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Water Dogs: A Novel
Lewis Robinson’s critically acclaimed story collection Officer Friendly was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “eleven letter-perfect stories with the keen understanding of human nature readers expect to find in works by veterans like Alice Munro.” Now Robinson has written Water Dogs, a suspenseful, disquieting, and compulsively readable first novel that takes an ...more
Hardcover, 244 pages
Published
January 13th 2009
by Random House
(first published December 29th 2008)
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A bleak, snowy, small town in Maine sets the stage for our story. Bennie is a gentle 27-year-old college dropout who lives with his older brother, Littlefield, in the family's once grand, but now deteriorating home. Neither have amounted to much and have accepted their status as townies (water dogs).
The guys engage in intense weekly paintball games with their friend Julian and three fishermen. No matter the season, paintball is played. It has become a release for Bennie and Lit...more
The guys engage in intense weekly paintball games with their friend Julian and three fishermen. No matter the season, paintball is played. It has become a release for Bennie and Lit...more
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dear NY Times, i disagree.
I enjoyed this book. Yes, it was a little spare, slow and dark, but I live on an island in Maine and thats what winters are like up here. I loved the way he weaved paintball into the story: they game, the implications, pros and cons. I found it to be a genuine book about Maine too. There is so much out there that is written about or set in Maine that just uses the rocks and trees as a backdrop and nothing else. Stereotypical "ayuh" characters too. Water Dogs really digs into the essenc...more
If you have a love for novels of rural Maine, this will be right up your alley. The author deals with a bunch of lost characters with unrealized dreams, living on an island near Portland during a typical Maine winter. Replete with flashbacks, the novel follows the lives of the three twenty something siblings who have never managed to find themselves since the premature death of their father, called "Coach." The novel cuts back and forth between the present and the better times of the p...more
Excellent. Reading Water Dogs was like being in an encapsulated world. Very atmospheric, I could feel the cold coming right off the page and not just because I'm living in Maine and it's winter.
Characters are interesting, not at all predictable, they are at times among other things likeable, frustrating, tender, funny and very real.
Get a copy. Read it!
Characters are interesting, not at all predictable, they are at times among other things likeable, frustrating, tender, funny and very real.
Get a copy. Read it!
I really liked this book. It was moving along (but sometimes not fast enough. The details of the setting, characters, etc somewhat dragged the story). The novel was set in a beautiful landscape in Maine, and it was about a unique relationship between two brothers. I loved the Red Sox/Patriots/Bruins references!
Robinson took a sharp knife and removed every unnecessary word from this novel. The spareness perfectly suits the setting, characters, and mystery at the heart of the novel. Not exactly a cheery read but a great one nonetheless.
Just finished this. It is adreamy novel about a group of friends/family in small island town in Maine in the dark, snowy winter. Beautifully written; slow but steady as a snowstorm. Great characters, and a compelling story.
Water Dogs is the latest book by author Lewis Robinson. I read Officer Friendly years ago and was thrilled to see something new by him at Posman Books. The story centers on the relationship between two brothers, Bennie and Littlefield whom are both tormented by their past and working through their issues while the women in the novel offer the voice of reason. I loved the characters and like Officer Friendly, perfectly depicts the various walks of life in Maine. As Bennie recovers from an acciden...more
Diane
added it
Jacket promises more suspense and mystery than the plot delivers. The author "tells" more than he "shows," if you know what I mean, especially in the last third of the book.
I read this less then a week ago and can hardley remember much about it. Set in Maine, lots of snow, a missing person. The writing was good but it was missing something that I can't put my finger on maybe cause I can barely remember.
Really more like 3 1/2. I enjoyed this book and could really relate to the endless wintry details right now. It wasn't spectacular but solid.
I burned through Water Dogs in one sitting on a cold winter day. Robinson’s writing is straightforward and honest, and his descriptions of places and people in southern and midcoast Maine are true to life. The story is the thing, though. And this story pulled me along like bait at the end of a trawl line.
I liked the Maine/New England setting and it was actually a pretty good story too.
This author is my hero.
Completely entertaining--I read it in two nights. Some of the characters were a little unbelievable and not fleshed out but overall very fun read.
Disharmony, distrust, unresolved family issues, and undeserved loyalty among grown siblings surface after two brothers run into trouble that may be deeper than they can dig their way out of after a tragedy in a not-so-playful paintball game in a blinding blizzard. An engrossing novel with compelling characters that stayed with me long after the end.
A great Maine book. Wonderful atmosphere. Robinson does winter like nobody else, using it here for sinister effect. Good characters we all recognize.
Erick
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McLaren Brennan
marked it as to-read
Anne Marie
marked it as to-read
Cathy
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Bobbi
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“The water was a full unknowable world.”
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