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A review by tobin_elliott
Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin by Andre Dubus, 3rd
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
This is a really raw book.
In a 1946 book, author Paul Gallico—best remembered now as the author of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE—wrote something that has been co-opted or slightly reworded by authors ever since. He said, <i>"It is only when you open your veins and bleed onto the page a little that you establish contact with your reader."</i>
This is what Dubus does with this book. It's not an easy book to read by any means, and the reader can almost feel Dubus as he squirms, relaying uncomfortable truths about himself that most of us wouldn't admit.
Dubus, throughout his life, has seemed to struggle with growing up poor, in moving a lot so always being the outcast, in being first bullied, then fighting back and responding with violence, in growing up where physical work was the way to gain respect.
Contrast that with the man who is wealthy, who built his own home and has a safe place for him and his family, who has turned his back on violence and now only wants peace, in making a living putting words on a page.
The reader can feel these paradigm shifts twisting him, and Dubus struggles with them. He loves guns, but refuses to have one in the house. He never wants to fight, but still feels the thrill of it.
I imagine this is much of what John Lennon also struggled with...a violent youth that begged for world peace, an abandoned kid who grew into global adoration, from having little money to having more than he knew what to do with, yet sang of "having no possessions."
Dubus conveys these struggles beautifully. He's a master of language, and he gets to the heart of the issue, then slices into it to reveal those painful truths.
In other reviews, I'm reading the complaints of the repetition of facts, and they're not wrong, there is, however, I suspect these were a collection of separate essays written over different times. Taken separately, the explanations would have been required and, to be honest, while there is repetition, it's also brief.
Andre Dubus III is always someone worth reading, whether it's his fiction, or his non-fiction.
In a 1946 book, author Paul Gallico—best remembered now as the author of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE—wrote something that has been co-opted or slightly reworded by authors ever since. He said, <i>"It is only when you open your veins and bleed onto the page a little that you establish contact with your reader."</i>
This is what Dubus does with this book. It's not an easy book to read by any means, and the reader can almost feel Dubus as he squirms, relaying uncomfortable truths about himself that most of us wouldn't admit.
Dubus, throughout his life, has seemed to struggle with growing up poor, in moving a lot so always being the outcast, in being first bullied, then fighting back and responding with violence, in growing up where physical work was the way to gain respect.
Contrast that with the man who is wealthy, who built his own home and has a safe place for him and his family, who has turned his back on violence and now only wants peace, in making a living putting words on a page.
The reader can feel these paradigm shifts twisting him, and Dubus struggles with them. He loves guns, but refuses to have one in the house. He never wants to fight, but still feels the thrill of it.
I imagine this is much of what John Lennon also struggled with...a violent youth that begged for world peace, an abandoned kid who grew into global adoration, from having little money to having more than he knew what to do with, yet sang of "having no possessions."
Dubus conveys these struggles beautifully. He's a master of language, and he gets to the heart of the issue, then slices into it to reveal those painful truths.
In other reviews, I'm reading the complaints of the repetition of facts, and they're not wrong, there is, however, I suspect these were a collection of separate essays written over different times. Taken separately, the explanations would have been required and, to be honest, while there is repetition, it's also brief.
Andre Dubus III is always someone worth reading, whether it's his fiction, or his non-fiction.