Johan Gabrielsen

So it's an amazingly rich world that she builds for you that you totally believe, I think.

Absolutely.

So then perhaps moving on specifically to Sue the dingo who kind of becomes Jean's partner in that they end up having to journey with each other.

And so their relationship – and it is – and this is where Jean is the perfect character to take you through it because she is a relentlessly kind of don't let life –

put you down but keep on going no matter what positive sort of person.

She is the person that allows you to find humour in it, sort of the joy of it.

It's presented as a really complicated gift.

No, well, in fact, it's more complicated in that she really only talks in sort of, I don't know how you found it, Kate, but almost these kind of, in poetry, sort of haikus.

So it's kind of quite opaque.

And so they're almost like little cryptic crosswords that you're trying to work out what Sue's saying.

But because...

Her take on the world is so different.

You can only get sort of get snippets of it.

And I think Jean sort of describes it as it's as if you were studying, you know, a language at school that you can kind of almost sense, but you miss so much.

Yeah.

So part of it, I mean, part of what Sue's saying, you know, I didn't get all of what Sue was saying either, but I think that's kind of the point.

exactly right like she's done it so well you've got a essential so recognizable character that then that's what allows you to go on this incredibly strange and weird journey and yet not not kind of um lose sight of what's going on because you've got that you're anchored by gene is such an anchor i think and then on top of that there's some really wise um

sort of thoughts that really made me sit back and think, you know, want to respond to just little ideas that she included of how children relate to animals, which is different to where old people might relate to animals.

That really makes you sit back and have a bit of a think about your world and how you relate to animals.

So there's a lot of kind of little bits of wisdom in this book and thoughts about the world, as well as this amazingly incredible story.