Sundog

by Jim Harrison

Book Overview

Recovering from a fall down the face of a three-hundred-foot dam in South American, Robert Corvus Strang, a self-educated foreman who works on giant dam projects, recalls his hard but exhilarating life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671741519
• ISBN13: 9780671741518
• Release Date: February 1991
• Publisher: Washington Square Press
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Jim Harrison is a national treasure worth reading

This powerful novel by the author of LEGENDS OF THE FALL and Farmer concerns the life and loves of a foreman named Robert Corvus Strang. Strang worked on giant dam projects in the U.S., South America, and Africa, until he was crippled in a fall down a three-hundred-foot dam. Now as he tries to regain use of his legs, he has a chance to reassess his life, and a bored journalist who has heard of Strang's reputation in the field arrives to draw him out about his various incarnations. Strang recounts his life, including his childhood in the Midwest, his several marriages and children, dozens of lovers, and his work on projects around the world. Strang has the violently heightened sensibilities of a man who has gone to the limits and back, a man who is passionately and unequivocally committed to life. Harrison captures the foreman's tale with head-on frankness and clarity that needs no elaboration, no embellishment. This is a story as true and gripping as real life, and ultimately as victorious. About the Author -- Jim Harrison has been awarded the National Endowment for the Arts (1968-69) and the Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70). He is the author of WOLF: A FALSE MEMOIR, A GOOD DAY TO DIE, FARMER, LEGENDS OF THE FALL, WARLOCK, and SELECTED AND NEW POEMS. The author has lived in Michigan, Arizona, and Montana.

This gal loved this "boy" book!

My hiking, camping, backpacking, Nature-loving, outdoorsman hubby bought this book for me - and I began it reluctantly. Boy, was this gal surprized and pleased. A beautifully written narrative with fascinating characters, settings, dialogue, and points of view. I loved it! And now plan on reading more of Harrison. SUNDOG would make a great film! And I would love to write the script.

An Unsophisticated Reader Sounds Off

When I read for pleasure, the most important thing to me is the quality of the fictional dream. If it pulls me in and captures my imagination, I'm happy and satisfied. I really don't pay much attention to whatever messages the author might be trying to send to the readers, or what deeper meanings might be concealed in the prose. I just want to be carried off in a fictional dream which provokes thought and perhaps changes my outlook, if only for a short time. SUNDOG is such a book. The fictional dream it creates is wonderful and seductive. I've reread this book time and again and it just keeps getting better and better. You should read it; I bet you'll like it, and enjoy it. Harrison's talent is really something rare and great, and this book is one of my all-time favorites.

A fabulous novel written with verve

Sundog is a quirky story of Everyman's encounter with a superman. The book is peppered with sage observations of life, profound yet sensible, a one-man effort to establish a Northern school of fiction. It's the first modern novel I've read in years that made my "must read again" list.

A solid. It lands in the gut.

SunDog is a spirited journey through a man's life. Harrison's hero, Strang, is a visceral hero of red blooded American stock. Strang relates his devolpment as a man set against the backdrop of his rugged profession‹constructing the world's mightiest dams.