I read this book because I adored Anita Diamant’s earlier novel, The Red Tent.
Dogtown, a real community on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, was populated by the downtrodden in early 1800s. When its industry moved elsewhere, those who remained included widows, orphans, freed slaves, spinsters, drunks, whores, a witch or two, and, of course, dogs. Their lives are defined by poverty and alienation of various forms.
Like A Visit from the Goon Squad (Jennifer Egan’s contemporary novel in stories), the chapters are much like short stories. Though each focuses on a different character in Dogtown, the chapters are interrelated. The characters’ names are derived from historical records, and many of the novel’s happenings are inspired by legends which surround the real Dogtown.
The prose is sparse yet exquisite and quite elegaic in keeping with its subject matter. Yet the words give a real sense of the heat in the summer, the cold in the winter, and the smell of the salty ocean in the air of the Massachusetts coast. Diamant captures the haunting sense of loss as the village becomes a ghost town. There’s a long list of characters, each fully-realized and well-developed.
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The Last Days of Dogtown is available through:
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