The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel [Paperback]

Anita Diamant (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 11, 2006

Set on the high ground at the heart of Cape Ann, the village of Dogtown is peopled by widows, orphans, spinsters, scoundrels, whores, free Africans, and "witches." Among the inhabitants of this hamlet are Black Ruth, who dresses as a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, an imperious madam whose grandson, Sammy, comes of age in her brothel; Oliver Younger, who survives a miserable childhood at the hands of his aunt; and Cornelius Finson, a freed slave. At the center of it all is Judy Rhines, a fiercely independent soul, deeply lonely, who nonetheless builds a life for herself against all imaginable odds.

Rendered in stunning, haunting detail, with Diamant's keen ear for language and profound compassion for her characters, The Last Days of Dogtown is an extraordinary retelling of a long-forgotten chapter of early American life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Diamant's The Red Tent who were disappointed by her sophomore effort (Good Harbor) will be happy to find her back on historical turf in her latest, set in early 1800s Massachusetts. Inspired by the settlement of Dogtown, Diamant reimagines the community of castoffs—widows, prostitutes, orphans, African-Americans and ne'er-do-wells—all eking out a harsh living in the barren terrain of Cape Ann. Black Ruth, the African woman who dresses like a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, who runs the local brothel, and Judy Rhines, an unmarried white woman whose lover Cornelius is a freed slave, are among Dogtown's inhabitants who are considered suspect—even witches—by outsiders. Shifting perspectives among the various residents (including the settlement's dogs, who provide comfort to the lonely), Diamant brings the period alive with domestic details and movingly evokes the surprising bonds the outcasts form in their dying days. This chronicle of a dwindling community strikes a consistently melancholy tone—readers in search of happy endings won't find any here—but Diamant renders these forgotten lives with imagination and sensitivity.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Bookmarks Magazine

In The Last Days of Dogtown, Diamant paints a vivid and gripping historical setting as she delves into a lost crevice of human drama in 19th-century Massachusetts and renders it with a modern slickness. There are no novel revelations about love, however. Instead, she takes us alongside the drunkards, whores, and witches (the strongest character is Black Ruth, who rarely speaks), and, in the end, she evokes the tragic silliness of humanity in the grays and pale sunshine of Cape Ann.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1ST edition (July 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743225740
• ISBN-13: 978-0743225748
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In my first novel, The Red Tent, I re-imagined the culture of biblical women as close, sustaining, and strong, but I am not the least bit nostalgic for that world without antibiotics, or birth control, or the printed page. Women were restricted and vulnerable in body, mind, and spirit, a condition that persists wherever women are not permitted to read.

When I was a child, the public library on Osborne Terrace in Newark, New Jersey, was one of the first places I was allowed to walk to all by myself. I went every week, and I can still draw a map of the children's room, up a flight of stairs,where the Louisa May Alcott books were arranged to the left as you entered.
Nonfiction, near the middle of the room, was loaded with biographies. I read several about Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart, and Helen Keller, with whom I share a birthday.

But by the time I was 11, the children's library was starting to feel confining,so I snuck downstairs to the adult stacks for a copy of The Good Earth. (I had overheard a grown-up conversation about the book and it sounded interesting.)The librarian at the desk glanced at the title and said I wasn't old enough for the novel and furthermore my card only entitled me to take out children's books.

I defended my choice. I said my parents had given me permission, which was only half a fib since my mother and father had never denied me any book. Eventually,the librarian relented and I walked home, triumphant. I had access to the BIG LIBRARY. My world would never be the same.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So it's not The Red Tent... So what? November 29, 2005

By Patrick McCullough

Format:Hardcover

As you might suspect from reading the other reviews and descriptions, this is a historical novel set in the early 1800s in a small, dying town outside of coastal Gloucester, Massachusetts. After reading The Red Tent, then Good Harbor, one can really see that Diamant shines in historical fiction. Thankfully, though, Diamant does not attempt to make another book in the mold of The Red Tent. It is its own story, told in a much different manner. As a matter of fact, at times it does not feel like a story at all, but a collection of pictures of people (and some dogs) tied together by their common geography. We see birth and death, struggle and success, hatred and love, poor and rich, sin and virtue, faith and faithlessness. It is a complicated mess of stories mixed together with Diamant's beautiful grasp of the English language. She shows her ability to paint a masterpiece of truth and reality on a canvas of words, harsh and genuine words. Her most compelling narratives were those relating to the prostitutes of the town. She has a gift for allowing us to enter the hearts of her sinners. After all, we are all sinners.

Don't come to this looking for another Red Tent. And don't pick it up if you like a smooth, concrete plotline. But if you would like to be lost in another world for awhile, have your worldview challenged, and be left with many questions, then crack it open and dive in.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I took the chance . . . . and loved the book October 11, 2005

By Blaine Desantis

Format:Hardcover

So many times you read articles in national publications touting a book as one of the next big hits for the upcoming season and they turn out to be duds!

