Walkin' the Dog

Socrates Fortlow #2

by Walter Mosley

Once he had dreamed up the Easy Rawlins series, with its colored-coded titles and suave protagonist, Walter Mosley could have coasted for the rest of his life. Instead he delved into impressionistic fiction (RL's Dream) and sci-fi (Blue Light)--and came up with his own variant on Ellison's invisible man, a forbidding ex-con named Socrates Fortlow. The author first introduced this inner-city philosopher in Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, allowing him to vault one ethical hurdle after another. Now Socrates returns in Walkin' the Dog, still operating out of his tiny Watts apartment, still figuring precisely what to make of his freedom.

Like his dog, Killer--a spirited mutt who's missing his two hind legs--Socrates has to contend with a number of severe handicaps. Forget the fact that he's a black man in a white society. He's also the fall guy for every crime committed in the vicinity, a scapegoat of near-biblical proportions:

The police always came. They came when a grocery store was robbed or a child was mugged. They came for every dead body with questions and insinuations. Sometimes they took him off to jail. They had searched his house and given him a ticket for not having a license for his two-legged dog. They dropped by on a whim at times just in case he had done something that even they couldn't suspect.

Yet Socrates is no poster child for racial victimization. Why? Because Mosley never soft-pedals the fact that he is, or was, a murderer. "He was a bad man," we are assured at one point. "He had done awful things." Deprived of any sort of sentimental pulpit, Socrates makes his moral determinations on the fly. Should he admit that he killed a mugger in self-defense? Can he force his adopted son Darryl to stay in school? Should he murder a corrupt cop who's terrorized his entire neighborhood? His answers are consistently surprising, and that fact--combined with the author's shrewd, no-nonsense prose--should make every reader long for Mosley's next excursion into the Socratic method. --James Marcus

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, African American, Crime, Short Stories, Literature, Audiobook

301 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1999

About the author

Walter Mosley (b. 1952) is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins, as well as numerous other works, from literary fiction and science fiction to a young adult novel and political monographs. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other publications. Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Socrates has returned in another collection of thoughtful vignettes about the ex-con in Los Angeles. Introduced in Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, in this collection, Mosley further explores the intimacies of Socrates' relationships, including the details about how Socrates ended up in prison for murder. 

“They can lock up your body,” the purple man said. “But your mind is yours even if you don't want it.”

The blurb mentions something about Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, but if anything, Socrates as a Black ex-con is far too visible, particularly with his size. He knows too well that if any trouble goes down, he'll be the first the police come to, a point made all too clear when a dead body is found nearby in a vacant lot. That is one of the threads that ties many of these stories together.

"The policeman, the salesman in the store, the newspaperman or TV anchor, Socrates didn't trust any one of them. He knew that their jobs were to hold him down and rob him, and then afterward to tell him lies about what had really gone down. It was a crazy thought, he told himself, but then he'd say, “But not as crazy as this world,” and then he'd laugh."


Actually the writing and storytelling style brought back recollections of The Nick Adams Stories by Hemingway. The scenes are evocative, without a lot of context or helpful inner dialogue, so it is more of an experiential journey with much of the conflict centered around ethical dilemmas or life experiences, such as the homeless person living in the lot nearby.

Unsurprisingly, there's a lot of hard living in this world, but there are also moments of joy, altruism, and hope that make it a much easier read than I expected. 

“But not everybody could hear it. Some dope fiends too high an' some mens hatin' too hard. Sometimes the angel is that much too late and his song becomes a funeral hymn.”

I think I found the first book more powerful, but this was still interesting and occasionally profound, without feeling preachy. Mosley is such a powerful writer. Recommended.

“Yeah, well,” Marty said as he swerved past a red Bonneville that had loud bass music playing out of its open trunk. “I guess you can't beat that.” “Yeah,” Socrates said, not really agreeing.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In creating Socrates, Walter Mosely provides us with an authentic character to root for. He is full of fire and determined to give forward to Darryl whom he loves as a son. My heart ached for him in this gritty and wonderfully written tale filled with memorable characters and descriptions that fill the senses.

Meaningful quotes:

Socrates "sometimes wondered if the hate was older than him."

Wisdom from Socrates' old aunt Bellandra: "A good word and a gentle touch is like a cloud that passes on a nice day, Socrates," she replied. "But pain, real pain lasts forever. It hurt your son and his son and his. The slave is still cryin' even though his chains ain't nuthin' but rust, even though he's long gone and forgotten."

