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51st out of 88 books
—
147 voters
Moondogs
by
Alexander Yates (Goodreads Author),
Michael J. Windsor
A singularly effervescent novel pivoting around the disappearance of an American businessman in the Philippines and the long-suffering son, jilted lover, slick police commissioner, misguided villain, and supernatural saviors who all want a piece of him.
Mourning the recent loss of his mother, twentysomething Benicio—aka Benny—travels to Manila to reconnect with his estra...more
Mourning the recent loss of his mother, twentysomething Benicio—aka Benny—travels to Manila to reconnect with his estra...more
Hardcover, 339 pages
Published
March 15th 2011
by Doubleday
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3.5 stars
Okay, I finished this a couple of weeks ago -- at the time I finished it, I gave it 3.5 stars, but now I'm not so sure. I'm thinking the writing probably pushes it closer to 4 stars . . .
Moondogs follows several characters whose lives intertwine:
There is Benicio, who has traveled to the Philippines to reconnect with his estranged father; Howard, shady businessman and Benicio's dad; Reynato Ocampo, a local policeman whose life has been immortalized in film; Ocampo's special ops unit (nam...more
Okay, I finished this a couple of weeks ago -- at the time I finished it, I gave it 3.5 stars, but now I'm not so sure. I'm thinking the writing probably pushes it closer to 4 stars . . .
Moondogs follows several characters whose lives intertwine:
There is Benicio, who has traveled to the Philippines to reconnect with his estranged father; Howard, shady businessman and Benicio's dad; Reynato Ocampo, a local policeman whose life has been immortalized in film; Ocampo's special ops unit (nam...more
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WOW! Where should I start with this unique and fantastical tale? There is something for just about everybody in this book. Mystery, politics, mysticism, romance, family saga, satire, you name it...
This book is completely different from anything I have ever read before and I could not wait to get back to it. In fact, my 10 year-old found me on the couch late one night barely able to keep my eye lids open and told me I really needed to go to bed, but I just wanted more.
The main story follows a son...more
This book is completely different from anything I have ever read before and I could not wait to get back to it. In fact, my 10 year-old found me on the couch late one night barely able to keep my eye lids open and told me I really needed to go to bed, but I just wanted more.
The main story follows a son...more
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According to the author, moondogs are the halo-like coronae that appear around the moon on particularly clear night skies. What this has to do with the singularly weird but entertaining novel "Moondogs" by Alexander Yates is still rather unclear to me, but it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the story, much of which, like the title, kind of went over my head anyway. First off, it's about The Phillipines. I've never been to the Phillipines, and, after reading this book, I doubt it will ever m...more
Moondogs by debut novelist Alexander Yates set in present day Philippines combines magic, action, and satire. Yates draws on his own knowledge of the Philippines where he graduated from high school and later returned to work for the political section of the US Embassy. His familiarity with and knowledge of the place and its people comes across. While the persons, places, and events are fictionalized, his Filipino and expat characters are familiar enough that Yates could have written about people...more
Apr 20, 2011
Cheryl Gatling
added it
Recently some of my friends and I amused ourselves with the question, "On the scale of 1 to 10, how weird would you say you are?" Moondogs is s novel that starts out reading like a normal story. Maybe I'd give it at most a 2 on the weirdness scale, one for being set in the exotic locale of the Philippines, and another one for having a rooster introduced on page one as a character and a villain. But Benicio (who travels to the Philippines to re-connect with his estranged father) and his girlfrien...more
Moondogs is a terrific novel. It's the kind of book that brings desperate elements together in an unusual location (for me) in a surprisingly off kilter way. There's a grieving son, an estranged Father, soldiers with wizard-y superpowers, a local celebrity hero cop who has inspired a series of over the top action movies, adulterous embassy employees, a meth-addicted cab driver, a smoking rooster, a prostitute and a actor with political ambitions. All these characters come together in the Philipp...more
Moondogs
I only have one problem, I do not like this book it is all over the place.
There were times when I thought, "ok I get this now" then I don't. It is a bit hard to keep my mind wrapped around it
What I did get out of it was that, Benico, Benny, who lives in Virginia, had a mother who died in January in Chicago. Benico's Father Howard lives in the Philippines. Now Howard wants to try a reconciliation with his son, he asks him to come to the Philippines. When Benico arrives he cannot find h...more
I only have one problem, I do not like this book it is all over the place.
