I love books with good characters and interesting stories. This is one of those books, full of ideas and a cast of fascinating and recognizable people.
The interactions of Gil and the family next door along with the whole neighborhood are relatable and written about in a very readable way.
I liked the snippets through the book about the birds and how the whole thing wrapped up.
The journey on foot to get Gil to his new home was a perfect way to begin the book.
I will recommend Dinosaurs without hesitation!

A short, quiet little novel about a middle-aged man named Gil and the life he begins to build for himself after a bad break-up. I loved Gil and I loved Millet's writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

After reading Lydia Millet’s novel, A Children’s Bible, last year, she has joined the list of authors whose new releases I will read without question. Millet has a knack for writing in a very clear, readable way about some deep philosophical questions.

Dinosaurs focuses on Gil, a wealthy man in his mid-forties, with no real responsibilities. A family moves in next door, into a house which just happens to have a glass wall, into which Gil can see quite easily. Gil slots into the family very easily, using his free time to help nurture the family son, Tom. We also learn about Gil’s lonely upbringing, being orphaned from a young age, as well as his few adult friendships.

Dinosaurs is a charming, entertaining book about a genuinely nice man; something that is just so bafflingly rare in modern literature. In Gil, Millet has created a character who is in the privileged position of not needing to have any ulterior motives. That is not to say that this book is without tragedy or sadness, but as a reader, I never found it to be emotionally manipulative.

Pros: This is the second book I’ve read by the author (the other being A Children’s Bible), and her books are unique and efficient. I appreciate that her books never remind me of books by other authors and often feature nature (birds are a theme throughout Dinosaurs). This book has a strong sense of place—both in NYC and in Arizona.

I read this book on audio and ebook and think both formats work well.

Cons: This is not a con because I believe that not every book is for every reader, but although I see the craft and merit in this book, it was not for me. I think readers of character-driven literary fiction will enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the opportunity to read this book.

3.5 stars

An interesting read. The central character is Gil (45 years old, raised by a frugal grandmother from a young age after parents tragically killed) who uproots his life in NYC and WALKS -over a 5 month period to a new home he bought online in Phoenix , Arizona. Through him, the author explores multiple themes-friendship, betrayal, bullying, infidelity, nature, and love. Well written, insightful, a good read.

There’s something special about a book you absolutely love, but you can’t quite put your finger on why. Dinosaurs is that book for me. I couldn’t put it down, I can’t stop thinking about it, and yet I’ve struggled for weeks to try to communicate what about this book touched me so profoundly. In this novel, Millet introduces us to Gil, a middle-aged man who, following a breakup, walks from New York to Arizona. Perhaps surprisingly, Millet begins her story not with Gil’s walk, but instead after he has already arrived in Arizona, living in a giant house he refers to as the castle. In his new life, Gil lives next door to a house with a glass wall, giving him an almost theatrical view of his new neighbors. He, of course, can't help but become intrigued and then consumed by this family’s life. Knowing Millet’s previous novel, A Children’s Bible, when I read the premise, I thought Dinosaurs was going to be eerie if not completely creepy, but it’s not. It’s a story about friendship, intimacy, and what it means to do good in the world–or at least to try. Gil is a surprisingly lovable protagonist: wealthy, earnest, lonely, with a deep appreciation for the natural world. I absolutely loved Millet’s writing through Gil’s eyes. It’s simple in the best way: I felt like I was under a spell and could not stop turning the pages. Her keen observation leads to moments of profundity as often as to moments of humor. In many ways, this is a slice of life book: a book about the biggest of things in the smallest of things–and it would have been exceptional just as that. Yet Millet does more here by injecting moments of satire and a touch of oddity, like sprinkling the novel with gorgeous, brief descriptions of birds and ruminating on those birds’ Jurassic ancestry. This strange little book will linger with me for a long time.