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic collection of Socrates Fortlow stories, with not a single dud in the bunch. Mosley also goes a bit darker in this volume (if that's even possible). Where the first volume felt like stories of hard redemption, this volume was full of stories of Socrates just getting the literal and metaphorical crap kicked out of him.

It's also interesting (and troubling) that this volume was written around the turn of the century, takes place in the mid-90s, and yet is more relevant than ever with its stories of trigger-happy cops and societal injustice.

[Oldman_JE · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Socrates, please. Last one, The Right Mistake: The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow, to go. I hang on this ex-con's words — who would've dreamed that I'd do so — like young Darryl that he fathers over, always wondering how he'll react or respond. I'm also looking forward to The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey. Really good stuff.

"She was staring out at the same street that Socrates was watching but he still wondered what it was that she saw. He knew that Luvia lived in a completely different world than he did. Maybe the world she saw had different colors; maybe there were truths revealed to her scrutiny that Socrates missed."

[John Biddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walter Mosley's second Socrates Fortlow book of connected stories is well worth putting on your TBR list. Socrates is a black man out of prison after a couple decades who just wants to get by on his own without being hassled. In his area of LA that's apparently too much to ask for and he's constantly rousted by the police even though they never have any evidence.

At the same time, he does have good relationships with some people, most especially the young teenaged Daryl to who he's a father figure though Daryl lives with foster parents because Socrates couldn't qualify. He has a good boss at the grocery store who sees him for the committed hard worker he is and tries to get him to take the produce manager job. Socrates also has a dog, his only pet ever, who lost his 2 rear legs in an accident and he rigged up some kind of harness so he can still get around.

Socrates is a unique character, constantly working hard to manage a violent rage that he mostly is able to control. Mosley is a terrific writer honestly showcasing some of the good and the bad of both blacks and whites in a tough neighborhood. I really like Socrates and I look forward to reading the last of the 3 books he's in. Too bad there aren't more.

[June Ahern · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rich story in every sense of the word. This is my first read by author Walter Mosley but will not be my last. The challenges, pain and social sigma of a man who has been in prison for many years and how he must learn to function within the free world again. The man is a most magnificent character named Socrates Fortlow. He is pained, isolated and defensive. His dog is also an injured being with two front legs only. I found myself rallying for Socrates hoping he would find some relief and happiness with the constant harassment from the police, new landowners, and at work. Still there are other characters in the story that see the finer parts of the big, strong black man living in poverty of LA. This is a stark reality look at crime, poverty, prejudices, and much more in this colorful poignant story. Walter Mosley is a brilliant author! A must read. The Skye in June

[Lainie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Walter Mosely's second of three novels about Socrates Fortlow, an African-American ex-con killer infected with rage (and probably bipolar disorder). He faces the world with his fists up, but as we watch, he gets under our skin. Mosely gives him dimension and lets us meet his friends and enemies, and the boy he looks after. Socrates struggles with his reactionary nature: he doesn't think his life can ever be smooth, but he asks himself Big Questions and he dreams. We see his intelligence and heart as we watch him test his ability to make better choices. Mosely brings Socrates to life and lets us see the world through a lens most of us will never experience, while he shows us that, in fundamental ways, Socrates is really not so very different from you or me. Recommended.

[Marcás · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant offering by Mosley. Calling him a jazz musician is wonderfully correct, and his talent as a riff master is on full display in 'Walkin' the Dog,' his second offering to feature angry and wise Socrates Fortlow. Mosley is adept at getting the scenes set and just enough information across to the reader to allow them to be pulled along, invested in each charaters' life. Would give this more than 5 stars if possible. Each new book I get to read leaves me breathless but thinking for days about the story and its message.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another series of stories featuring Socrates Fortlow, convicted murderer, now free for nine years and trying to make a life in Watts in the 1990's. He is very much a product of poverty and 27 vicious years in prison; but he struggles to figure out the best way to handle the difficult life situations which never seem to give him rest. Often the most obvious and tempting solution seems to be murder, but he desperately tries to avoid that, since he knows from experience that it leaves a permanent stain on your soul. The final story gives us Socrates in a silent public protest against a cop who is well-known in the community for his brutality and lawlessness, but who has remained undisciplined for years by the LAPD. His protest is surprisingly successful, after brutal police overreaction, riots, arrests, and death. The descriptions could be from today's headlines. The story was written a quarter century ago.

[Helaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the writing of Walter Mosley. I was in a state of apprehension throughout this entire book. I worried so much about something bad happening to Socrates that it was always a relief to get through a chapter where it didn't happen. I was grateful that many times after Socrates found himself in some legal or other trouble that Mr. Mosley inserted something like "as Socrates told Darryl two days later" to foreshadow the outcome. I could breathe again once I had read that. I sometimes wonder how I can become so engaged with his characters when they and I have nothing in common, when I can only know of their background, moral strife and life experiences through the written word, when I have never stepped into the world, minds or bodies that they inhabit. It is a testament to Mosley's writing of which 168 pages of it was not enough in this case.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Socrates is a different character for me w/ his books, I liked him. It is about his struggling w/ being on the outside, after many years in prison, his relationships, his strength and his weakness. He loves his dog he named killer to make others think he was dangerous and keep his place safe, Killer got hit by a car and lost his hind legs, but Socrates took him to the vet and would walk the dog w/ straps he made. Killer was his family, then at work he befriends a young man, trying to keep him on the straight and narrow, they become like father and son, even though he has to stay at another Foster home due to Socrates "living conditions. Great characters and good story.

[Tj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mosley is always great. This was more a short story collection focusing on the one character. But it was masterfully done and had a lot to say about race, opportunity and Anerica as a whole.

[Bridgette Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really liked this book despite it being more about his past life then a crime itself, I believe it's a really good representation of the African American community in the 1940s and police brutality.

[Daniel Polansky]

More episodes in the life of Mosley’s ex-con/philosopher, struggling to adjust his savage temper and bitter moral sense to a corrupt America. There are a couple of clunkers, but basically this is some really weird, well-written, insightful noir.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would'a been a 5-star book if it wasn't for that last chapter.
It just didn't fit the book. In fact, it was so out of place, I dwelled on it for a few days and thought I must have missed something. I went back and searched like crazy for what I could have missed. Low and behold, I didn't miss anything - just a very odd and disappointing final chapter to the novel.

Nonetheless, I love the philosophical thoughts and discussion by ex-murderer Socrates Fortlow.
Will definitely read the third, and final book of this series, and will likely start today.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Socrates Fortlow is a man full of rage and fear and wisdom. He operates on instinct and feeling but he thinks about stuff, too. He can't always articulate what he's feeling, even to himself, but he keeps working at it. He's a murderer, an ex-con, and now at 60 he's a man who wants to do right in the tough LA neighborhoods where the cops are always looking for a black guy like him whenever a crime goes down. The odds are against him, hell, the odds are against everybody who lives where he lives, yet he continues to ponder things in a deep human way that provides no easy answers.

Walter Mosley, writer of the Easy Rawlins detective series (which I have yet to read) and an earlier book about Socrates Fortlow (Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, which I also have not read), is a superb writer not only because of his subtle style. He has amazing insight into the complexity of human feeling and behavior. He made me want to kill a cop right along with Socrates, even though killing is wrong, as Socrates realized, just because the cruel bastard so richly deserved it. I felt the rage, the desperation, the confusion, the need to do something, and felt powerless. But Socrates is wise, as you will see.

Mosley is the son of a Jewish mother whose family fled Poland and Russia and a black father whose family left Louisiana and Texas to escape bad treatment. They met each other in Los Angeles, married, and raised their family there. Mosley says, "A lot of people would say to me, 'Well, you're multiracial.' And I am. But in this society, I'm black. That's not my color, but that's how I'm seen by others. I respect the biracial argument, but America is such a racist country. It's hard to go against an ocean. And the ocean of racism is as wide as the Atlantic Ocean from the East Coast to the coast of Africa." Mosley said that around 1999. Hope he will some day have reason to modify his views. Meanwhile he gives us powerful portraits of people we need to know.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Walkin’ the Dog’ is the follow up to Walter Mosley’s excellent ‘Always Outnumbered, Always Outnumbered’ and it’s more of the same. That might sound like a criticism, but if you’ve read my review of the first Socrates Fortlow book you’ll know it’s high praise.
Like that book, this is a series of connected short stories about the life of a black ex-con trying to make a life for himself in Los Angeles. Also like the first book, it’s gripping, powerful, moving and deeply political. Fortlow is an amazing character, and spending more time in his company is an absolute delight. He’s determined, wise and filled with righteous rage.
I don’t know if it is the short story format that makes the difference, or Fortlow himself, but I definitely prefer these books to Mosley’s better known Easy Rawlins series. The tales in this volume have both punch and emotion, and allow Mosley to focus on character and place rather than worrying so much about plot. That’s not to say the story-telling isn’t great though, and the threads that run through the stories bind them together as a cohesive whole.
The dog of the title is one of those threads, and Fortlow’s care for it is touching, The implications of his actions also adds some real tension in one of the stories. More than anything though, these stories are about the day to day struggles of the underprivileged in modern America. Mosley’s writing is fierce and impassioned. His depiction of impoverished LA leaps off the page and Fortlow and his companions are memorable and as real as any fictional characters I’ve read. That adds up to another amazingly satisfying book. For me it cements Walter Mosley as being in the top tier of crime writers, someone who writes about the mystery of the human condition, rather than just churning out whodunnits.

