Both plot and character development are structured around Lily's decline and Ted's struggling attempt to deal with it. The octopus too takes on a voice and personality of its ownit is sarcastic, vindictive, and heartless.įaced with the unacceptable choices of surgery, chemo, radiation or steroids, all high-risk and bound to cause misery, Ted decides to defeat the 'octopus' on his own terms.

Attachment is the key word herethe tumor is attached to Lily as Ted and Lily are emotionally attached to each other. The novel opens with Ted's discovery of the 'octopus,' a malignant brain tumor, attached to Lily's skull. Lily is exuberant, charming, child-like and as attached to Ted as he is to her. For instance, the first time Lily sees Ted eating an ice cream cone, she says, 'WHAT! IS! THIS! CLOUD! THAT! YOU'RE! LICKING! I! LOVE! TO! LICK! THINGS! WOULD! I! LIKE! TO! LICK! THAT!' She also 'speaks' conversationally. Lily converses with Ted in two ways: 'barking' language written in staccato-capitalized single words each with an exclamation point. Now, more than ever before, Ted depends on his aging dachshund, Lily, for company and conversation. About Jenny, he says: 'The conclusions she draws are always the wrong ones, but I've gotten good at taking her dimwitted advice and filtering it through the mind of an imaginary and much smarter therapist to get the insight into my life that I need.' He sees an ineffectual therapist, Jenny, because she takes his insurance and has an office close to his neighborhood. Ted also has an ongoing difficult relationship with his mother, who will never say, 'I love you.'ĭepressed and prone to panic attacks, Ted uses alcohol and pills to numb his pain.

Since then, his feeble attempts at dating have been disastrous.

The story, set in contemporary Los Angeles, is told in first person by Ted Flask, a sensitive, sometime petulant gay man whose writing career has stalled since a breakup with his cheating ex-boyfriend.

Lily And The Octopus is a whimsical, hilarious and deeply moving tale that demonstrates the lengths humans will go to, trying to protect ourselves from the devastation and heartbreak of losing someone we love. A highly imaginative story, Lily and the Octopus touches on the bond between man and dog while exploring themes of loss and grief.

Lily and the octopus