Customer Reviews

Dogs of God

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having previously read Benedict's two collections of short stories and really enjoyed them I sought out this his first (and only) novel.
It is the story of an ex-military backwoods man who has set up and keeps captive his own community to harvest his dope. Into this (eventually) comes a bareknuckle boxer named Goody. While it is not a terrible book it seems the transition from short story was not easy for Mr Benedict. His short stories are raw, sometimes bleak tales of the rural working class and underclass of West Virginia and show how well he can develop a character, a situation and an atmosphere. In Dogs of God he seems to have gone more for an action packed and slightly far fetched story. Despite this the story is fairly slow moving until nearer the end of the book and there are many characters introduced. The problem is that many of the characters are superfluous to the story. As the book starts you have several different stories and characters developing. Though most of them meet up at the end there seems to be little rhyme or reason as to why they are there and what effect they have on the story by being there.

The guy living in the woods with his dogs, while on its own his story would've made quite a good short story in the context of this novel he is pointless. Some of the other charaters stories similiarly could be short stories adapted for this novel.

I don't mind the slow moving part of this book at all, in fact I prefer this part to the improbable ending. In these parts Benedict sets an atmosphere similiar to his short stories (the two bare knuckle fights are very good)and this part is very enjoyable. However I found it a complete anticlimax when many of the characters go nowhere and do nothing except to get killed in the over the top ending.

I'm sure that Mr Benedict is a very talented writer but I was disappointed with this effort. It did come across as a short story writer writing a novel. I'm sure he has much better in him but unfortunately he has not written anything (that I am aware of) since. Not a terrible book but I won't be harassing my friends to read it

This book is many of the things it is alleged to be: violent, suspenseful, full of well drawn weird characters, and a description of rural West Virginia that makes it as menacing as any exotic setting. The plot keeps driving and driving, bringing a bare-knuckle fighter, gun runners, a psycho drug lord, enslaved illegal immigrants, and other assorted folk together for a grand shoot 'em out climax. Unfortunately it falls a bit flat in the end as things get a little too odd, I can't quite put my finger on it, but the end didn't satisfy me or justify the buildup. Others may be happier with the results.

This luminous, riveting and maddening book had me in thrall until the last fifty pages when it degenerates into a Rambo style mess. Oh, but when it's good it's terrific, I'm anxious to read this author's other books.

An interesting first novel, particularly for its subject matter and characters. Benedict is at his finest when a) describing the lust West Virigina hill country that he seems familiar with. and b)creating violent imagery. On these merits alone, I recommend this book and would compare it to, oh, Elmore Leonard and Brett Easton Ellis. The plot of the book seems rather tangential to what Benedict is trying to achieve. The story, such as it is, seems to serve as an exscuse for Benedict to show off his talent and his choice of venue. Benedict, to me, seems similar to Bret Easton Ellis in that he enjoys portraying grotestque situations with a peculiar kind of flatness. Character's speak with strange inflections (by this I don't mean sterotyped hillbilly drawl) and motivation is not always evident. This book is a fascinating read, particularly for those of us who don't interact, on a regular basis, with crazed Hill Country drug lords. I'll be interested in his next book.

While literary types are skulking around sucking back lattes and debating the death of the novel, Pinckney Benedict has arisen from the rural backroads of West Virginia to write `The Dogs of God`, the most impressive first American novel since Thomas Pynchon released `V` almost a half century ago.

Benedict`s story revolves around Goodie, an itinerant bare knuckles fist fighter looking for one last payday before his hands give out. He`s on a collision course with Tannhauser, the local drug lord, a 12-fingered maniac who makes Conrad`s Kurtz look like a boyscout leader.

Benedict has a master`s feel around narrative. His ability to pull a half dozen disparate threads and storylines into a magnificent and compelling read is fantastic. The atmosphere of menace and imminent violence is unrelenting, even though it takes the better part of the book to be realized.

In the end, the best thing you can say about `The Dogs of God` is that it does what all good books should - shows you another time and place and makes you think (and maybe even wish) you were there

THIS STORY IS EXCELLENT. Ingenius, Unique, Beautiful, Morbid, Sad, Uplifting, Violent, Depraved, even humorous at times. I hate when people say "For a first time novelist this was good". That is BS, every writer on the planet would PRAY to leave 1/2 the mark that this novel has. There is simply nothing else like it I have read.