Well, this time I took a chance on Anita Diamant's newest novel "The Last Days of Dogtown" and it proved to be the real deal. I truly loved this book, as it was a throwback to so many novels of old. Today authors feel they have to go on for 500+ pages and at the end you have no true feelings for the characters of the book. But, in a mere 260 pages Diamant has provided us with many, many characters who are basically set forth in their own chapter of the book and you feel the need to keep constantly turning pages to see how the affairs of Dogtown turned out.

Diamant starts us out with a question from one of her main characters, Judy Rhines, a question as to why there was so little blood on a suicide victim, and from there introduces us to the main characters of the book in the very first chapter. Thereafter it is a story of those characters that compel us to keep on reading as she intertwines both the current state of that individual with stories of the past that help fill in some of the blanks that are in Dogtown.

It is not until almost at the very end that Judy finds out why there was so little blood, and this revelation came as a complete shock to me. For some reason I never saw it coming, nor did Diamant ever really dwell on that issue again for over 250 pages. Instead she kept us going with stories of so-called witches (Easter Carter) and evil relatives (Tammy Younger and Mrs. Stanley). From the few blacks who inhabited Dogtown we saw how that even in the so-called free North there truly was a stigma upon being black, with the local minister not wanting to preside at a funeral of the last black inhabitant of Dogtownuntil subtly coerced by Judy Rhines.

This book has brought forth characters that I will remember for a long time such as Easter Carter, Judy Rhines, Oliver Younger, John Woodsman a/k/a Black Ruth and many more. One of the more memorable chapters for me was a short passage about a local dog called Greyling. While not a total outcast in Dogtown, Greyling was not born to the town and never ascended to the top of the dog world, which was OK with him. He had his place and he knew it and liked it. Makes one think of our own towns and how difficult it is for newcomers to become part of a community.

In the end, this is just a lovely book that could have been any town in the US. It is a story that could be repeated in Boom Towns gone dry, Gold Rush villages, on little towns that just happened to be on the outskirts of a larger town, etc. It is a story of both the death of a town, as well as a story about those who "escaped" and made better lives for themselves. It is a story that will stay with me forever.

Blaine DeSantis

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A story exploring the human spirit and its capacity to love September 22, 2005

By Bookreporter

Format:Hardcover

North of Boston, in the early 1800s, Cape Ann is a peninsula jutting into the Atlantic and home to Dogtown Common. Between Sandy Bay on the coast and Gloucester Town on Gloucester Harbor, Dogtown is a dying village. Ironically, author Anita Diamant begins her story with the death of Abraham Wharf by his own hand in 1814. The villagers show respect and some grief for Wharf in the spacious parlor of Easter Carter.

The party of mourners includes Judy Rhines, Easter's closest friend, and twelve-year-old Oliver Younger, accompanied by his peculiar Aunt Tammy, often called a witch and ill-humored as well. Others in the company are Ruth, a black woman who dresses in menswear; Mrs. Stanley and her son, Sammy; Mary, the grieving sister of Wharf; and those who come out of the cold for liquid hospitality.

Diamant paints a picture of rural nineteenth century with a gray palette. An occasional bright passage illuminates her word canvas with pale sunshine hues. For the most part, life is cruel in Dogtown. From Boston to Gloucester, whispers of witchcraft, poverty and idiocy abound when the little village is mentioned among knowledgeable persons. Of course, none of the rumors are factual. But legends become volumes when tongues wag about townspeople. Roaming packs of dogs have made the village their home when the fishing and farming industries dry up. Greyling, one of the more fortunate strays, makes a home with Judy Rhines.

One by one, secrets kept for generations within the families of Dogtown become truths known by others. Oliver has had a miserable childhood with Aunt Tammy after his parents die. Tammy persecutes him publicly and humiliates him daily. He is one of the bright rays of sunshine crossing Dogtown. With the help of Judy, whom he trusts, the paper that sets him free from Tammy is a secret no longer kept. Each member of the tight community has darkness they wish to remain hidden.

Diamant's earlier successful novel, THE RED TENT, was a tale of reality for its characters --- structured lives in a remote setting. THE LAST DAYS OF DOGTOWN, though far removed in place and time, tells of a people oppressed by poverty, illness, ignorance and racial inequality --- realities of their own. Reaction to this book, though lukewarm at first, warmed with a passion to read to its conclusion.

Judy Rhines, a spinster (though not of her choosing), is the center of the novel. The others interact through and around her, as she nurtures their physical and emotional upheavals with compassion and sensitivity. When her needs are met by a shadowy character, she rejoices only to be disappointed by rebuff. How she is sought after for help and how she responds are threads that blend the gray palette into a watercolor of lives given meaning. Though not a quick read, this book based on a pamphlet from history is a meaningful study of the early New England character and a good literary piece.

THE LAST DAYS OF DOGTOWN is not triumph over tragedy, but an opening of the human spirit to the possibility of loving.

--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad