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I think I saw where some people were speculating over just who the "dog of the south" was in this story. Most seem to think it's the story's narrator, Ray Midge, a 26 year old military history nerd, who has yet to get any traction in life, and who has just lost his wife, Norma, to her first husband, Guy Dupree. They steal Ray's car and head south (with Ray in meandering pursuit). Anyway, I see no reason for not taking Portis at his word. The "Dog of the South" is a broken down white (like the wh
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Like many readers, I came to this middle of Portis' five novels via True Grit, which I count as one of my top ten all-time favorites. This shaggy dog story comes nowhere near that masterpiece, and could be considered an interesting mix of his first book (Norwood, which I like) and his last (Gringos, which I don't). Like Norwood, it features a bit of a limp bean of a young Arkansas man embarking on a picaresque journey to retrieve something that belongs to him, more for the point of it than the t
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Nov 02, 2012
Tina
marked it as to-read
May 10, 2020
Keeley
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Jun 14, 2020
Erica
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Sep 22, 2020
Chantal
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Aug 23, 2025
Alyson Zikmund
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