[Ero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty spectacular. Mosley's writing style sometimes seems like he's talking to fifth-graders. He repeats things that seem like they could be inferred. He has the characters monologue in ways that seem like they should be irritating. And he's always just a step away from hard-boiled cliche. But it's a really really really big step. And he does some subtle things with the insides of men's minds-- specifically black men's, and in this book, the mind of a brilliant but tormented ex-con who's filled with rage-- but some of it is pretty universal-- that seem realer than real. He's working at painting something very ambitious and every book is another brushstroke.

And when he's on, he's really on.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for manly crime novels. But I think this guy will be remembered for many generations.

This book nearly brought me to tears a couple times, without ever making me feel manipulated. I'm a softie, but still. Gotta say, one of the best fiction books I've read in some time.

[ReginaL.Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and virtuous. Hope with a strong dose of reality.

Mosley opened a can of pain and chased it with a double shot of whip ass. All the stories were insightful and brought us closer to the main character Socrates Flotnoy and his world. It is a poverty stricken world filled with drama and day to day joys. This is what life for minorities are filled with. We are surrounded with things that can destroy us and it’s nothing we can do. The most amazing thing in Socrates world was hope; hope in yourself, your community and the future where the shackles of poverty and racism can be destroyed. A novel for today and every day. Can’t wait for the future of Socrates and for all of us.

[Zach Langston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit more heavy-handed in its messaging than Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, but I still found it to be quite nuanced, especially when discussing the efficacy of words and ideas vs action (and how the two feed off of each other) when it comes to making change in the world.

As usual with Walter Mosley, the characters feel alive, and I can never get enough of the mid 20th century Los Angeles setting. Though I can’t relate to much of Socrates Fortlow’s life, watching his character grow and change is an absolute delight. I cannot wait to get my hands on the third book in this series.

[Nicolle Atchison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it. Every time the main character entered a scene, i had to be told by the author how much of a murderer he was, how big he was, how big his hands were. I get the point already. It just couldn't keep my attention on the story line either. I see what the author was trying to do...but I just couldn't feel enough for the character or want to know more about the character and what was going to happen to him.

[Gossymotto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just picked this book up at random, liked the title and the synopsis sounded interesting. I was pleasantly surprised by it. I think Walter Mosley has found himself a new fan. I will definitely be reading another of his books to see if I feel the same way but this one was well worth it. The characters are very real and so easy to visualize. I think Mosley knows a thing or two about the people he writes about.

I'd recommend this book to anyone that is looking for something fresh and real.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

In book 2 of the Socrates Fortlow series, about an ex-con of the same name he adopts a stray dog. The new owner creates a place for the pet to run in a DIY harness for this kind of handicapped animal. Killer is left at home while the former prisoner commits murders in the course of a normal day. Walkin’ the Dog, by Walter Mosley is exciting because it chronicles the black lives in Watts, a violence ridden neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

[Gayle Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Walter Mosley. Socrates Fortlow is a noble man. I enjoy his company.

[Wendy R. Eugene · Rating 4 out of 5]

What next?

Wisdom for living as a black man in America. Only love can overcome anger and only purpose can trump fear.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Socrates continues on his path towards enlightenment. Great story.

[John Wiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Socrates is a great character, in this book and in Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned.