If you want to know my best way to describe it, it would be this:

1/4 Cormac Macarthy "Child of God" + 1/4 David Bottoms "Easter Weekend" + 1/4 Tim Willocks "Bloodstained Kings" + 1/4 Flannery O'Connor "A Good Man is Hard to Find".

"Dogs of God" is a masterpiece plain and simple

This a a must read for anyone who loves an enthralling, although at times, disturbing read. Truly a work of literary art.

This is a well crafted book, not the usual word processed [stuff] that passes for popular fiction these days. It is a evocative, dark,literate slice of Americana. Not reccomended for those who like their reading to crank along at the pace of a made for T.V movie. Pinckney has a fine eye for character and detail. If you liked the movie "Sexy Beast", you will probably enjoy this book as well.

This is a peculiar novel in that while meant to be a thriller, in essence, there are so many points/sections/chunks in which the author is clearly in love with his own ability to write that he expounds at great length re trivial items about which the reader really has little or no interest. Too bad, because Benedict is a writer whose technique is obvious.

But if a novel is meant to be a thriller, even if a literary one, it should move. And unfortunately there is just too much text bogging this down to really make it gather the momentum it should. There's no question that the author can draw convincing characters, even if peculiarly named, but he is inconsistent in the extent to which he describes/defines these characters, seemingly based on his whim. That is, some characters are fully fleshed out and others, even non-minor ones, are not much more than one-dimensional almost cartoon-like characters.

This inconsistency is weirdly reminiscent of the ill-fated remake of the film Cape Fear directed by Scorsese, in which DeNiro's Max Cady was so all over the place that it was impossible to see clearly exactly what the film was doing. In the case of Dogs of God, the major distraction derailing what could have been a powerful piece of work is, as mentioned, the author's obsessive need to trumpet his own writing ability.

There is no real main character, per se. Goody, a young bare knuckles fighter in rural Appalachia, is ostensibly meant to fill this role, but Benedict throws in so many other characters that it is impossible to cast Goody as the real focus of attention. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when, for example, the writer details the problems one character has with lighting one match after another to try to ignite a car--sparing no expense to insure the reader understands how difficult lighting a match REALLY CAN BE--tedium sets in rapidly and quickly and easily destroys whatever momentum might possibly have been built prior to this scene.

And there are many, many scenes like this one. It's interesting to contrast this novel with A Single Shot, Matthew Jones' masterful literary thriller. Jones knows that momentum is the KEY to a great thriller and he knows exactly how to build it. He doesn't waste time with trivialities like Benedict does.

Dogs of God's "bad guy", Tannhauser, as Max Cady is described above, is all over the place. With six fingers on each hand, a maverick marijuana grower with an "impregnable" fortress, in one scene he lords it over his Hispanic workers; in another, he spouts insane gibberish about interplanetary aliens among us; in another, he exhorts a younger man to kill Goody. The focus is lost.

The three stars here are because Benedict definitely knows how to write and that is clearly evident in his short stories which are punchy, powerful, and intelligent pieces of work. But he has gotten lost in putting together this novel which does not do what it should.

Dogs of God slowly winds together the disparate lives of about one dozen mysterious West Virginians. Their stories develop slowly and separately, but in time each leads toward a conflict on a doomed marijuana plantation in a state forest. Among the players are several FBI agents, a double crossing county sherriff, a hitchhiker, a former moonshiner and his trouble seeking wife, several "Mingoes", the tour guides at a natural cavern, a wreckless killer, and the protagonist Goody.

The reader most identifies with Goody, an itinerant past his prime boxer whose proudest possession is his powerful Pontiac. Goody is aptly named. He gives people the benefit of the doubt, and as a result he often gets played for a sucker. All Goody wants is to get back in fighting shape so that he might once again earn more boxing purses. He gets an opponent, but of course nothing is quite as he has been led to understand it will be about his fight.

I disagree with some reviews that criticize this book's ending. At first, it does seem that all of this book's carefully orchestrated momentum will only be resolved by fighting. But this is not the Dukes of Hazzard. Benedict shifts the book's tone at the end and the plot takes on a very metaphorical feeling. Its a surprising change of pace.

Understand, this book follows in the tradition of "noir." Its a good story, but not always pleasant and not at all redeeming. I like it, but I also like Poe and Jim Thompson. Dogs of God is not for everyone. I read the first chapter of this book to my fiance, and she made me stop several times. If you are looking for a literary Peckinpah, maybe Pinckney Benedict will appeal to you. If you are looking for a book with a social message, or a lesson in morality that connects to normal life, then look elsewhere. If you just want a very entertaining story, though, you will be satisfied.