Customer Reviews

Dogwalker: Stories

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a wonderul collection of stories. David Foster Wallace hits the nail on the head when he says that reading Bradford is like having lunch with the part of you that dreams at night. Strange things occur and exceedingly pleasant, non-neurotic first-person narrators react as you would in a dream: they note the odd situations they find themselves in but then move on (with wonderful results). It's like being able to slow your dreams down--not to mention remember them--and savor all the strange details. The writing is also blissfully clean. I noticed one of the comments above mentioned Bradford's sideburns. I saw a reading and let me tell you: his gums are not to be believed (let's pray he keeps his teeth). See a reading if you can, and enjoy the book, it's well worth a read.

I'm pretty sure that Tom Waits mated with a book and the result is Arthur Bradford. If I told you that the characters in Dogwalker live on the same block as The Eyeball Kid and Table Top Joe, and if you understood that, you should not only have read this book by now - you should be actively refusing to loan it out to relatives and friends without a security deposit. Each chapter in Dogwalker reads like the discovery of a new and fascinating insect; if that isn't praise, what is?

Reading Dogwalker, a bizarre collection of stories by Arthur Bradford is well worth the short time it takes to transform the mundane into the weirdness we so crave for amusement. All of the stories contained within revolve around Bradford's attempts in finding some solace from one's self-imposed boredom and stagnation through stray canines and equally stray roommates. If it means anything, this collection takes place throughout Texas; apparently, there is a lot of weird down there.

Bradford writes with childlike simplicity and whimsy, though his plots border on the uber-strange and even the horrific. Cat-faced carnies, fruit sculpting with chainsaws, blind friends who own cars, and the glamour of giant slugs are just some of the musings Bradford could expound on in greater detail; stories I'd happily delve into when in need of a fresh bizarro-cleanse. Yet he tends to focus on dogs and roommates, and the fleeting affection he has for both. By whatever circumstance, both tend to be maimed, mutated or psychologically unhinged, yet that doesn't stop him from adopting each for a brief laugh to pass the time.

What is surprising about this collection of stories is the degree of openness or ambivalence set forth by Bradford. While he languidly chooses his own adventure in each, the degree of tension that rises in most of the stories is soon enough offset by a delicate weirdness that prevents real malice from taking over and sending the reader dashing to the nearest bottle of Pepto. Hence, a slight hint of unsettling will envelop the reader, which is exactly what a good collection of short stories is supposed to do. It was a very quick read and stories like Mollusks, The House of Alan Matthews, Bill McQuill, Chainsaw Apple and Roslyn's Dog tend to linger in my mind, to the extent that I hope Bradford will publish more.

Mr. Bradford has put together a collection of disgusting stories aimed, I'm assuming, to shock and amuse. Shocking yes, but not remotely amusing is the story about a man who has a meaningful sexual relationship with his girlfriend's dog, which results in the dog giving birth to mutant puppies/humans. These stories were mind-numbing and seemed to drag on forever. Not worth the time spent reading it, or the money paid for it. If you are that curious... wait for paperback.

Arthur Bradford deftly walks the ledge of the mundane, tipping but not quite falling into a marshy terrain normally reserved for dreams. I love his style of mixed realism and the surreal, all delivered with a safe and unaffected deadpan tone. Many weeks later, little oddities from these stories are still skulking around my mind.

Comparisons are difficult, but Richard Brautigan's "In Watermelon Sugar" and Denis Johnson's "Jesus' Son" come to mind.

Arthur Bradford, like most of the authors of the same "McSweeney's" and "This American Life" style, has a strange imagination. There is little literary complexity in this book--no motifs or worldly metaphors, no multi-layered narrative, no grand apotheosis, sometimes no real plots--just twisted plots about dogs, three-legged dogs, guys with cat faces, talking dogs, chainsaws, and dog-human hybrids. Bradford, who bears an uncanny resemblance to actor Jason Lee (of "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy" fame), writes in an unassuming style that never fails to please the reader, perhaps because he demands little more than simply reading and reacting to his idiosyncratic (and truly funny) tales. Which is precisely the straightforward appeal of this collection. So if you need a breather after "War and Peace," check out "Dogwalker." Give your mind a rest and your senses a bit of a shock.

Whoa. I've been awaiting this collection for a while, having been tracking down individual stories for years and years. I mean, the many people of the polis have been aware of and devastated by catface and Alan Matthews for so long; it's just too much; but here we get new people to love and fear. Roslyn. Bill McQuill. Where does this all come from? It is beyond entertainment, it will bring new people into libraries and bookstores, it is really what we need, to read with smiles on our faces, coughing out laughter onto our shirtfronts. Some doubt Arthur's sideburns, and wonder if he's let himself go to seed; this is just not true. Buy it; read it; it'll make you happy.

Excellent collection of stories. Very funny and, at times, sad.

For its literary merits, I should have probably awarded this book two stars; early reviews are right to point out that much of the book's prose is flat and unspired, that many of the book's non-sequiturs are forced, that some stories seem like abandoned fragments, that the characters and situations are willfully eccentric. And much of this is pretty much true, yet Dogwalker is an enjoyable book nonetheless. How? I perceive Bradford as a kind of David Lynch of short fiction--love him or hate him, you're certainly going to receive a strange bolt of the weird when reading his stories. Often, these pieces have a unique and grotesque humor; I loved "Chainsaw Apple" and "Bill McQuill." Years ago, I read "Catface" when a sophmore in college and ever since sought out Bradford's works; "Catface" rightfully begins the collection--since it defines the tone and is the most interestly constructed of the pieces. Bradford owes an obvious debt to Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son--nothing wrong with that, really--and here is some of the oddness of Johnson's stories, but little of the poetry and compassion. After waiting for this collection to come out, I have to say I'm a little disappointed, but that there are a few strong pieces that make the reading worthwhile.

This book not only got pretty good reviews, but it has glowing praise from the three Davids of young-lit (David Foster Wallace, David Sedaris and Dave Eggers) -- AND hot-young-thing Zadie Smith -- on the back cover. But...did I miss something? I found the book to be flat. I love odd stories and weird writing. But "Dogwalker," ultimately, isn't bizarre; it's sort of an affectless hebetude. (I think the overall theme of the book is loneliness.) I'm not turned off by Bradford's lack of style. It doesn't bother me one way or the other (Carver and Hemingway did just find without overblown prose). I think the problem is the "gimmick" and title of the book. Since it's named "Dogwalker," most of the stories are about animals. But I found that I liked the non-animal stories the best; suggesting that maybe Bradford should stick to writing about humans. The best of the stories is "The House of Alan Matthews." "Bill McQuill" and "Chainsaw Apple" also show Bradford has a flair for quick, offbeat character pieces. The animal stories, in particular "Dogs" and "Roslyn's Dog," seem like lazy E.B. White/Roald Dahl. This book is being sold as a sort of "you won't believe how insane these stories are!" book; if you're looking for that, look elsewhere. If three good stories is enough for you, and you REALLY like the dry and offbeat, then pick up this book. Otherwise, you're wasting your money. And I just want to mention that this isn't the Steve King-type of short story book (where the stories clock in at fifty pages each); this book's longest story is under thirty pages and for the most part the stories are four pages long. The book is short -- a one-day read -- and so you might want to take that into consideration, as well.

Interesting but not quite there; hopefully Bradford will evolve into something more.