Dogland
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
“Shetterly makes the transition from young adult (Elsewhere, 1991, etc.) to adult fantasy with assurance and aplomb. In 1959, Luke and Susan Nix travel with their family--four-year-old Chris, whose narrative is informed by hindsight; Little Bit, three; and Digger, two--to Dickison, Florida, to set up a tourist attraction: Dogland, a sort of canine zoo displaying dozens of different breeds of dog… Compelling, absorbing, hard-edged work, lit by glimpses of another, more fantastic reality.” - Kirkus Reviews
“Dogland is one of my all-time favorite books, a piece of gentle American magic realism about Chris Nix, whose obsessive, authoritarian (but lovable) father moves his family to Florida in the fifties to open a dog amusement park, showcasing 200 breeds of dog. The Nixes end up ensnared in local southern race politics, and in Florida's mystical Spanish past, and the resulting story is such a surprising, seamless blend of the historical and the fantastic that it is like a series of small, satisfying surprises, leading up to a wonderful, giant surprise.” - Cory Doctorow
“Shetterly captures the rhythm, feel, and language of cracker Florida, its legends, and the clash of cultures. Recommended for fantasy collections.” - Library Journal
"A masterwork. A particularly American magic realism that touches the heart of race and childhood in our country; it's 100 Years of Solitude for an entire generation of American Baby Boomers, and deserves the widest possible audience." -Ellen Kushner, host of public radio's Sound & Spirit
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this poignant coming-of-age tale, pearls of childhood memory are strung on a fine strand of fantasy. Shetterly (Elsewhere; Neverever) refracts the turmoil of the civil rights era through the eyes of four-year-old Chris Nix, whose father moves the family from Minnesota to a small Florida community in 1959. Luke Nix is fired with the ambition to build Dogland, a tourist attraction featuring more than 120 different breeds of dog, but his outspokenness and liberal attitudes toward race and religion rankle the locals, many of whom are card-carrying Klansmen. This culture-clash explodes into an open confrontation between Luke's ideals and the bigotry of the town. Skillfully, Shetterly evokes America's headlong hurtle from the innocence of the 1950s to the violence of the '60s through incidents that puzzle the child narrator yet lodge in his memory as they unfold against the heavily symbolic, utopian backdrop of Dogland. There's a weak subplot concerning the Fountain of Youth, but the tale's true wellspring of magic is the enchanted childhood Chris conjures from reminiscences of his family and the popular culture of the day. A deceptively simple story, rich with complex characters and timeless themes, this novel will charm enthusiasts of contemporary fantasy.