There were times when I thought, "ok I get this now" then I don't. It is a bit hard to keep my mind wrapped around it
What I did get out of it was that, Benico, Benny, who lives in Virginia, had a mother who died in January in Chicago. Benico's Father Howard lives in the Philippines. Now Howard wants to try a reconciliation with his son, he asks him to come to the Philippines. When Benico arrives he cannot find h...more
Set against the lush backdrop of the Philippines within the context of the politics and history that shape the country, MOONDOGS is a gorgeous and fantastical debut novel from Alexander Yates that challenges our conventional ideas of family, cultural identity, and how we define the place we call home. At its heart, MOONDOGS is a story of relationships—suffering and loss, love and betrayal, redemption and forgiveness, sprinkled with magical realism.
After Benicio loses his mother to a fatal car cr...more
After Benicio loses his mother to a fatal car cr...more
This is the first book I’ve read in a long, long time that I simply didn’t want to end. It’s that much fun.
Alexander Yates’s first novel features an elite task force of superhero policemen, each with a special power you’ve never seen in a comic book. One can shoot anyone from any distance as long as he knows the person’s name. Another can perform cheesy magic tricks, but for real, and he uses them to turn villains’ weapons into mere stage props. One is a “shit magnet” who draws any violence dir...more
Alexander Yates’s first novel features an elite task force of superhero policemen, each with a special power you’ve never seen in a comic book. One can shoot anyone from any distance as long as he knows the person’s name. Another can perform cheesy magic tricks, but for real, and he uses them to turn villains’ weapons into mere stage props. One is a “shit magnet” who draws any violence dir...more
I usually stick to the epic fantasy genre but I am glad I stepped out of the box for this one. I was reading Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents blog and Yates wrote a guest post offering advice to writers. By leaving a comment, I entered a contest to win a signed copy of his book and it arrived in the mail a week later.
It was a quick read, fast-paced, and interesting as well. Yates does an amazing job putting the reader in the Philippines. His knowledge of the culture and setting was ob...more
It was a quick read, fast-paced, and interesting as well. Yates does an amazing job putting the reader in the Philippines. His knowledge of the culture and setting was ob...more
I hesitate to describe Alexander Yates’ debut novel as surreal. Sure, among others, there’s a retired fighting cock who likes to smoke cigarettes—and who happens to be the sidekick of one meth-addled taxi driver turned inept kidnapper—but, you know, this novel feels strangely home. Its strangeness so familiar but compelling nonetheless. Its strangeness I’ve realized to be so patently Filipino. [Obviously, it is not uncommon to find a feral rooster smoking Philip Morrises in this glorious country...more
bibliovermis.com Illustrated Review
Good for: People who like ensemble casts and magical realism. The sometimes brutal graphic violence—even by … Continue reading →
Having gone to the Philippines for a month a couple of years ago, I have a fondness for pretty much anything Filipino. I was intrigued to discover this novel set in the Philippines as not many novels published in the US are set there. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The author does a fine job putting you right in the Philippines without going overboard. Somehow, Yates takes blends family drama, a police procedural involving a kidnapping, and characters with fantastical mystical powers. A po...more
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This was a very different book which touched on many genres in the fiction realm; including action, paranormal and suspense. There was a long list of very complex characters, many of whom were corrupt, immoral and dishonest people. I had a hard time finding characters that I really liked, because most of them were so flawed.
