Dogland

by Will Shetterly

The Nix family has arrived.

And Latchahie County will never be the same.

In an effort at improving his family's lot, the Nixes have moved to rural Florida to open a combination zoo, restaurant and motel. But it isn't long before Nix and his clan of eccentric supporters run afoul of unsympathetic locals.

The problem? Luke Nix has hired Ethorne Hawkins.

Hawkins is black. And it's 1959.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Ebooks, Historical Fiction, Southern

448 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

Reviews

[Debbie is on Storygraph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a multi-layered book. At first glance, this is a fascinating story told from the point of view of a young boy about a family who opens a tourist attraction in Florida in the 1950s. There is interesting commentary on race relations and other political aspects of the deep South of that time. If you are a student of folklore, fable and myth, however, the book becomes more. Gods and holy figures of various traditions make cameo (and not so cameo) appearances throughout, some more obvious than others. It turns out in the end that Dogland is more than just a tourist trap, but a battlefield between good and evil.

[Rook McNamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

American Gods long before Gaiman.

Purest myth and magic, subtle and full of hints and mysteries, set in a beautifully limned North Florida country town, accented by the drama of change in the America of 1958-1962. This book has vaulted into my favorites and will stay there.

[Hokuto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I told you I was a sucker for the "spot the historical/mythological reference" game. :D And this book delivers in spades! Plus it is full of lovely dogs and general Good Times, and is very enjoyable indeed. (And I'm a cat person, so when I say they're lovely dogs, I mean it!)

[Mindy]

Recommended by Content L Knowles

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was nothing like I expected, yet I still kept reading. I got it as a free e-book from Tor.

I was never really sure what genre this was in. It read like a sort of memoir, but there were hints of magic realism or fantasy here and there that kept throwing me off, making me expect something that never materialized. The beginning and ending didn't match up for me either. Finally, I was often thrown out of the story by the narrator's precise recollections from when he was a four year old. That just felt too improbable to me for a memoir.

Setting: Mostly Florida, with some Minnesota thrown in, during the 1960s (if I remember correctly). The story revolves around the roadside cafe and museum that the family built and ran.

Plot: Not much I could point out here really since it is more what happened in chronological order. There doesn't seem to be much unifying or cohesive about the story except for the setting.

Conflict: The most interesting part of the book was how the author dealt with bigotry and segregation of blacks. It was definitely impressive for me to read about what blacks went through and what they had to endure from ignorant and stubborn whites. Other than that, there was just typical young boy conflict stuff.

Characters: The author did a good job of making even the racists (at least a few of them) seem more human. It would have been easy to demonize them, but the author showed the complexity here well.

[Suzyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish this one. It was one of those autobiographical books about a super-insightful child.

Robertson Davies sums up the phenomenon thusly: "I have always sneered at autobiographies and memoirs in which the writer appears at the beginning as a charming, knowing little fellow, possessed of insights and perceptions beyond his years. Yet offering these with a false naivete to the reader, as though to say, “What a little wonder I was, but All Boy."

Yeah.

Early in the book, I thought to myself "ok, the childhood part sucks, but this kid has to be like 12 so soon it will get into his teen years and maybe it will improve then."

Then the author lets it drop that the kid is FOUR when he's having all these clever little thoughts so full of amusing insight. I just wasn't up for nine more years of precocity. Maybe it gets better, but I just wasn't waiting around to find out.

Emma Donoghue's "Room" is admittedly the only book I've ever read about a small child that suggested the author actually knew some children and listened to them when they talked. This book is at the opposite extreme.

[R. Michael Litchfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually avoid stories set in the racist south, they make me so angry, disgusted, sad, and upset it is not worth it. But there are some things you'd miss if you eschew it completely; to kill a mockingbird, life on the Mississippi, Faulkner, etc.

This is a compelling magical realist memoir of life in Florida in the early 60s. I really connected to the childhood that shetterly describes, it rang very true & real. The magical realism was more realist than magical, gods & wierds showing up incognito and not making all that much impact for the most part (except the climax).

I wish there was a map and maybe an afterword identifying the players.

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I had hoped

I felt like Doglands started out fairly good. I was looking forward to reading a lighthearted story with likable characters. But I found that I was not looking forward to my nightly read after a while. The characters didn't seem to be fully developed, and some of the action came out of nowhere with no foreshadowing.

I do think there were some very good parts ... And definitely some excellent "turn of phrase" bits, but overall I was kind of bored. It's as if the author wanted to write "To Kill A Mockingbird" but didn't have the patience to do the editing that Harper Lee did in order to produce that masterpiece.

[B. Zedan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's like Harper Lee and Isabel Allende got together to write something—one building the myth-touched world the other's adult-omniscient, nostalgia narrates.

