I didn’t dislike
Dog Soldiers nearly as much as I thought I would. (I'm not big on war stories, and
Dog Soldiers starts in Vietnam and follows the trials of an American journalist who deals drugs there and attempts to continue his "trade" when he returns to California.) The beginning of the book was rough going. It passed the 50-page test with just enough interest for me to decide to give it another 25 pages. Somewhere in the sixties it got good, and I remained involved for a hundred plus pages. Then it dwindled. And dwindled. Right before the end there's a stream-of-consciousness section that's well done—if you like that style. I don't--although there's a plus in its use in
Dog Soldiers. The section's much shorter than [iA Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man[/i].
There were high points and questionable issues, particularly in the one really good section.
1) "…just because the papers say something and J. Edgar Hoover says something doesn't make it true." (page 64) Good advice in the 70s and, with a name change, good advice now.
2) Miss Picky's having a fit. "In the record department they were playing the 'Age of Aquarius.'" (page 120) Should that "the" be there? Actually it's Google to the rescue. The title is "The Age of Aquarius," so "the" should be there but inside the quotes. Miss Picky can rest easy. Until she starts wondering if a book with such a grievous error should win the National Book Award. Whatever is happening to— Stop it, Martha! Now!
3) "(F)atigue was undercutting the alcohol in his blood, and he felt no closer to intoxication than tachycardia." (page 121) Anyone who knows what "tachycardia" means, raise your hand. No? Go look it up. I did. How can any writer who knows "tachycardia" get the title of— Martha! Oh, okay.
4) My absolute favorite, laugh-out-loud scene is when a major character, Converse, goes to visit his father-in-law, Elmer, publisher of an unusual magazine. The scene takes place in Elmer's office. "Across the surface of the desk were spread pictures of dead people which would be used to illustrate the stories in Nightbeat. Dead people could be portrayed as anything—killer hermits, spanking judges, teen-aged nymphomaniacs—they had no recourse to the law. Only in Utah could lawsuits be filed on the behalf of the dead, so it was important that the dead people come from somewhere else." (page 123) I don't know if the author is right about the law, but I absolutely love the idea behind the magazine.
5) In the same scene Elmer recommends a lawyer to Converse because he's already into the California drug scene. The following conversation ensues:
"I'm cracking up," he (Converse) told Elmer. "I'm hallucinating. I just got off a plane."
Elmer pursed his lips and glanced upward.
"It's incredible," Converse insisted. "I can't believe I did it."
Elmer waved his hand as though he were dispersing an unpleasant odor."A sense of reality is not a legal defense." (page 125)
How 'bout it, Phil? Don't you think you could make it work?
Bet Perry Mason could.
6) "So many people have it all figured out and they're all full of s---. It's sad." (page 230) It is sad. And true. And a good line.
7) Speaking of
Dog Soldiers being a National Book Award Winner, it contains the following sentence: "The triangle held and his legs with it." (page 309) Huh? I read the sentence, I reread the page before it, I looked for a triangle or at least a reference to a triangle. Not there. So if anyone's a big fan of this book, please read that section over and 'splain it to me.
Overall? I strongly recommend pages 64 through 180.