The story focuses around Benicio Bridgewater who is traveling to the Philippines to visit his estranged father, Howard, with whom he is trying to reestablish a relationship....more
The story focuses around Benicio Bridgewater who is traveling to the Philippines to visit his estranged father, Howard, with whom he is trying to reestablish a relationship....more
The author's writing style is colorful, which catches the flavor of the setting in Manilla and surrounding areas. The characters are equally colorful and full of quirks and flaws. Several of the characters have odd powers, some with more control over them than others. Then there are a few damaged relationships and politics thrown into the mix. It was an engaging story, and a fairly quick read, with plenty of action and enough double-crossing to keep you reading to find out where it would all go...more
Moondogs is a well written action thriller wrapped in a veneer of brujo magic and surreal absurdism. The story revolves around the kidnapping in Manila of Howard Bridgewater, an American businessman, by a bumbling band of crack-addled desperados. They’re up against Reynato Ocampo, a badass cop who’s inspired a series of hit films, the leader of a posse of brujo-powered vigilantes. Howard’s estranged son Benecio arrives for a pre-arranged visit to find the messy world his father has created turne...more
I won this book from Goodreads, First Reads a few weeks ago. I was in the middle of Pillars of the Earth, so wanted to wait until I was done with that to delve into this. Interesting book. It was a little bit scattered, but once you got your head around all of the characters and a bit of the backtracking within the story, it was pretty good. I feel a little let down by the ending. I really enjoyed the whole Ka-Pow crew, and wished they would have had a stronger presence in the book and had not t...more
How shall I describe this novel to an "innocent" reader? Start with a flamboyantly colored fighting cock rooster owned by a drug addicted cab driver looking for some easy money in kidnapping a "rich, fat, old white guy"...an American, of course. See, I bet that got you interested...now add a forlorn son who's alienated from his rich, fat, old white guy daddy and grieving for his mother done wrong by daddy dearest. Yep, I ended up not likely any of these characters in the end...maybe the son a li...more
I fell head over heels in love with this novel. A standout debut from emerging author Alexander Yates.
Early on, the reader is introduced to a colorful cast of characters. The list is a long one, but Yates adroitly balances the multiple story lines without a hitch. The nonlinear narrative revolves around the kidnapping of womanizer Howard Bridgewater while he's on business in the Phillipines. We're privy to the seedier side of Manila, bumbling crooks, shallow politicians, duplicitous officials, a...more
Early on, the reader is introduced to a colorful cast of characters. The list is a long one, but Yates adroitly balances the multiple story lines without a hitch. The nonlinear narrative revolves around the kidnapping of womanizer Howard Bridgewater while he's on business in the Phillipines. We're privy to the seedier side of Manila, bumbling crooks, shallow politicians, duplicitous officials, a...more
Literary Urban Fantasy set in the Philippines - part mystery, part thriller, part fantasy. The fantastic elements in the story are understated - subtly adding to the exotic nature of the tale.
An entertaining story, it felt unresolved at the end but worked nonetheless. This novel was complex in its backstory, perhaps a bit too much.. a myriad of characters took several chapters to introduce and they didn't tie in to each other until near the end of the book. While it was gratifying when the vari...more
An entertaining story, it felt unresolved at the end but worked nonetheless. This novel was complex in its backstory, perhaps a bit too much.. a myriad of characters took several chapters to introduce and they didn't tie in to each other until near the end of the book. While it was gratifying when the vari...more
I read the first paragraph of this book and I knew that I was going to love it and it was a total ride!
I can’t believe that this is a first novel. The varying points of view, time changes, and threads are all handled with expert hands with none of that first book bloat. We have Benicio who is about to go visit his father in Manila after a long estrangement, his father Howard who may be a good guy or a bad guy, Ignacio and his rooster who are villains, Monique who is a bit lost in life, and the...more
I can’t believe that this is a first novel. The varying points of view, time changes, and threads are all handled with expert hands with none of that first book bloat. We have Benicio who is about to go visit his father in Manila after a long estrangement, his father Howard who may be a good guy or a bad guy, Ignacio and his rooster who are villains, Monique who is a bit lost in life, and the...more
I think I only got this book because it takes place in the Philippines. The author's not Filipino, but he definitely shows off his knowledge of the culture and the landscape in this novel, which weaves three different narrative threads into one story. My favorite characters? The retired and villainous (though loyal) fighting cock Kelog and Task Force Ka-Pow, whose strange superpowers read like the ghost stories my parents tell me about their childhoods. It was going strong until the end -- and t...more
It seems like I've been reading this book for years. And I am so sad to be done with it. It will be very weird not being able to hang out with these characters anymore!
