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Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin
Essays from the literary master and bestselling author of Townie on a life of challenges, contradictions, and fulfillments During childhood summers in Louisiana, Andre’s grandfather taught him that men’s work is hard. Ever after, whether tracking down a drug lord in Mexico as a bounty hunter or grappling with privilege while living with a rich girlfriend in New York City, Andre worked―at being a better worker and a better human being. In his longest essay, “If I Owned a Gun,” he reflects on the empowerment and shame he felt in keeping a gun, and his decision, ultimately, to give it up. Elsewhere, he writes of violent youth and of settled domesticity and fatherhood; about the omnipresent expectations and contradictions of masculinity; about the things writers remember and those they forget. In conversation with writers and thinkers from Rilke to Rumi to Tim O’Brien, Ghost Dogs renders moments of personal revelation with emotional generosity and stylistic grace, ultimately standing as essential witness and testimony to the art of nonfiction.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2024
About the author
Andre Dubus III
37 books1,010 followersAndre Dubus III is the author of The Garden of Last Days, House of Sand and Fog (a #1 New York Times bestseller, Oprah’s Book Club pick, and finalist for the National Book Award) and Townie, winner of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His writing has received many honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Magazine Award, and two Pushcart Prizes. He lives with his family north of Boston.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 15, 2024
'what we put into this world always comes back to us in one form or another...'.
After reading, and enjoying, Andre Dubus's 'Such Kindness' earlier this year, I was keen to grab this latest book full of his musings.
'Ghost Dogs' is a book of moments. Moments of love, moments of hate, moments of spontaneity, moments of gratitude and joy followed by moments of sadness and reflection: thoughtful moments. It is a book that is easy to pick up and put down, and ruminate upon regardless. Some of the essays compound upon each other, while others are just a brief, deep dive. I took away two main thoughts after reading this book: fear begets fear, which leads to anger and hate, and the hypocrisy of self-identity (what you admire in yourself, you might loathe in others and vice versa).
Overall, this is a great book if you feel in a contemplative mood. It's easy to pick off a story, take it away, and go back for more another day or immediately after. Such reflections are sure to provide epiphanies for any reader.
Thank you NetGalley and W. W. Norton and Company for the opportunity to read and review this advanced copy.
After reading, and enjoying, Andre Dubus's 'Such Kindness' earlier this year, I was keen to grab this latest book full of his musings.
'Ghost Dogs' is a book of moments. Moments of love, moments of hate, moments of spontaneity, moments of gratitude and joy followed by moments of sadness and reflection: thoughtful moments. It is a book that is easy to pick up and put down, and ruminate upon regardless. Some of the essays compound upon each other, while others are just a brief, deep dive. I took away two main thoughts after reading this book: fear begets fear, which leads to anger and hate, and the hypocrisy of self-identity (what you admire in yourself, you might loathe in others and vice versa).
Overall, this is a great book if you feel in a contemplative mood. It's easy to pick off a story, take it away, and go back for more another day or immediately after. Such reflections are sure to provide epiphanies for any reader.
Thank you NetGalley and W. W. Norton and Company for the opportunity to read and review this advanced copy.
March 29, 2024
Townie, published in 2011, is possibly the most haunting memoir I’ve read. It tells of the author’s tough upbringing in rough New England towns and how his violent past eventually shaped him into the man he now is. This books builds on Townie, it’s a series of essays – more often than not born out of memories of events in his life or related to people he was, or still is, close to – in which Dubus reflects his past and attempts to draw learning from it. Andre is the son of the renowned short story writer of the same name and first cousin to renowned novelist James Lee Burke (who he doesn’t mention here and possibly has had little contact with, their families having lived far apart from each other). So there is writing in his blood, so to speak, but he says here that although he's always enjoyed words and has always written, for a very long time he didn’t consider himself a writer.
For most of his early life, in fact right up to the time House of Sand and Fog, his third book, became a success he'd earned no real money from his endeavours. By the time money did start to come in, he was in his forties and hadn’t owned a house or even ever lived in a house that wasn’t rented. to this point, his income had primarily come from his work as a carpenter and a night-time barman as well as his wife’s earnings as a dancer and a dance instructor.
