Water Dogs: A Novel

by Lewis Robinson

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 unforgettable look at the delicate patchwork of a family.Bennie knows that the details of his life don’t show well. A twenty-seven-year-old college dropout with stalled ambitions, he works at an animal shelter and lives with his bullheaded older brother, Littlefield, in their old family home on Meadow Island, Maine, a house that has fallen into disrepair since their father’s untimely death several years earlier.When a massive blizzard hits the state one Saturday afternoon, Bennie, Littlefield, and a crew of roughneck war-game enthusiasts decide to play paintball at the local granite quarry. Bennie accidentally falls into a gully, landing in the hospital, and wonders if his life can get any worse. But when one of the players disappears during the storm and Littlefield becomes the main suspect in the disappearance, Bennie realizes that the game might have had much higher stakes. Then Littlefield takes off without a word of explanation, forcing Bennie to seriously question his loyalty to his enigmatic brother. With the guidance of his intrepid girlfriend, Helen, and his twin sister, Gwen, Bennie goes looking for answers, embarking on a journey that brings him closer to a truth he may not want to discover. What he finds will change his family and his life forever.Written in prose as arresting and spare as the novel’s rural Maine setting, Lewis Robinson’s Water Dogs is a marvel of modern fiction, a book rich in empathy that follows one man’s path through the uncertainties of youth and loss toward self-discovery.

Genres: Fiction

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 29, 2008

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

dear NY Times, i disagree.

[BonAmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Water Dogs, by Lewis Robinson, is a lovely piece of literary fiction. Robinson's facility with sparse prose compliments the stark landscapes and inner lives populating this novel. The past entwines with the present as the relationship between two events is revealed. Robinson draws the reader into the bleak world of mid-coast Maine in the late winter and makes the reader care deeply about the characters. As the thaw arrives, with it comes clarity and the promise of renewal. All in all, I adored this book and I highly recommend it.

[M Rothenbuhler · Rating 3 out of 5]

his book is made passably good by its narrator, Bennie, who is a nondescript sort of fellow who manages to be sympathetic and believable.

Its weaknesses include gratuitous profanity, shallow characters other than Bennie, little to no character development, and main characters such as brother Littlefield, who we are supposed to grudgingly love but who is just a plain old jerk.

Some rather silly scenes make a suspension of disbelief difficult (New girlfriend climbing into your window with a fistful of condoms? Evangelists of some kind being routinely pelted with beer cans after passing out free lasagna in a desperate attempt to be heard? A poor mom, hated for no apparent reason, helplessly sending fruit to a nearly dying son and a fugitive son? Wild girls driving through underbrush with no headlights for miles, no damage to the car?)

I continued to the end because I really did want to see what happened to the missing Canadian, who disappeared in a snowy game of paintball. The reveal was rather unsatisfying.

I enjoyed the setting of modern coastal Maine, but found the daily activity of the vacuous twenty somethings (sit around the disintegrating house and drink until you vomit or pass out, repeat) to be bleak and ultimately, again, unbelievable. Surely some of of the young people of Maine have some sort of purpose in their lives? Or perhaps the author's intent was to make me feel bleak.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 Littlefield, though Bennie is not as attached to the game as his brother is.

The action begins with a paintball game in a blizzard. During the game, Bennie is injured. While recovering in the hospital, he learns that one of his opponents, Ray LaBrecque, is now missing. Ray never surfaced after that fateful game. Searching has proven useless. Ray is missing, and his motorcycle is gone.

Foul play is suspected, and Littlefield is a suspect. Determined to find out what happened and clear his brother's name, Bennie starts his own investigation with his girlfriend, Helen.

Part mystery, part dysfunctional family drama, Water Dogs will keep the reader's attention at all times. The setting immediately draws the reader in, and the mystery will keep the reader interested.

[Corny · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 past.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the countryside and the interplay between these somewhat lost souls. There is not a lot of action but I think the author makes us appreciate how difficult it is to rise out of the circumstances of one's youth.

[Lisa Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 essence of people who are from Maine and how the landscape shapes and affects them. It also shows the beauty of the landscape in a very real, practical way. Littlefield is such a unique character...so imperfect and unlikeable most of the time, but also endearing in a broken, damaged way.

[Larry Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 accident and has to discover the hidden life of his brother, Robinson expertly weaves narrative and setting in both present and flashback for a near perfectly pitched pace. It is a great read.

[Pia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, Curtis Sittenfeld, for recommending this book to me. I hadn't heard of the writer nor the book, but this was one of those stories that pulled me in and made me feel cold and estranged, in a bizarrely good manner, just like The Lovers by Vendela Vida, one of my favorite books of all time. Lewis Robinson had clearly plotted this book out sparingly and thoughtfully and I aspire to his story telling abilities. Can't wait to enjoy his short stories too.

[T.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Sheela · Rating 3 out of 5]

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!

[Linda Sienkiewicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a novel about a family of twin brother and sister, another brother, their mother and father. It 19s set in Maine. It 19s partially a mystery of what happened to an acquaintance of the brothers, and the rest is about the relationships in the family and the siblings relationships. It was not exciting or compelling; it was just a good story of a family and friends.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great Maine book. Wonderful atmosphere. Robinson does winter like nobody else, using it here for sinister effect. Good characters we all recognize.

[Straw · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the Maine/New England setting and it was actually a pretty good story too.

[Diane]

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.

[Janet]

Maine

[Maicie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of young men get involved in a paintball game during a snowstorm. One turns up missing.

The ending was a bit of a surprise.

Not bad, not great. Worth reading once.

[Medicmardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to curl up with and disappear into another place.

[Sashi Kaufman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure if you have to live in Maine to fully appreciate this one, but I really enjoyed the characters and the story-telling in this relatively short but suspenseful and carefully paced novel.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is my hero.