This book has been described as hard to categorize, and I think that's accurate. It doesn't really fit into any one genre and if you were asked what the book is about, that would be really difficult to pin down. It reminded me of the tone of A Prayer for Owen Meany in the way things intertwined and the reader was coaxed to taking...more
This book has been described as hard to categorize, and I think that's accurate. It doesn't really fit into any one genre and if you were asked what the book is about, that would be really difficult to pin down. It reminded me of the tone of A Prayer for Owen Meany in the way things intertwined and the reader was coaxed to taking...more
Moondogs by Alexander Yates manages to include pretty much every unflattering stereotype about the Philippines and/or Filipinos – corrupt politicians, cockfighting, gold-digging prostitutes, kidnapping of white tourists. I started to tell my brother about this book and he asked, half-joking, “Does it have karaoke in it?” And I had to admit that it did. The author’s bio states that he went to school in the Philippines and worked for the U.S. Embassy there so it appears he might have written from...more
Moondogs starts out telling the stories of 5 separate lives, and everything in the writing of those lives has meaning. The main story though follows Benicio, he recently has decided to reconnect with his father who walked out on him 15 years ago and has been living in the Philippines, but once he gets there is father is no where to be found. The 5 stories start to converge about a third of the way through the book and they flow together almost perfectly, it's not one of those books where people...more
For the video review, go to:
http://dft.ba/-moondogsreview
The first day I started reading "Moondogs" I knew immediately, that I wouldn't be doing much other than reading. It's about a father, Howard, and son, Benicio, who decide to meet in the Philippines, where Howard lives, to mend their relationship. Benicio arrives only to find that Howard is missing. While Benicio thinks his father has ditched him, Howard is in fact being held captive by a taxi driver and his pet rooster Kelog.
Alexander Ya...more
http://dft.ba/-moondogsreview
The first day I started reading "Moondogs" I knew immediately, that I wouldn't be doing much other than reading. It's about a father, Howard, and son, Benicio, who decide to meet in the Philippines, where Howard lives, to mend their relationship. Benicio arrives only to find that Howard is missing. While Benicio thinks his father has ditched him, Howard is in fact being held captive by a taxi driver and his pet rooster Kelog.
Alexander Ya...more
This review first appeared on my blog: http://www.knittingandsundries.com/20...
A quirky, unusual tale where a cigarette-smoking rooster is one of the bad guys, a band of bruhos (witches) nicknamed Task Force Ka-Pow are an arm of the good guys (or are they?), and a movie star whose fame is based on the real life of the leader of Task Force Ka-Pow is elected as a senator. Mix them with the kidnapping of a wealthy American national whose son comes to the Phillipines to visit him before anyone knows...more
A quirky, unusual tale where a cigarette-smoking rooster is one of the bad guys, a band of bruhos (witches) nicknamed Task Force Ka-Pow are an arm of the good guys (or are they?), and a movie star whose fame is based on the real life of the leader of Task Force Ka-Pow is elected as a senator. Mix them with the kidnapping of a wealthy American national whose son comes to the Phillipines to visit him before anyone knows...more
Moondogs is like Elmore Leonard and David Lynch teaming up to write and direct a superhero movie in the Philippines. Yates understands that in order for us to buy this wackiness he has to keep the plot moving and the tension high. That he does so, and with such memorable, hilarious characters, is a tribute to his unique gifts. Entertaining and consistently surprising, you won't be able to put this down. The kind of writer that you preorder his next book.
Moondogs was not what I expected but is a fun and emotional read.
Moondogs starts off making you think it will be a madcap adventure, sort of Carl Hiaasen in Manila, but is in the end much more than that. Yes, there is wackiness in the guard-rooster and the cops with super powers, but in many ways those are in the background to the primary intertwined stories of real people, not caricatures, trying to deal with love, loss, betrayal and failures, all set in the beautiful and ugly sides of Manila.
Moondogs starts off making you think it will be a madcap adventure, sort of Carl Hiaasen in Manila, but is in the end much more than that. Yes, there is wackiness in the guard-rooster and the cops with super powers, but in many ways those are in the background to the primary intertwined stories of real people, not caricatures, trying to deal with love, loss, betrayal and failures, all set in the beautiful and ugly sides of Manila.
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Alexander Yates grew up in Haiti, Mexico and Bolivia. He graduated high school in the Philippines, where he later returned to work as a contractor in the US Embassy. He holds an MFA from Syracuse University, where he edited the literary journal Salt Hill and won Joyce Carol Oates awards in fiction and poetry. His fiction and reviews have appeared in Salon, American Fiction, Fivechapters.com and th...more
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