The Book of the Dun Cow [Paperback]

Walter Wangerin (Author)

Book Description

Winner of the American Book Award, Walter Wangerin's allegorial fantasy concerns a time when the sun turned around the earth and animals could speak, when Chauntecleer the Rooster ruled over a more or less peaceful kingdom. What the animals did not know was that they were the Keeper of Wyrm, monster of Evil long imprisoned beneath the earth. And Wyrm, sub terra, was breaking free.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Walter Wangerin Jr.is the National Book Award-winning author of The Book of the Dun Cow. His other books include The Book of God, Ragman and Other Cries of Faith, and Miz Lil and the Chronicles of Grace.

From AudioFile

WangerinÕs allegory of good and evil pits Chauntecleer, the mighty rooster, against the nefarious and serpentine Wyrm. In a time before humans, Chauntecleer is the only one who stands in the way of Wyrm as it breaks free from its earthly prison and enacts its devious influence upon the innocent animals of the world. WangerinÕs prose proves enjoyable despite a heavy-handed religious overtone. Paul Michael enlivens the text with a deep, robust voice that keeps a good pace. He does justice to the verbose and powerful persona of Chauntecleer. However, inexplicably, he adds a Southern twang to many of the charactersÕ speaking parts, which does not seem to be justified by the text. L.E. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harper San Francisco (March 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062509373
• ISBN-13: 978-0062509376
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #823,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastical and Poetic, December 13, 2000

By 

Aranion (Dayton, OH United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Book of the Dun Cow (Paperback)

Wangerin has written a book that begs to be read aloud, but is a joy to read to yourself as well. His use of language is breathtaking -- evoking both a classic fairy tale and stylized character study. Do NOT let the fact that the main characters are talking animals throw you.

TBODC is fable about Chauntacleer the Rooster, his Coop (and the surrounding lands), and their battle against a monstrous, mythic evil. Both intimate and epic, the story of the animals' battle are filled with heartrending sadness and soulcleansing joy.

I would hard-pressed to label or categorize this book. Many have called it an allegory, and there ARE allegorical elements to it, but it is much more (or much different) from straight allegory. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, and a skilled reader, but Wangerin layers his story with meanings and submeanings, many of which I am sure escaped me. I didn't care, though. The wonderful language and emotion of the story immersed me into Chauntacleer's world, and I could marvel at the depth without knowing exactly HOW deep it went.

If you're searching for a new fable that feels familiar but not predictable, one you can treaure and read aloud to friends and family, The Book of the Dun Cow is for you.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Great Work & roosters best friend, February 11, 2005

By 

JoT (Carrollton, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of the Dun Cow (Paperback)

Before my review of the rest of the book I would like to spend a paragraph in praise of my favorite character from the book. Mundo Cani, if you are a dog person, will evoke such emotion from you that you will fall in love with him within bare lines. If you are not a dog person, and, in fact, hate all dogs, it might take as much as a few pages for you to fully enjoy and care for this humble and self-sacrificing character. Mundo Cani is worth the price of the book all by himself, and the depth of the other characters that play their parts in this beautiful story will simply spoil you for the flat and tasteless fare that many of us sometimes find we have accidentally become accustomed to.

As a reader, I regretfully admit, I am fairly easy to please. However, I am happy to amend that quality with a very critical nature when it comes to comparing newer or lesser-known writings with my established favorites among classics. Very few works, in my opinion, can stand rank file with the best of, to name a few, Lewis, Tolkien, and Peake. If anyone had told me before I read this Book of the Dun Cow, that it should surpass Watership Down, that I should stand in awe of a cow the way I stood for Galadriel, that I should fear maggots and a simple cockatrice more than any foul thing born in the darks of Mordor, that my mind should be as stirred by prose concerning a chicken coop as it was by the darkly beautiful language that told of the Castle Gormenghast, and that this same story should be imbued with meaning so as to rival or even surpass the great works of C.S. Lewis, I would have spit on their forehead, laughed in their face, and made a crude reference concerning a deficiency in their genetic background. As it is, I must swallow all of my pride and humbly apply to any readers of this review, that Wangerin has taken a barnyard where others have taken castles and great forests, and created characters of cows where others used tall elves and mysterious wizards, and, with these common instruments, has created an epic work of fantastic literature that can stand fairly beside any of these others' greatest works.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book to read aloud, to adults or to children., May 25, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (New Brunswick, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of the Dun Cow (Paperback)

When I was 9 years old, my father read this book to me. It stayed with me. I am now 30 and after re-reading Watership Down last month I was reminded of this book, and of how good it was. Last weekend, I spent three days reading it to my new bride. We both cried. There are some people who chose to read this novel as some kind of radical religious parable. Those people are missing the point. It is a pure story of how everyone, everyday, fights against the urge to be the worst they could be; and how sometimes, with the right circumstance they become the best they can be. Without this hope, we are all alone and simply, ""marooned.''