[James Murtha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sequel to “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned,” follows ex-con, Socrates Fortlow, through a series of challenges during the riots in the Watts area of Los Angeles in the 1990s. Key characters from the first book – the teen Darryl, the sometimes girlfriend Iula, Marty Gonzalez, the boss and friend at Bounty Market, crippled war veteran, Right Burke, and the black dog without hind legs, Bruno – renamed here Killer – all share the adventures. New characters emerge. A cologne-wearing radical artist, a mortician, some cops, two convicts, one still alive, from S’s prison days.
Having been socialized for twenty-seven years in prison, Socrates thinks and feels in believable ways, within a framework foreign to me and most readers. While he continues to evolve as a fascinating character, we’d like to know more about some minor characters. Mosley leaves some loose ends,
Carpenter friend, Lydell, another ex-con, shares his nightmares about the man he stabbed forty times. Finally he slices his own throat.
Right Burke, Socrates’s best friend, develops an incurable disease and begs Socrates to help him end his life, but like St Augustine, not quite yet – he wants a night of carousing and then insists on being left alone.
A promise while in prison leads Socrates on a mission to plant an exotic tree and to make love to a beautiful woman in memory of deceased friend.
After years of free rent — the landlord died—the new property owner hires two goons to break into Socrates’s home and toss his furniture outside. Socrates discovers them in the process, confronts them, and gets jailed for punching one of the men. In a twist of fate, a sympathetic judge and a frightened wealthy developer collaborate to diffuse a tense situation.
The cops accuse Socrates of murdering a young prostitute he never met. We don’t learn if her killer is caught, though an investigating officer comes to Socrates’s aid when he is arrested for protesting a bad cop. We suspect the bad cop killed the girl.
The final chapter takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster as Socrates plots how to punish a bad cop. The ultimate plan is at once clever and dangerous. The denouement brings together several characters as well as a crowded street scene, a standoff between cops and local residents.
A common theme in these episodes is how a complex man, socialized by prison and poverty, manages to influence people he encounters and how that man faces life by questioning, weighing, challenging authority, and reflecting on his past. His friends gather weekly to tackle life’s problems and discuss ethical issues.
I read these two books many months ago, but reread them as I wrote the reviews. Mosley’s prose captures the reader’s attention. Socrates is one interesting dude.
After nearly a decade, Mosley published a third book in this series, “The Right Mistake,” which I look forward to reading.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book continues what I believe to be Walter Mosley’s best work: these series of small, wrenching looks into the life of Socrates Fortlow, an ex-con trying to make a new life for himself in Watts, Los Angeles. He lives with the mentality of one who is permanently imprisoned. Every step is a hazard, every chance encounter a threat. His actions are extremely measured and guarded.

This was written when Mosley’s talent and ambition were at the pinnacle of their eclipse and we are all the better for it. I don’t say this with any sense of hyperbole: I don’t think I’ve read a character more fully realized than Socrates Fortlow. Mosley knows exactly who he is, what his environment is, and how he wants to tell his story. Everything from simple moves to non sequiturs makes Socrates feel like a real person, thus injecting new life into what would otherwise be a series of small stakes tales.

In this particular collection, Mosley does something I found daring but it pays off: he allows Socrates to go. Whereas his character was pretty static in the first book, here he tries new things, gets new opportunities. The hesitancy is still there but Mosley trusts the reader to go along with Socrates and he pulls it off. It adds texture to an already nuanced journey.

This one falls a hair short of the greatness of the first book. It’s got some redundancy; some of the stories didn’t catch me like the entirety of the first collection did. But those are minor gripes. This is an excellent book in an excellent series that will probably be on my Best Of list by the end of the year.

[Anne Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOW did I ever miss this book???
Published in 1999, is is the sequel to my favorite (and one of the most important books in my adult life) Mosley book, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. Which you really should read first in order to take in the flavor in Walkin' the Dog

The focus of both books is Socrates Fortlow, released from prison in Indiana after the murder of a woman (the fact that he was not serving a LIFE sentence is dryly pointed out along the way in WTD.

In each chapter of this second book, to quote the book jacket, "Socrates challenges a different conundrum of modern life." The chapters build gently, with discussion the betrays the author's subtle brilliance and depth of understanding of his characters. The story line is not majestic, rather on an ordinary human level that is not overdrawn or overly inventive, and yet so inviting. The reader is quietly drawn in, steadily encouraged to appreciate what is happening.

Fortunately (I don't know where I was going with THAT word!!!).
Please, do yourself a favor: Read Always outnumbered, Always Outgunned first.