He talks of his relationship with his father, who’d left his mother quite early in his life but who’d stayed in touch and remained close through to his death. Around the time of his fiftieth birthday, his father lost a leg following a motor accident, he’d been mowed down on an interstate highway after he stopped to assist at the scene of an accident. He battled pain and depression for the remainder of his life. A really touching anecdote recalls the time Andre took his dad to an award ceremony where he met his fellow acclaimed short story writer Raymond Carver for the first and only time. Carver was to die shortly after this meeting.
Another reminiscence tells of the time when he’d just met the lady who was to become his wife and he took her up the roof of the New York Marriott Marquis hotel, in Times Square (coincidentally the hotel I stayed in during my only visit to the city). They looked down at the lights, the cars, and the tiny people below – a scene I can vividly recall from the floor to ceiling window of my room, more than forty floors up. The length of the stories – because stories is how they felt to me – varied considerably: some were barely a page or two in length whilst others, such as his rumination on his history with guns and his concluding desire to have nothing more to do with them, being of almost novella length.
There’s a sense of jeopardy in just about every piece, and though some are sad, others are unbelievably powerful in their messages of love and hope. A letter to his sons on the subject of love made me pause for an hour or more, so struck was I by it that I simply needed time to reflect, to clarify my thoughts and to attempt to rank myself on the pecking order of familial love. I’d call it all emotionally draining, but that feels like it contains a negative and I really have no negative thoughts about this book. It’s full of honesty, humbleness, and clearly articulated feelings about how things, and above all people, have impacted him through his life, and also what lessons he’s drawn from this.
This is a deeply personal book. Some might find it somewhat self-ingulgent but certainly not, I believe, self-aggrandising. At heart, I think the author is simply a man who loves his family, acknowledges his weaknesses, and strives to be a better person. I guess we can all take something from that.
My sincere thanks to W. W. Norton & Company for providing an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
For most of his early life, in fact right up to the time House of Sand and Fog, his third book, became a success he'd earned no real money from his endeavours. By the time money did start to come in, he was in his forties and hadn’t owned a house or even ever lived in a house that wasn’t rented. to this point, his income had primarily come from his work as a carpenter and a night-time barman as well as his wife’s earnings as a dancer and a dance instructor.
He talks of his relationship with his father, who’d left his mother quite early in his life but who’d stayed in touch and remained close through to his death. Around the time of his fiftieth birthday, his father lost a leg following a motor accident, he’d been mowed down on an interstate highway after he stopped to assist at the scene of an accident. He battled pain and depression for the remainder of his life. A really touching anecdote recalls the time Andre took his dad to an award ceremony where he met his fellow acclaimed short story writer Raymond Carver for the first and only time. Carver was to die shortly after this meeting.
Another reminiscence tells of the time when he’d just met the lady who was to become his wife and he took her up the roof of the New York Marriott Marquis hotel, in Times Square (coincidentally the hotel I stayed in during my only visit to the city). They looked down at the lights, the cars, and the tiny people below – a scene I can vividly recall from the floor to ceiling window of my room, more than forty floors up. The length of the stories – because stories is how they felt to me – varied considerably: some were barely a page or two in length whilst others, such as his rumination on his history with guns and his concluding desire to have nothing more to do with them, being of almost novella length.
There’s a sense of jeopardy in just about every piece, and though some are sad, others are unbelievably powerful in their messages of love and hope. A letter to his sons on the subject of love made me pause for an hour or more, so struck was I by it that I simply needed time to reflect, to clarify my thoughts and to attempt to rank myself on the pecking order of familial love. I’d call it all emotionally draining, but that feels like it contains a negative and I really have no negative thoughts about this book. It’s full of honesty, humbleness, and clearly articulated feelings about how things, and above all people, have impacted him through his life, and also what lessons he’s drawn from this.
This is a deeply personal book. Some might find it somewhat self-ingulgent but certainly not, I believe, self-aggrandising. At heart, I think the author is simply a man who loves his family, acknowledges his weaknesses, and strives to be a better person. I guess we can all take something from that.