[Sarah Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a semi-autobiographical (certainly not fantasy) account of a non-bigoted white family which sets up a tourist attraction of many different kinds of dogs in the late fifties and early sixties, in Florida, along with a diner. They also end up hiring and serving mostly black people, and the father’s views on racial equality set him on a collision course with most of the white neighbors. The novel’s denouement may or may not actually have happened, but just because something is a fictional addition doesn’t make a book be magical realism.The only thing which is slightly off is the point of view of the narrator, which begins much too young for it to be so comprehensive. When he is three his father spanks him for not eating rice crispies he has salted by mistake, and while it would make sense as a trauma memory, holding out until the ninth blow to be manly, this is not how it comes across in terms of the continuous narrative. (I have come as far in the sequel, "The Gospel of the Knife," to a teenage standoff during which the father is ordering him to dig a six-foot hole in the lawn and refill it as punishment for back-talk, and is told to fuck off, and, despite the suspense, and some sympathy with the the father, think I will return it to the library at that). But as far as the earlier book goes, three is young to have perfect recall, and the Shetterlys owned the actual Dogland from when he was four to when he was ten, and his father, while he spanks his kids a lot by present standards, is not abusive, although he sets much store by his oldest son being courageous. He spanks his children only until they cry: thus, the three year old, the two year old girl cries at the first blow and the one year old before the blow lands.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. I found it interesting that the book was set from a child's point of view. I think this made the events of the book (typical of the South in the 1950s and 60s) more jarring, as they are told from the mouth of an innocent boy. The book was helpful for me because it exposed more of the injustices of the segregated South.

It seems that there were themes of fantasy that went over my head on this one. Thus, the fact that I didn't give this more stars is probably just revealing my ignorance. Good book overall, probably won't read it again.

[JenniferTheRiver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed the story and learned about a unique tourist attraction in Florida. However, the fact that this was classified as a novel seemed a bit off to me. I was struggling with the writing style; the storyline would switch from one even to another very abruptly and there were many unresolved events. About half way through the book, I did a bit of research and discovered that the 'novel' is actually based on the author's experiences growing up at Dogland. Once I started reading the book as if it were a memoir, I enjoyed it much more.

[Rachel]

I read this because I've loved Will Shetterly's fantasy books. But, although this has a fantasy element, which is understated, it's mostly a fictionalized memoir. It's very well written, and socially responsible (mostly about racism but also other social mores), but I didn't find anything to relate to. I gave up halfway through and skimmed the rest.

[Paige Lurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my absolute favorite books of all time. I love everything about the book - and through different times in my life I have gotten different things from rereads (first when I was 12 and kept loving for 15+ years) . I don't see the Magical Realism in the book, but I love it all the same.

[Joemcjoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

dog fuckin shit

[M.A. Kropp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to think about this book. It's another that is a bit outside my usual fare, and there were times in the early going that I wasn't even sure about finishing it. I'm glad I did. It was a fascinating read, with very subtle undercurrents that take time to sink in.

The story is about the Nix family who move to to rural Florida in the late 1950's. Luke Nix has a dream to open Dogland, a sort of canine zoo and tourist attraction, with a diner and gift shop. The story is told through the eyes of four-year-old Christopher, who tells the story from a perspective of hindsight. The family also includes mother Susan, three-year-old sister, Little Bit, and two-year-old brother, Digger. The family moves into a run-down property and begins to renovate it and bring in the many dogs who will be the focus of Dogland. They are befriended by their Seminole neighbor, a woman who owns the Fountain of Youth Inn (and may or may not really own the actual Fountain of Youth), and Ethorne Hawkins, a black man, hired to help out and later as cook in the restaurant. Luke also hires the rest of Ethorne's family to work Dogland and the diner. As racial tensions rise and Luke begins to write to the editorial section of the newspaper in support of desegregation and the banning of prayer in schools, he begins to attract the attention of others in the community, not the least of which is the Ku Klux Klan. In the pivotal confrontation, young Chris literally lets the dogs out.

The shining stars of this story are the characters. All are well drawn and belivable, with nuance and shading that make them truly dimensional. Shetterly captures the tone and layers of rural Florida nicely. There are hints of the magical and mystical in the story, although they are very subtle and may not be obvious to some readers. Readers of Neil Gaiman's American Gods may well recognize a few of these.

The story stays firmly centered on the Nix family, through Chris' eyes, and although race and religion play a large part in the plot, there is no preaching here. Events are confined to the local populace and individual struggles with a changing society.

The book is well written, the prose flows like a lazy Florida stream on a summer day. It is poignant, realistic, and strong. Chris' voice is often as carefree as his age should be, and at other times he seems far wiser than his years, although that probably comes from the fact that he is telling the story as an older man remembering what his younger self lived.

This is a book that will stick with you and make you think. I recommend it.

[Catherine Fitzsimmons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again, despite this book being published by Tor, there is nothing fantasy or scifi about it. It’s the story of a northern U.S. family moving to rural Florida in the 1960s to open a tourist attraction, and the trials of religion and racism that come with their anti-segregation attitudes.

