The Power of the Dog : A Novel Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Power of the Dog : A Novel? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Power of the Dog : A Novel. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Power of the Dog : A Novel ReviewThis is one heck of a novel. Set on a Montana ranch in 1924-25, it tells of a domestic drama involving two brothers and the tensions that quickly develop when one of them marries a widow with a teenage son. The driving emotional force in the novel (and the "dog" of the title) is the older, unmarried brother, a fascinating study in western machismo, who is both sharply intelligent and capable of merciless cruelty, all apparently masking a fiercely denied homosexuality. The opening scene of the novel, with a vivid description of castrating calves graphically characterizes him as cutting and brutal, while wounded both emotionally and sexually. Savage is breathtakingly insightful in his portrayal of this man, exploring his darkest thoughts and carefully observing his behavior. He gets so far beneath the skin of the character, exposing the ugliness beneath his roughly handsome exterior, it makes you uncomfortable.
The novel is wonderfully crafted. Savage shifts easily from the point of view of one character to another, maybe 10-12 of them altogether. And even the most minor characters -- the cook, a maid, an Indian, the brothers' parents -- come to life vividly. The story is told economically, and narrative threads are dovetailed neatly together. Suspense builds steadily, and key details are placed strategically, so that when the final scenes play out, the ending is both surprising and inevitable.
Meanwhile the story takes place in a richly detailed context of everyday life of cowboys and ranch hands -- meals in the ranch house, the idle hours of Sundays around the bunkhouse, the ordering of items from the Sears Roebuck catalogue, and the work of taking cattle to market, branding, and haying. Savage is intimately aware of this world and the minds and attitudes, hopes and fears of the unschooled men who inhabit it.
Though it takes place on the other side of the continent, I was reminded of another writer, Richard Yates, whose "Revolutionary Road" (1961) has something of the same mood, and the same interest in the emotionally isolated lives of characters who are bound by the constraints of time and place. Annie Proulx writes an informative afterword to the new edition of Savage's novel. It's worth mentioning that she takes up the theme of homosexuality in a Western setting in her "Brokeback Mountain," which is included in her terrific collection of Wyoming stories "Close Range."
I recommend "The Power of the Dog" to readers interested in Western fiction, Montana ranch life in the early 20th century, psychological studies, and domestic drama that focuses on the interplay of family members' strengths and weaknesses. As a companion, I recommend Ralph Beer's Montana ranch novel "The Blind Corral."The Power of the Dog : A Novel Overview

Want to learn more information about The Power of the Dog : A Novel?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now