My sincere thanks to W. W. Norton & Company for providing an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
April 16, 2024
With the care and diligence of an archeologist, Dubus has excavated memories of his life and laid them bare on the page. These deeply personal essays focus on family relationships, writing, his visceral loathing of bullies, his struggles with gun ownership, and his laudable insight into the vulnerability of women everywhere. Ghost Dogs is a shining gem of a book. My only complaint is that most of the stories have been previously published and have not been edited for redundancy.
I received a drc from the publisher via NetGalley.
I received a drc from the publisher via NetGalley.
February 1, 2024
Something about the way this author writes - - I just love it. Just an outstanding storyteller, whether fiction or non-fiction. I have not read his memoir, Townie (I will now), but this book also has the feeling of a memoir. It's a series of essays, each giving insights into Dubus' adult life. He's especially insightful when it comes to trauma in his childhood that manifests itself in adulthood and the interesting appeal of violence to men.
My one complaint about the book is that the essay format yielded some repetition. As if each essay is perfectly standalone and not part of a book. Some details are repeated, and that does allow the reader to dip in and dip out of the essays more readily; the order of them doesn't seem especially important. But the repetition seemed unnecessary.
I loved House of Sand and Fog so happy to be reminded that there's a lot more for me to read from Mr. Dubus. Looking forward to it!
My one complaint about the book is that the essay format yielded some repetition. As if each essay is perfectly standalone and not part of a book. Some details are repeated, and that does allow the reader to dip in and dip out of the essays more readily; the order of them doesn't seem especially important. But the repetition seemed unnecessary.
I loved House of Sand and Fog so happy to be reminded that there's a lot more for me to read from Mr. Dubus. Looking forward to it!
March 9, 2024
because these essays were pulled from previously published works, they can be a little repetitive when read as a collection but they are truly, wonderfully written
January 24, 2024
To anyone who will listen to me, my number one choice as a memoir has always been “Townie” by Andre Dubus III. So as I read “Ghost Dogs”, his collection of short stories, I leaned towards those that touched on his angry, troubled, difficult childhood into his early adulthood, before he finally escaped New England, and went to the Midwest for college, where he discovered a more productive and fulfilling path as a writer. The other essays in the book bring a piece of his history that he did not cover in depth in that memoir, which were the summers he was able to spend with his mother‘s parents in Louisiana and how that also significantly shaped him.
My one critique is that some of the chapters literally have the same phraseology or even verbatim sentences that appeared in multiple stories, and I would’ve thought they would’ve been edited in such a way as to not seem like duplicate entries. It just struck me that each of these chapters was probably published individually at one point, but when put into this book the almost exact sentences regarding his single mom raising them and being so poor came across as repetitive and as if the reader couldn’t retain that image from the prior story. It left me feeling that the redundant sentences should have at the very least been rephrased to make them stand alone. Maybe give the same message but with a different image for the reader to ponder.
But overall I enjoyed this collection. My two favorite chapters were the aforementioned “If I Owned a Gun” by another reviewer, and especially the last story called “Relapse”, which I think explores in an interesting way how childhood trauma can still live within you; still bubble up to the top and want to present itself; is clearly PTSD waiting to be revisited, and how even if you try your hardest to ignore those feelings, they can arise and overtake you with certain triggering moments. I think Andre Dubus III recognizes this within himself, and it was interesting to me how he explored this tension that co-exists with his normally calm and ordered family life. I’m still firmly in this author’s fan camp!
My one critique is that some of the chapters literally have the same phraseology or even verbatim sentences that appeared in multiple stories, and I would’ve thought they would’ve been edited in such a way as to not seem like duplicate entries. It just struck me that each of these chapters was probably published individually at one point, but when put into this book the almost exact sentences regarding his single mom raising them and being so poor came across as repetitive and as if the reader couldn’t retain that image from the prior story. It left me feeling that the redundant sentences should have at the very least been rephrased to make them stand alone. Maybe give the same message but with a different image for the reader to ponder.