This was more of a story than a novel; cohesive enough to build up to a singular climax and finale, yet for the most part, just a series of primarily unconnected events comprising the narrator’s life at this time of his youth. The narration by a 5-6-year-old child was a little unusual, and in ways didn’t necessarily seem the best way to tell the story. Some events he seemed to witness or experience simply so it could be a part of the book, not because it made sense for him to be there in the context of the story. Also, a lot of very dramatic events were given as straight visual experiences, without any emotional attachment on the part of the narrator.

There are other things I could nitpick about, but it would negate my assertion that I read a book looking first and foremost for a good story. As it goes, this wasn’t a bad one. It was entertaining enough to keep me reading through to the end, even though I wasn’t crazy about any of the characters. It’s not one I would likely read again, though it’s not one I regret reading.

[Pamela Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel hit just the right notes time and time again. Dogland, the attraction, is so quintessentially American that just about anyone who has ever taken a road trip in America will respond to it. (I have to admit that the time and place were particularly poignant for me, because of the many road trips my family took to Florida, starting just a few years after 1959, the year the novel is set.) Luke Nix's wild stories reminded me very much of my own father, who loved to tell tall tales to his children and still brags about having fooled us into believing he had fought in the French and Indian War. Grandma Bette's adamant rejection of any claims that the family is not of pure European extraction has been played out in many American families and the conflict around the hiring of Ethorne Hawkins, a black man, in the rural South is another classic American theme. This book is complex and goes far beyond its genre classification. It may not be the ever elusive Great American Novel, but it comes darn close.

[Charlie Moses · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a year to read this book. It has an elegiac feel, and I was sure that the story would come to a less-than-happy ending, so I put aside for great swathes of time while I read other things. The thing is, it's a really good book. Well-written, with all these wonderful, mythological gems and nuggets embedded in it in such a matter-of-fact way that you almost miss them. Interesting, lovingly-drawn and remembered characters, who are part of a story in which the parts, and what parts they are!, add up to a much more substantial whole than you might suspect at the beginning. This one should have won literary awards, which it probably didn't, because it is a beautiful story, beautifully told.

[Isaac Guenard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic. Subtle magic, interesting characters, and well written. I found it to be a bit slow paced, but the laid back tone and speed of the novel reflect on its setting, and I felt the story benefits from the approach.

If I had a criticism, there are events in the book which feel entirely unexplained. I don't mind having a few mysteries left to my imagination, which is all I thought was happening here at first. At first, I just thought those scenes could have been a bit better executed.

However, upon reading the follow up novel The Gospel of the Knife, the events that bothered me in Dogland suddenly made far more sense.

An excellent read.

[Hiram Cormier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very beautiful, it had a lot of different varying emotions entangled in it and did a wonderful job of putting it all together. I admire that throughout this entire story Pa never let the pressures of racial segregation brought upon him, his workers, and his family by racists push his dream and yearning to build a tourist attraction built by both whites and blacks aside. Throughout all of the trials and tribulations of this story we see that the family only gets stronger and the workers get even closer to the family as the trouble rises. Its a wonderful book and is very heart touching.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 4 out of 5]

The time period of the book was the same as that of my early childhood, so I found it interesting.

Found it interesting, to say the least.

I found it interesting, yet unusual, when the author included....."time capsules", I guess, of the big news stories at different points in the story.....they sort of put us into the time period of the story.

While my experiences were different, as I grew up as a Navy brat, some of the things were eerily similar.

I think the book connected with me because of the time period, and also because I felt during much of my childhood (as the narrator did) like I was different, outside of much of what I was seeing.

[liza · Rating 4 out of 5]

the characters become real quickly; the setting comes alive as you read. because the narrator seems to be within minutes of my own age, many of the vignettes in the story poked memories of my childhood. the sentimentality evoked was sufficient reason for reading this book, but was entirely coincidental to the central purpose of the story. racism in all it's pettiness and irrationality gets disected with logic and humanitarianism to reveal the fear behind it. the lasting flavor of this novel is very similar to the one left behind after reading to kill a mockingbird.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of really good ideas with many, many different threads weaving their way through the story. Unfortunately, the book ends with far too many questions unanswered, several of which are integral to the story, leaving me dissatisfied.

The more interesting thing to me is that Tor made this available as a free electronic download from their web site and as an introduction to Will Shetterly, whom I really like a lot, this is a poor one.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure why this was given out as a Tor book since there were no scifi or fantasy elements. It isn't a bad novel, it just wasn't great and I have decided to be much more strict with myself and only finish books that are actually good, rather than slogging through to the end just because it isn't bad.

[Celene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story filled with subtleties that will have you thinking long after you've finished reading.

After my second read: I so very much wish I could find a site where folx have discussed this book. I have so many thoughts about characters I want to puzzle out with someone(s).

[corinne ready · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to pass the time with. Easy reading and realistic. Until you get to the magical part.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thoughts:

http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/bo...

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first could not get story but then could not put it down- small boy and family in south Florida with a attraction showcasing dogs from around the world.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I admit I didn't finish this book. It was ok....