Fall reading mood: You want something short, meaningful, simple, and deceptively strange

Read this if you like: characters you want to hug, complicated relationships, observational humor, straightforward but beautiful writing, considering our connection to the natural world

I read this almost in one sitting. It is written in a refreshing, direct voice that feels simple but somehow packs in a ton of thought-provoking topics. Nature and humanity, loneliness and connection, wealth and purpose, right and wrong, Gil is an endearing main character who has just left his former life in NYC after a bad breakup and decided to walk to Phoenix. But the story really only references his walk a few times, it is really about the new life he makes for himself in the “castle” house he bought sight unseen that is next door to the “glass house”. Gil’s relationship with the members of the glass house, and the few people he is friends with, are a delight to read. I love a good character study and got it with Gil.

The framework Millet uses of the birds, and the title Dinosaurs, was almost an additional layer. If it wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have missed it. Since it was incorporated as an allegory for humanity’s minuscule presence on Earth, it definitely made me think harder about what else Millet was trying to express. This is where her message about humans affecting climate change leans the hardest for me.

Highly recommend for literary lovers looking for an approachable, quick read.

Like others have mentioned I kinda went into this one pretty blind, having no idea what it was about. And given how much I enjoyed her last book I immediately requested an early read of this release. Her style of writing is both engaging and a little bit of puzzle which to me, is what makes Millet's writing so unforgettable. You just never really know where anything is going to end up. Dinosaurs was a brilliant cast of characters and with the descriptive nature of her writing I could practice feel like I was present in the scene that played out.

Thanks so much for a chance to read this upcoming release.

A Children's Bible was one of my very favorite books of 2020, and this lived up. The writing is equally as stunning and it's a novel I imagine I'll about often. This is a hard book to describe in terms of what its about. When the book starts, our main character, Gil, has just walked across half the country to start life anew. He meets the neighbors and the book basically tracks their friendship alongside observations of desert animals. Not much happens. Despite not a ton of plot, Millet had me leaning in to these characters. Her commentary on friendship, goodness, charity, and the impact of one made this a win for me.

This is a quiet story that reads easily. I think fans of Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance will find something to like here. Millet makes makes meaning out of the daily minutiae and will leave readers with a lot to think about.

I'm having a hard time organizing my thoughts on this one but I'm going to give it a try. I certainly have to admit that Millet is a good writer, on a prose level. And she clearly has a good understanding of human nature and relationships. I thought that the narrative hung together well and that the characterizations were (for the most part) thorough and complex, and the dialogue was well-written, even for the kids (which can be harder than it seems and really take away from a reading experience). Even though the characters were clearly well thought-out, I still felt that we mostly stayed at the surface level with the characters, even Gil. I wavered between 3 and 4 stars for this one, ultimately deciding on 3 stars because I don't think I'm going to remember this book very well or take much away. This is a story of upper class, rather wealthy, white, straight, able-bodied, liberal people living in the suburbs. And ultimately I didn't think that there was anything particularly revelatory or surprising in the story. I was a little disturbed by Dag's brief story, where one of the wealthy characters just assume Dag wants money, and it turns out that he does indeed want money, and he's treated a little bit like a punchline for that. And Gil's compassion towards and desire to help Dag is considered silly or naive. I just felt like this is a story about a "good" wealthy white man. He isn't abusive or misogynistic; he gives away his money; he volunteers; he's not a racist. I don't know it just felt like apologia for wealthy millionaires and I found it kind of odd. I'm not sure what Millet is trying to say with that aspect of the story. The interpersonal relationships are interesting, I just wish Gil was more flawed. He didn't feel nuanced enough to me, and he's at the heart of the story, so the overall book suffered as a result. I came away not quite sure what the point of it all was. But you can't deny that Millet is a great writer at the sentence level. I'm just not sure I was sold on the overall message of the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Dinosaurs." It was an unsuspecting, refreshing read. Normally a book about two wealthy neighbors wouldn't appeal to me, but Millet shows these two households in an intimate, at times disturbing, and often times funny way. Our main character, Gil, is an independently wealthy fellow in his 40's, who buys a house sight unseen in Phoenix, then walks there from New York to prove that he can do something in his life, and to give himself distance from a failed romance. He arrives and notices the house next door is all glass, and is occupied by a couple his age, their teenage daughter and adolescent son, whom Gil befriends. It doesn't take long and Gil and the neighbors become close friends, as does their friend, Sally, whom they introduce to Gil, and eventually moves in with him.