But overall I enjoyed this collection. My two favorite chapters were the aforementioned “If I Owned a Gun” by another reviewer, and especially the last story called “Relapse”, which I think explores in an interesting way how childhood trauma can still live within you; still bubble up to the top and want to present itself; is clearly PTSD waiting to be revisited, and how even if you try your hardest to ignore those feelings, they can arise and overtake you with certain triggering moments. I think Andre Dubus III recognizes this within himself, and it was interesting to me how he explored this tension that co-exists with his normally calm and ordered family life. I’m still firmly in this author’s fan camp!
March 8, 2024
Tease: Have you read André Dubus III’s inimitable memoir “Townie”? Must read. Nothing else like it. He has shared in several interviews quite a gift: that the essays in “Ghost Dogs” are what he LEFT OUT of memoir “Townie!
Everything from working as a bail bondsman to capture a drug cartel leader in Mexico City; living in Manhattan with a wealthy girlfriend from another world than his; domestic life on Massachusetts’ north shore, with forever-family: his wife & three now-grown kids; building his house; why he doesn’t own a gun anymore; & always writing, writing, writing.
Tantalizing if you’ve read anything else by Dubus — rhymes with ‘profuse’ — including “The House of Sand and Fog” — and if you have not yet, do buckle up. You’re in for quite a ride.
I have not yet written my own complete reader review of key essays — must digest thoroughly first, & first-reading reviews are premature for me. Meanwhile, comments made by writer Dani Shapiro on “Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin” are well worth sharing:
“André Dubus III is a literary treasure. These tender, elegant essays come to us directly from his battered heart, his noble soul, his powerful reckoning with the legacy of his childhood. To read this book is to touch the pulsing core of what it is to be human.” [Dani Shapiro]
“Powerful Reckoning” — powerful words. Agreed.
Everything from working as a bail bondsman to capture a drug cartel leader in Mexico City; living in Manhattan with a wealthy girlfriend from another world than his; domestic life on Massachusetts’ north shore, with forever-family: his wife & three now-grown kids; building his house; why he doesn’t own a gun anymore; & always writing, writing, writing.
Tantalizing if you’ve read anything else by Dubus — rhymes with ‘profuse’ — including “The House of Sand and Fog” — and if you have not yet, do buckle up. You’re in for quite a ride.
I have not yet written my own complete reader review of key essays — must digest thoroughly first, & first-reading reviews are premature for me. Meanwhile, comments made by writer Dani Shapiro on “Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin” are well worth sharing:
“André Dubus III is a literary treasure. These tender, elegant essays come to us directly from his battered heart, his noble soul, his powerful reckoning with the legacy of his childhood. To read this book is to touch the pulsing core of what it is to be human.” [Dani Shapiro]
“Powerful Reckoning” — powerful words. Agreed.
March 31, 2024
Towards the very end of “Relapse,” the concluding piece in Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin, the new collection of memoir-like essays by Andre Dubus III, the author recounts his eldest son’s carefully pondered response after reading his Dad’s memoir Townie (2011).* Townie lays bare a brutal childhood of neglect and violent fights in various New England mill towns.
. . .”Is that okay, Austin? You don’t think I’m crazy?”
“No, but Dad.” We let go of one another, and I looked into my son’s shadowed face.
“Yeah?”
“I could never write a memoir.”
“Yes you could. You’re a wonderful writer. Of course you can.”
“No, you don’t understand. I have nothing to write about. You and Mom gave us too happy a childhood. We weren’t raised with any conflicts.” (Pg. 266-267).
Is there any nicer compliment that a parent can receive? Don’t most of us strive to make the world a better place for our offspring? And, therein lies the conundrum: With ease comes the threat of mediocrity.** Having nothing to say or write about because no one wants to read about being coddled. Much like Mr. Dubus’ son, I felt the same way after growing up with parents who did not divorce, who stayed in the same rent-stabilized apartment for countless decades, and who made sure I went to college, burdened with no student loans. After graduating, I was horrified that I had nothing to write about. Only after throwing a monkey wrench into my future, shattering my trajectory into a middle-class humdrum existence, by joining a blue-collar sailing union did I really start maturing and understanding perspectives of people who did not have what I did. Over 35 years later, I do not regret my decision. As a result, the point made by the author��s son, Austin, hit me like a hammer. Perhaps it explains my unyielding attraction to the memoirs and fiction of Andre Dubus III.
