myself.)
Sounds like my kind of a book. Now I can’t decide which edition to get, though!
Yes, the abject reptile title is much better! I think I recognise the other title, though.
It sounds like a good book, the sort one doesn’t get much nowadays. Definitely one I’d want to read.
What an unusual subject matter for a novel. I’d never have considered writing a novel from this perspective. The writer has some imagination. I like the sound of the language used in it too.
The hardback edition of this book was published by Knopf in 2006, wonder why they didn’t put out the paperback? Perhaps they ahven’t a paperback division?
The “abject reptile” phrase is one used by Rev. White in his diary to refer to Timothy, so I was pleased to see it in the title. The book has such an old-fashioned flavor, that anyone who enjoys that sort of thing would like it.
Oh dear, I just noticed a glaring mistake I made: one of my tags is “Victorian memoirs”, but the book is set in the 1700’s, long before Queen Victoria was even born, never mind ascended the throne.Was I not paying attention??? I’m appalled & embarrassed. ohhhhh……