Customer Reviews

Stray Dogs

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

John Ridley's Stray dogs is one of those short, hardboiled books reminescent of a dime store novel from the 30's. It's one of those novels that you either will love or hate. I happened to love it. The chapters and long on cynicism and short on description and detail. Ridley's writing is very compact and brief. It feels at times like you are reading a script because of all of the one word descriptions. It's no coincidence that Ridley wrote the script to the movie which is almost exactly like the book. The story is rather simple it's about a drifter whose car breaks down on the outskirts of a dustbowl town named Sierra and what happes to him in the 24 hrs after. A good read but nothing life altering. John Ridley is a good writer with a distinct voice. If you are looking for a entertaining read check it out.

This is an absolutely excellent debut for Mr. Ridley! I'm surprised people didn't like this book. Sure, it's quite profane and vulgar--and personally I'm not a fan of profanity--but you can't help but notice how it flowed with the feel of the book. Ridley's profound descriptions forced you into experiencing every rotten, painful, annoying, surreal misadventure that John Stewart (the protagonist) had to endure! Sure, the hero was a sleaze, a lowdown swindling loser--but we still got his sympathy, simply because of all the crap he had to go through! We don't want anyone to endure that! I particularly liked the hero--I'd rather have Ridley do more with this character, but then again I've yet to read "Love Is A Racket." But Stray Dogs' hapless antihero Stewart was a loser whose near lack of conscience made him likeable--a luckless hustling gambler who uses people--but doesn't kill. It was like he was some kind of Jerry Springer, the only "normal" guy in the book! I could go on and on about this book--and later probably will, but I highly recommend this seamy little noir yarn! I can't say I didn't like the ending, though, since it worked so well with the story, but still. You'll see once you read it. GET THE BOOK (unless you're highly offended by profanity; the language is beyond coarse!)

John Ridley, Stray Dogs (Ballantine, 1997)

Stray Dogs is the epitome of the needless book. There is nothing to be learned from it, no deep meaning involved, no moral to the story. A guy on his way to pay off some loansharks he's into has a breakdown on the outskirts of a very strange little town in Nevada. While waiting for his car to be repaired, he finds himself in a unique situation (for him, anyway): he meets a beautiful young woman, then meets her husband. Each wants to hire him to kill the other. Nothing much to it, really.

So why is Stray Dogs, then, such a fine piece of work? It is mostly because John Ridley knows how to keep the pages turning without ever dropping into genre fiction; there's no real genre this book would fit into anyway. It has elements of hardboiled detective fiction, a dash of the action thriller here and there, and it's loaded with the weirdness one expects from many "postmodern" European authors, but it never settles down. It just keeps moving along as fast as it can. As well, Ridley knows when to quit. Stray Dogs is a very short novel, and its brevity adds to the punch it packs. The ending may be a little too pat for some readers, but it does have a poetic justice-style twist to it that will allow the majority to at least get a cynical smile out of it. Good stuff. *** ½

This is one book you can't pass up. I loved the movie "U-Turn" but the book is even better. Ridley's dark humor and quick wit makes this miserable day in Sierra an enjoyable journey. Okay, so I'm a little twisted myself...but it's still good, fun storytelling. You gotta love it!

Although Stray Dogs is a quick read it only makes it slightly less painful. It was dull, all the charaters are static. The main character, John (named after the author?) makes it known that he uses all people, from ex-girlfriends to the poor sap at the train ticket office. Yet he still expects the readers sympathy. Very predictable plot and ending.

This book reads like a screenplay. No it is a screenplay, as Ridley is more a screenwriter than novelist. It's a quick noir thriller with some good insights into human nature. A cool story that reads in a short afternoon.

The book and the movie are so similar that there's not much point in checking out the book if you've seen the movie.

Overall, Ollie Stone did a good job of bringing this pulp to celluloid.

What a great book! It is a very funny, twisted, scary book to find yourself in it. Like the crazy people in the town said, "you should be more careful". This is the book that the characters will never be forgotton. I love the movie based on this book "U-Turn" which Oliver Stone made. All of Oliver Stone's films are about "American Society". In "Stray Dogs", American Society is living in one hot hell hole. A MUST READ!!!

THIS BOOK WAS GREAT. JOHN RIDLEY IS A GREAT AUTHOR, AND IF YOU SAW THE MOVIE U-TURN, WHICH WAS BASED ON STRAY DOGS, YOU WOULD KNOW HOW MUCH OF AN IDIOT DIRECTOR OLIVER STONE IS. OLIVER STONE DIRECTED THE MOVIE U-TURN, AND COMPLETLEY CHANGED THE BOOK AROUND. THANK GOD I READ THE BOOK FIRST. IF I SAW THE MOVIE FIRST THE BOOK WOULDENT SEEM ALL THAT TEMPTING

I'ma big fan of John Ridley. Nice to read his early stuff. The book moved , the story was funny and the ending unexpected. a quick fun read

Does this guy John ever catch a break. Seems as though John Stewart just keeps running into bad luck. Will his luck change? I highly recommend this book. It was very good and only took a couple of days to read.