Mr. Dubus is a brutally honest writer, or more recently, memoirist. His debut novel, The House of Sand and Fog is one of the finer books to illustrate culture clash in American society, the rift between Iranian immigrants in need of asylum and—comparatively—pampered Americans. The author, a magician with prose and insight, is blessed with a rare empathy and absolute honesty which—in turn—blesses his readers. We are all privileged to be able to read what Andre Dubus III writes.
Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin fills in many of the blanks left out of Townie. Only one essay in this later collection deals at length or dissects the author’s lifelong attraction to bare knuckle brawling. The other essays deal with—among other topics-- his grandfather, a lifelong Louisiana skilled blue-collar laborer; dogs throughout his life (hence the title); the decision to stop owning a gun; and the author’s father, a very renowned writer who ended up in a wheelchair due to a horrendous accident. The essay recounting his father’s one meeting with Raymond Carver is worth the price of the book alone. Finally, the essays are written in retrospect of a man comfortable in his own skin. A successful author and family man.
As anyone who has read Townie is aware, Andre Dubus III, came from a broken home and grew up in seedy, dilapidated New England mill towns. As he writes—I paraphrase—his childhood was one where his Mother’s car—or car of the moment-- often wouldn’t start. Thus, Andre Dubus III has a lot to relate to anyone who cares about or is blind to socio-economic rifts in U.S. society. America is very stratified. As Mr. Dubus’ son alludes in his reaction to reading Townie, adversity breeds resilience. Survivors gain experience. Experience that can lead to a successful writing career; gifted survivors can impart their hard-found knowledge to others.
In an era where memoir is all the rage, Mr. Dubus succeeds in writing about himself the way an outstanding memoirist should. A memoir should not be an accusation against society, meant to highlight unfairness in the world (Good Lord, there is enough of that), but a chronicle of struggle to overcome one’s own inner demons. I am a handful of years younger than Mr. Dubus, living in a neighboring New England town; I visit Dubus’ town, Newburyport, in a car, one that always starts, bi-weekly to buy wine and cheese and to walk an entitled Shiba Inu along the Merrimac river. Yet, at age 59, I have had to cope with my own fair share of trauma and adversity. What it takes to make that adversity and trauma digestible to others, is the brutal honesty and empathy that is so apparent in everything that Andre Dubus III writes.
______________
*My review of Townie is also posted on Goodreads and complements this review.
**One ex-girlfriend who had just gotten rid of me once recounted that I was “middle-class mediocrity” after an email exchange spat, a phrase that I did not deny.
. . .”Is that okay, Austin? You don’t think I’m crazy?”
“No, but Dad.” We let go of one another, and I looked into my son’s shadowed face.
“Yeah?”
“I could never write a memoir.”
“Yes you could. You’re a wonderful writer. Of course you can.”
“No, you don’t understand. I have nothing to write about. You and Mom gave us too happy a childhood. We weren’t raised with any conflicts.” (Pg. 266-267).
Is there any nicer compliment that a parent can receive? Don’t most of us strive to make the world a better place for our offspring? And, therein lies the conundrum: With ease comes the threat of mediocrity.** Having nothing to say or write about because no one wants to read about being coddled. Much like Mr. Dubus’ son, I felt the same way after growing up with parents who did not divorce, who stayed in the same rent-stabilized apartment for countless decades, and who made sure I went to college, burdened with no student loans. After graduating, I was horrified that I had nothing to write about. Only after throwing a monkey wrench into my future, shattering my trajectory into a middle-class humdrum existence, by joining a blue-collar sailing union did I really start maturing and understanding perspectives of people who did not have what I did. Over 35 years later, I do not regret my decision. As a result, the point made by the author��s son, Austin, hit me like a hammer. Perhaps it explains my unyielding attraction to the memoirs and fiction of Andre Dubus III.
