Even Dogs Go Home to Die: A Memoir

by Linda St. John

Book Overview

Raw, evocative, and unforgettable. The snapshot pictures that sum up the young life of acclaimed outsider artist and author Linda St. John have the power to shock and disturb us as she offers a glimpse into her dirt-poor childhood in southern Illinois. These stories tell the tale of her father's casual brutality and her mother's cruel indifference, and how Linda and her siblings create their own kind of sanctuary that protects them from the violence...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060933860
• ISBN13: 9780060933869
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Couldn't put it down

Ms St. John's style of writing had me turning page after page wondering just what happened next. I would put the book down for a moment thinking I could just walk away and do the things that needed to be done. I was wrong. I found myself drawn back to Southern Illinois and the St. John family. It brought back memories of my own dysfunctional family. I highly recommend this book, not just for those that may have lived through a similar upbringing, but for anyone that wants a good read and a glimpse into how one woman overcame so much.

sharp voice, great story teller

Linda St. John is a wonderful talent and tells her remarkable story of surviving a stark upbringing with wit and insight in the package of a really good read. The story moves along. Her characters are tremendously vivid and orginal.

Of Beatings and Beauty

The author has taken an artful look at her painful family background in a way that is amazing. The sincerity and poignant detailing suggest that the author has not borrowed trouble to write about, but does in fact know it very intimately, and has used the power of creativity to rise above and even flourish.No one can read this book and not be inspired to look with more colorful curiosity at any trouble in their life.All people in Alcohol and abuse programs would take heart from reading this. This book suggests tools for taking a liberating apprach to life. A beautiful book of love and understanding.

Good readin' Bad spellin'

Memoirs of a terrible childhood marred by poverty, alcoholism and abuse in Southern Illinois. Later on the abused children look after their dying father, a WWII veteran with a PhD, and seek his love. These terrible childhoods always make good stories when told by their survivors. The worse the childhood the better the story because we know that the writer survived to become a person who could write a book. It's always a question as to how much is true (I've heard that Frank McCourt's mother was a New York secretary) but this one could stand on its own as fiction. We're given a lot of jacket biography, and even a cover designed by the author, that form an intrinsic part of the story. I share the other reviewers' irritation with the apostrophes on the gerunds but I guess them white trash aint gonna mind that none.

Unusual and memorable

This is a harrowing, yet funny, tale of the author's disturbing childhood. It reminded me of THE LIAR'S CLUB but it's unique not only in the way it's told, but in the voice of the author. What I like best is knowing that the author overcame everything she's written about here to go on to a successful career as an artist. Very inspiring.