The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping (Ballantine Reader's Circle) [Paperback]

Nasdijj (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ballantine Reader's Circle | Publication Date: March 30, 2004

Eleven-year-old Awee came to live with Nasdijj, carrying a brown paper bag containing all his belongings, a legacy of abuse, and AIDS. But this beautiful, loving, and intelligent little boy also had enormous hope for his new life. In heartrending prose, Nasdijj writes about their tight-knit, untraditional family—and the precious time they spent together. This searing, poetic memoir will make you cry; yet it is ultimately triumphant, for Awee got what he wanted most in his short life: a real dad.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Three decades old and counting, the worldwide AIDS epidemic has touched millions of lives. It has also yielded a sorrowful library of memoirs and tributes, among the most memorable entries in which is this compelling portrait of a child born into illness and determined to beat it.

Born of a Navajo mother, Nasdijj met 11-year-old Awee while still mourning the loss of his own son. "AIDS had knocked him out," Nasdijj writes. "But Awee was a fighter. He always got back up again." Determined to help Awee in that fight, Nasdijj recounts the miseries of dealing with indifferent doctors and Indian-agency bureaucrats ("Anglos," he writes, "would never tolerate the kinds of limited options Indians have to live with every day"), of seeking avenues of relief from pain that lead into back alleys and other tortured lives, of finding reasons for hope against an ever-stronger enemy--one of whose most powerful guises, he tells us, is loneliness.

"Why would anyone sane adopt a child with AIDS?" Nasdijj writes, answering his own question: "Because one comes to you. Because you can." This tragic, beautifully written memoir encourages us all to do more. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Could the story be simpler? Man adopts dying child, child dies, man grieves. And yet, in the hands of Nasdijj, Navajo author of The Blood Runs like a River Through My Dreams, this experience is a window into the larger question of what's really important in life. Many would agree that for Awee, an 11-year-old boy dying of AIDS, formal schooling is unnecessary and impractical. What it comes down to, Nasdijj discovers, is providing his dear son with as many wonderful experiences as he can, from playing baseball and flying kites to discovering his first lover and volunteering at a Head Start program to feel "the power of giving back." When a child has AIDS, Nasdijj learns, there's "no later-safe to store your valuables in." Nasdijj also finds himself doing things he didn't want to do. Father and son live in run-down hotels near big-city hospitals, instead of on the reservation, where adequate medical care isn't available. When Awee's pain increases, Nasdijj obtains morphine prescriptions; later, he's forced to buy him street heroin. As Nasdijj depicts the child's ravaged body, many readers might find themselves sympathizing and wondering what parent wouldn't break any law to give their child some relief from the "ice picks" and "razor blades" of pain. Beyond this disease, Nasdijj writes about love and the way love shows people how to live. This is a powerful and rare display of visceral, emotional writing.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345453905
• ISBN-13: 978-0345453907
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,985,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars As a Navajo I'm pretty insulted, January 25, 2006

By 

Matyowynne (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping (Hardcover)

As an actual, real Navajo tribal member and as a writer I'm pretty disgusted by this. A hoax it is and pretty pathetic. I'm always surprised at how little most Americans know about my people. It's pretty disheartening. Definitely read the LA Weekly article http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_lawcontent&task=view&id=12468&Itemid=47 for more on the Navahoax. If you want real Navajo writing read Lucy Tapahanso or for great writing read Leslie Marmon Silko (a Pueblo writer).

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DONT BUY THIS BOOK!!, January 31, 2006

By 

J. Price "Grayrock" (Kingston, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping (Hardcover)

Nasdijj is NOT NAVAJO (Dine). He is a White guy from Michigan. He lied about being "Dine". His real name is Tim Barrus. As a member of the Dine Nation I am Truly disgusted with this fraud.

23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It's a hoax. Complete and utter fiction with no truth to it at all., January 24, 2006

By 

E. Royce - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping (Hardcover)

Hmmm.

Evidently the guy is actually white, Son of the Revolution, descended from Dutch ancestors and has as much Navajo blood as I do, and I'm from South Korea. The LA Weekly ran an expose of this nonsense in an article called "Navahoax".

So. Just how "seared" are you people? How overwhelmed are you now that you know it's a complete work of fiction and has no relevance to reality whatsoever? That the author is actually a white guy who grew up in a middle class life and went on to write gay leather fiction before trying his hand at being a Native American.

Frankly I give it one star because, what the hey, he took all of you in didn't he?