What makes this novel interesting is how Gil is an avid bird watcher, becomes friend from a women's shelter with another male volunteer, who is an even more avid bird watcher than Gil, and is a bit off-key, and obsessive about birds. Gil's parents died when he was a young boy, so he was raises by wealthy relatives, who left him a fair chunk of money, which he initially doesn't want, yet accepts, and basically he does volunteer work. After the man, who was young and intoxicated when he accidentally kills Gil's parents with his car, is released from prison, he tries to connect with Gil, and eventually, forty years later does. Their exchanges are interesting, yet, somewhat predictable, and I'm sure there's a reason this was included in the novel, even though this encounter felt a bit off kilter.

We do meet two of Gil's closest friends from New York, and briefly his old flame, and this gives readers a sense of who Gil was before he moved to Arizona to start anew. His friendship with the young neighbor boy is most striking because we see Gil more as a youngster than adult and it's rather refreshing.

Millet's prose is vibrant. I loved the scenes with the shitty neighbor dad, Gary, and Gil. I don't want to give spoilers, but this is a quick read, a fun read, and a memorable novel.

This book moved slower than I would have liked but it made me care about a character I initially was not interested in. The author goes into an absolutely incredible character study. The pacing was still a challenge at times, but the quality of the prose largely makes up for that.

There are lots of helpful reviews for this out there already, so I'll just recommend it to literary fiction fans. Good stuff.

I appreciate the free ARC for review.

Although we have bought this for the library I didn't like it as much as I had hoped. I think the story is in the vein of Anne Tyler in that it's a simple no frills story about ordinary life but where Ms. Tyler does this so very well, Ms. Millet makes it just drone on and on. The concept was interesting. A man, who is grieving the end of a long relationship to a very selfish self centered woman decides to move across the country and buys the house sight unseen next to another house that happens to have a glass wall. So he can see inside the house and becomes quite close to the family of 4. And I don't. need bells and whistles, and I love a good character driven story but this fell flat for me.

Dinosaurs is a literary and thought-provoking exploration of humanity and an absorbing presentation of character. Lydia Millet poses large questions in clear prose, with beautiful flow in language. Recommended reading.

I really liked this novel about friendship and grief. Read it in one sitting and it’s definitely one that will stay with me.

What I love about Lydia Millet is that her style of writing is all her own and she isnt afraid to be different. I really enjoyed A Children’s Bible so I knew I would probably enjoy this one as well and I was right. I love how she writes stories about human and animal relationships as well as climate change in the most unique way where it isnt too pushy or proactive. Dinosaurs was another great novel by this author.

"More tender and less mercurial than anything Lydia Millet has written before, this is an elegant, subtle novel of profound emotional heft and deceptively simple prose of immense power, ending on a grace note that marks a high point in the author’s career."

From my Library Journal review.

Dinosaurs
by Lydia Millet
Pub Date: October 11, 2022
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. The book reads as a simple story of a man (Gil) who lives next door to a family with a glass window as the side of their house, so essentially, he views them as one would see fish in a bowl. I enjoyed this book.
4 stars

After loving The Children's Bible, I was so excited to get the chance to read Millet's new book. She has this uncanny knack for capturing the weirdness of people with authentic, captivating characters.
This new book focuses on Gil, aa self-chosen loner. He moves to Arizona and befriends the neighbors. The story explores the relationships between these characters and also the landscape they find themselves in.
I finished it quickly, wishing I lived next door to Gil.
I can't wait to recommend this to customers! It is the author's best book yet.