Mr. Dubus is a brutally honest writer, or more recently, memoirist. His debut novel, The House of Sand and Fog is one of the finer books to illustrate culture clash in American society, the rift between Iranian immigrants in need of asylum and—comparatively—pampered Americans. The author, a magician with prose and insight, is blessed with a rare empathy and absolute honesty which—in turn—blesses his readers. We are all privileged to be able to read what Andre Dubus III writes.
Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin fills in many of the blanks left out of Townie. Only one essay in this later collection deals at length or dissects the author’s lifelong attraction to bare knuckle brawling. The other essays deal with—among other topics-- his grandfather, a lifelong Louisiana skilled blue-collar laborer; dogs throughout his life (hence the title); the decision to stop owning a gun; and the author’s father, a very renowned writer who ended up in a wheelchair due to a horrendous accident. The essay recounting his father’s one meeting with Raymond Carver is worth the price of the book alone. Finally, the essays are written in retrospect of a man comfortable in his own skin. A successful author and family man.
As anyone who has read Townie is aware, Andre Dubus III, came from a broken home and grew up in seedy, dilapidated New England mill towns. As he writes—I paraphrase—his childhood was one where his Mother’s car—or car of the moment-- often wouldn’t start. Thus, Andre Dubus III has a lot to relate to anyone who cares about or is blind to socio-economic rifts in U.S. society. America is very stratified. As Mr. Dubus’ son alludes in his reaction to reading Townie, adversity breeds resilience. Survivors gain experience. Experience that can lead to a successful writing career; gifted survivors can impart their hard-found knowledge to others.
In an era where memoir is all the rage, Mr. Dubus succeeds in writing about himself the way an outstanding memoirist should. A memoir should not be an accusation against society, meant to highlight unfairness in the world (Good Lord, there is enough of that), but a chronicle of struggle to overcome one’s own inner demons. I am a handful of years younger than Mr. Dubus, living in a neighboring New England town; I visit Dubus’ town, Newburyport, in a car, one that always starts, bi-weekly to buy wine and cheese and to walk an entitled Shiba Inu along the Merrimac river. Yet, at age 59, I have had to cope with my own fair share of trauma and adversity. What it takes to make that adversity and trauma digestible to others, is the brutal honesty and empathy that is so apparent in everything that Andre Dubus III writes.
______________
*My review of Townie is also posted on Goodreads and complements this review.
**One ex-girlfriend who had just gotten rid of me once recounted that I was “middle-class mediocrity” after an email exchange spat, a phrase that I did not deny.
April 8, 2024
I am reading this, finding it hard to put down. Then, I get to page sixty, the conversation with Carver and the author's father, and I am hit with this attack of raw emotion where I want to go on. Still, I have to pause because it is just too much for me to take in, this beautiful moment between two writers struggling with their health issues and conveying their love to each other through spoken words. I put it down after trying to continue several times and venture outside into the cold, dreary morning to feed my cat, Bebe Starr, to calm my inner energy with this lovely moment captured by a son in his book. Raymond Carver is dying soon and this moment is so touching to read about their connection.
I read on, to where he writes about his firstborn, the medical procedure, and making it through it. His story is inspiring and his son becomes a student. The family connections are lovely to read.
As I kept reading, The section about Mary and the COVID crisis was very touching and heartwarming but it also made me cry at the end of this section. Her beautiful life with her family was where she could carry on without worry until this virus arrived and turned her world in another direction. Still, she kept hope in her heart and reached another birthday for a wonderful celebration of life. Andre treated her well and so did his other family members. He does so much for his family like having that grand celebration for his blind aunt that she would never forget. It would be the best vacation she ever experienced and with her family present to enjoy their company.
I reached the one titled, Ghost Dogs, and I can relate well to his feelings, emotions, and the walls he has put up, because I too, do this with animals and also people. After being let down so often, we tend to do so because the hurt is too much to deal with and we want to protect our hearts! Andre has done this to protect his tender heart from the pain that comes when they are no longer around. This comes through clearly as I read this section.
I have read about his relationships with women, parents, and grandparents. Pappy seemed to be a man that changed Andre's life in many good ways and a teacher to him as they worked side by side during hot, summer days, as his sisters helped their grandmother in the kitchen, and his brother was often a loner. Andre understood his brother but he believed his pappy did not understand either one of them. I love how he writes about these relationships with his family members and how important family is to him. Grandparents are to be cherished and he does this. His aunt is an important person in his life and he thinks about her often and what she is experiencing with losing her sight.
