The Dog Fighter

by Marc Bojanowski

Book Overview

A stunning novel set in 1940s Mexico about a young man who becomes involved in a brutally violent spectator sport and must choose his loyalties in the fight for a city's future.

The anonymous narrator of this remarkable novel is a young drifter in search of his future. The son of a passionate beauty and gentle doctor, he roams the border between the United States and Mexico, eventually settling in a sleepy Baja town on the verge of transformation.

Here he learns to stand face-to-face with dogs in a makeshift ring, to fight for money and fame, and becomes involved with a powerful and corrupt entrepreneur. But when he finds friendship with a revolutionary old poet and love with a beautiful, innocent girl, everything changes. Caught between the ways of his past and the dreams of his future, he must make a devastating choice that could cost him everything.

Written with bold lyricism and magical flair, The Dog Fighter is an exhilarating tale of brutality and violence, love and wisdom, heartbreak and redemption.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060597585
• ISBN13: 9780060597580
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Silenced

I read this some time ago and loved it. My problem is that the narrator's voice is so strong and vividly written that when I read the book I tend to write my own characters in the Dogfighter's voice, therefore I have not been able to read it again. I applaud Mr. Bojanowski's courage in using flawed grammer and fragmented dialogue, this simply adds to the realism of the dogfighter's world and perhaps that blatent realism creates a bit of a blank canvas for the reader to reflect their own feelings upon. For me the work is well done, energetic, beautufully voiced and a powerful statement about the twisted worlds of love and violence and redemption. I need to be more concrete in this reveiw but time does not allow it.

Brilliant Debut Novel ...

A truly impressive first novel from Marc Bojanowski ... lyrical bordering on poetic. Mr. Bojanowski tells a violent tale of a severely damaged young man's journey toward becoming a whole human being. The violence is handled artfully ... never gratuitous ... harsh and ugly, but always a logical part of the meticulously devised plot. A unique and highly original debut novel from Marc Bojanowski.

True...

I am surprised after reading the previous reviews...two mentioned Hemingway. I just finished the book and that was my very thought. Although I would temper that by saying it is very Hemingwayesque with overtones of Dostoevsky. By far the most insightful, best written books I read all year. Note...I am a huge Hemingway fan, therefore my bias. As to the lack of punctuation...I barely noticed. I think it only matters if you can't stomach the book's content...not to say that it's terribly graphic. Simply, some folk won't sit well with scenes depicting the dog fights. While this is the title, scenes involving the actual dog fighting actually take up very little of the book. One thing I don't get, and this isn't the author's fault, why is there a white kid on the cover pointing what looks like a toy gun?

A brutal glimpse into a dark soul

I am not a huge reader of fiction, and when I do I tend towards less violent fare, but I picked up this book, meaning to read a chapter before bed, and ended up staying up all night to finish it. The unnamed protagonist is both brutal and brutalised by his circumstances and the expecations of the codes of masculinity in which he is brought up, especally by his grandfather. I will not discuss the narrative further, as I leave the discovery of its many great qualities to the reader, I will mention the issue of the violence within the story, the book is not for everyone; but I truly believe that unlike so much of modern culture, the violence is an integral part of the milleu that the dog fighter inhabits.In short, the book succeeds both as an evocation of a time both specific and universal, whilst also llustating the dangers of a particular type of masculinity. This first effort by the author makes me hungry for his next work. In short a fine book by a promising artist.