I finished this fantastic collection of writing about this writer's life and felt sad that it was ending. I will miss reading more about this family.
I read on, to where he writes about his firstborn, the medical procedure, and making it through it. His story is inspiring and his son becomes a student. The family connections are lovely to read.
As I kept reading, The section about Mary and the COVID crisis was very touching and heartwarming but it also made me cry at the end of this section. Her beautiful life with her family was where she could carry on without worry until this virus arrived and turned her world in another direction. Still, she kept hope in her heart and reached another birthday for a wonderful celebration of life. Andre treated her well and so did his other family members. He does so much for his family like having that grand celebration for his blind aunt that she would never forget. It would be the best vacation she ever experienced and with her family present to enjoy their company.
I reached the one titled, Ghost Dogs, and I can relate well to his feelings, emotions, and the walls he has put up, because I too, do this with animals and also people. After being let down so often, we tend to do so because the hurt is too much to deal with and we want to protect our hearts! Andre has done this to protect his tender heart from the pain that comes when they are no longer around. This comes through clearly as I read this section.
I have read about his relationships with women, parents, and grandparents. Pappy seemed to be a man that changed Andre's life in many good ways and a teacher to him as they worked side by side during hot, summer days, as his sisters helped their grandmother in the kitchen, and his brother was often a loner. Andre understood his brother but he believed his pappy did not understand either one of them. I love how he writes about these relationships with his family members and how important family is to him. Grandparents are to be cherished and he does this. His aunt is an important person in his life and he thinks about her often and what she is experiencing with losing her sight.
I finished this fantastic collection of writing about this writer's life and felt sad that it was ending. I will miss reading more about this family.
April 13, 2024
Review: Ghost Dogs (Andre Dubus III) I have now heard Andre Dubus III speak twice at the Music Hall Lounge. This book was presented just a couple of weeks back. He was being interviewed (I think that is a poor word for two authors who sit down together to jam in a literary sense!) by the most impressive Joe Hill (also the second time I've heard him as the discussion leader). One of the finest events I have attended there, and the book... not fiction, but a collection of essays, all dealing with his most ordinary/extraordinary life, from childhood sadness, poverty, violence as he learned to fight back against bullying, to learning of his Louisiana roots, growing via the love of a woman and then the overpowering love for his children into a man still fighting his ghosts (including some painful experiences with dogs in his childhood, hence the title), especially his knee-jerk reaction to situations in which his violence threatens to rear its ugly head again. But I was swept away by the ease and beauty of his writing in the way a good novel does and am in awe of the human and the writer he is/has become. Wonderful book encompassing so many human emotions and so very much sense of being human in this current world.
February 7, 2024
I am so fortunate to have been able to obtain an advanced reader copy. I consider Dubus' The House of Sand and Fog to be one of the best I have ever read. I also enjoyed Gone So Long.
Although not a fan of short stories, I really enjoyed this collection. My favorite had to be the one entitled Mary about the authors relationship with his mother-in-law, what could be more sweet and endearing? In general, the story of the nuances of the authors’ family life written with such depth, tenderness, and love is thought-provoking and just so real.
My favorite quote from this latest release :
“I was the boy whose hatred for bullies had become a hatred for injustice of all kinds, for imperialism and colonialism for racism and poverty, for a world, where cruelty and violence and oppression were rewarded with power and vast sums of money for the brutal few at the expense of many. “
These words and these stories capture and embody the soul of a great wordsmith.
How did I miss Townie?
Although not a fan of short stories, I really enjoyed this collection. My favorite had to be the one entitled Mary about the authors relationship with his mother-in-law, what could be more sweet and endearing? In general, the story of the nuances of the authors’ family life written with such depth, tenderness, and love is thought-provoking and just so real.
My favorite quote from this latest release :
“I was the boy whose hatred for bullies had become a hatred for injustice of all kinds, for imperialism and colonialism for racism and poverty, for a world, where cruelty and violence and oppression were rewarded with power and vast sums of money for the brutal few at the expense of many. “
These words and these stories capture and embody the soul of a great wordsmith.
How did I miss Townie?
April 10, 2024
Dubus’ collection of essays is a carefully crafted series of observations, mostly of the family he came from and the family he created with his wife, Fountaine. These essays were written over a period of time, so some repetition occurs, but not enough to spoil the strength of the prose. Those familiar with his memoir Townie will recognize some of these reminisces yet be joyful that much is filled in that was left out of that book. Dubus is a man who is not interes4ed in settling scores or excusing his mistakes. He is interested in his place among his closest loved ones, while laying bare his emotional contact with his violent past, his poverty-ridden childhood and his slow coming to grips with what it means to be a caring parent. He still carries his past with him, clearly understanding how brutal and foolish it was. That is the beauty of this wonderful book: he’s not here to brag, excuse, or exaggerate. He’s here to tell us what life and family means to him. In that telling, he can show us a path for ourselves, while never pretending that it might be the correct one for us.
April 8, 2024
This became a slog. I don’t recommend reading it this quickly. There is too much repetition for that I think a good read of these stories might take weeks or months between them so you an kinda forget the five or six things the author repeatedly visits in story after story, again and again, much like this sentence makes the same point more than once. Monotonous.
Maybe one needs to read the Townie book other reviewers rave about — and so does the author in this collection all the money he made from it. But I felt like I learned everything I wanted to about this guy here, plus some.
I read half of it the first night, then found myself skipping paragraphs of later stories as he repeated the same anecdotes or memories.
Can’t recommend this one. Sorry, fans of AD III. Glad it was a library book.
Maybe one needs to read the Townie book other reviewers rave about — and so does the author in this collection all the money he made from it. But I felt like I learned everything I wanted to about this guy here, plus some.
I read half of it the first night, then found myself skipping paragraphs of later stories as he repeated the same anecdotes or memories.
Can’t recommend this one. Sorry, fans of AD III. Glad it was a library book.
April 4, 2024
I understand that this book was a compilation of essays, but as a usual reader of primarily fiction, it was difficult for me to get through. I felt like the entire story was repetitive and could have been shortened drastically. I was very confused by the random chapters at the beginning of the book about the bounty hunter time in the author’s life, the way it was written made me think it was about another person entirely. I liked the theme of peace and solving conflicts with non-violence. Overall, it was a quick read, which I really appreciated.
March 18, 2024
Some of Dubus' very best work. His writing continues to make me consider the world around me deeply. Heartfelt and moving in equal measure. This is writing at its very best. This collection of essays touches upon his upbringing, time spent in New York and memories and recollections of moments with his family. The essay about his time with his grandfather is one I will have with me for a very long time.
April 8, 2024
Series of essays, detailing his varied life experiences, son of a poor, single mom; experiences with his disabled dad, who had deserted the family and was also a writer; his life as a struggling author, earning money from his manual, labor and skills. I love his writing. House of Sand and Fog is one of my favorite reads. This, however, began to drag in the last third. Because the works are stand alone essays, there is a fair amount of repetition.
February 18, 2024
This was my first book by Dubus III, I enjoyed his father’s work but never got around to his until now. This book was an excellent read, albeit a little repetitive in spots. I also feel that the title essay will be very difficult for many readers. All in all, I will definitely seek out more of their work.
April 12, 2024
Dubus' writing is top-notch! It really gets me thinking about life. It's both touching and powerful. This book is full of essays about his life, from growing up to living in New York City, to memories with his family. One essay about his grandpa is especially memorable. I'll cherish it for a long time.
December 29, 2023
Thanks W.W. Norton for the advanced copy.
March 7, 2024
Interesting, and well written
March 8, 2024
A great companion piece to the outstanding Townie.
March 23, 2024
My father wasn’t in my life for most of it, and my mom did an excellent job, but this was the first time I wished anyone (a writer!) was my father.
April 9, 2024
Fantastic memoir!!!
April 17, 2024
Repetitive and thus a quick read. Less a book of essays and more a collection of magazine columns.
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