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Last Days of the Dog-Men: Stories Paperback – August 17, 2002

by Brad Watson (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 60 ratings
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"His people and dogs―those wonderful dogs!―come alive with honest, thrumming energy." ―The New York Times Book Review

Winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award

 

In prose so precise and beautiful it makes a reader's hair stand on end, Brad Watson writes about people and dogs: dogs as companions, as accomplices, and as unwitting victims of human passions; and people responding to dogs as missing parts of themselves. In each of these stories he captures the animal crannies of the human personality -- yearning for freedom, mourning the loss of something wild, drawn to human connection but also to thoughtless abandon and savagery without judgment. Ultimately, however, people are responsible where dogs are not: "I'm told in medieval times," the narrator of the title story tells us, "animals were regularly put on trial, with witnesses and testimony and so forth. But it is relatively rare today." 

 

Funny, dark, sometimes brutal, and stunning in their perfection of expression, Watson's stories herald the arrival of a true talent.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    144 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  4. Publication date
    August 17, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.4 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0393321207
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0393321203
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"His people and dogs - those wonderful dogs! - come alive with honest, thrumming energy."
― New York Times Book Review

"A sad, beautiful meditation on love, loss, and dogs...Watson's best writing is full of an unusual sort of lugubrious humor and depth."
― Los Angeles Times

"Elegant and elegiac, beautifully pitched to the human ear, yet resoundingly felt in our animal hearts."
― New York Newsday

"The dogs are not pets so much as fully realized characters, the equals – sometimes the betters – of the men and women stirring up today’s Deep South. Watson writes with surprising emotional force."
― Amy Hempl, Elle

"Brad Watson's prose is exciting, suburb. Not a dull story here. Dogs? Well, often they're more interesting than their masters, certainly more abiding. Watson's people are the wretched dreams of honorable dogs. I read these pieces with great pleasure."
― Barry Hannah, author of Airships

"Crisp as a morning in deer season, rife with spirited good humor and high intelligence."
― Pinckney Benedict, author of Dogs of God

"Strong and true to the place they come from."
― Fred Chappell, author of Dagon

"Brad Watson is a writer still mystified by his own immense talent. How could he not be? He writes sentences you wait a lifetime for. Tells stories you’ve never heard. Last Days of the Dog-Men is the best I’ve read in ages. Mercy for none, but salvation for all."
― Robert Olmestead, author of The Coldest Night

"The very nature of Last Days of the Dog-Men - a gathering of 'dog' tales that exploits both the loyal and the feral nature of man's best friend - reflects Brad Watson's comically dark and deceptively wry vision in a prose as accurate as it is lovely."
― Allen Wier, author of Blanco

"Brad Watson's stories are wholly original - humorous and heartbreaking: there is a compassion for both humans and dogs and the world as they know it that reduces the focus of life's bare minimums: food, shelter, and companionship. Last Days of the Dog-Men is a powerful debut by a master storyteller."
― Jill McCorkle, author of Old Crimes

"Stunning...superb...Should become essential to the canon."
― Commercial Appeal

"[This work ushers Watson into] a distinguished [Southern] literary heritage, from Faulkner to Larry Brown to Barry Hannah to Richard Ford."
― The State

"Bracing prose, heralding the arrival of a new talent on the literary scene."
― Tuscaloosa News

"Watson is a writer keenly aware of the duality of canine nature - the familiar, loving, always accepting domesticate, and the feral, wandering, howling wild animal...Extraordinary."
― Clarion Ledger

About the Author

Brad Watson (1955–2020) was the author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Heaven of Mercury and Miss Jane, and two collections of stories, Last Days of the Dog-Men and Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives. His work has been recognized by the short list and long list of the National Book Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Great Lakes New Writers Award, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Fiction (twice), the Southern Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction, a National Endowment of the Arts Grant in Fiction, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Harper Lee Award, and the Award in Letters granted by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He taught creative writing at Harvard University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Wyoming, Laramie.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (August 17, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393321207
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393321203
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.4 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 60 ratings

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Brad Watson

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
60 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

T. Stevens
5.0 out of 5 stars Writing To Savor
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2008
Verified Purchase
Brad Watson's stories satisfy by their authenticity, their origins in the oral traditions of the American south, their foundations in the rich, fertile soil of its storytelling culture.
His characters move freely from page to mind, loitering with the reader, lingering, as if they were old acquaintances who needed to be nowhere in particular. They sift through the detritus of their lives, recovering seemingly little at first, discovering only later the clarity that often tags along with realization and acceptance.
It is Watson's language that animates these stories though. His sentences, often approaching poetic, delight, demanding to be read again and again. Words cavort ,mingle in a surprising synergism. Many of the stories are deceptively essayistic, adding to their authenticity.
This is a fine collection by a gifted writer.
6 people found this helpful
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Louella Bryant
5.0 out of 5 stars Stories of masculine tenderness
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2020
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Brad Watson's recent passing is a huge loss to the literary world. LAST DAYS OF THE DOG-MEN, his first of four award-winning books, showcases his brilliance. Here is a writer who can wrestle a phrase to the page in a way I've seen no other writer do. The scenes are masculine but imbued with grace and surprising tenderness. Watson is a keen observer and a faithful reporter of every scene. This is a collection I'll read again and again.
One person found this helpful
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Elizabeth
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2017
Verified Purchase
find it a dull book
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R. M. Peterson
4.0 out of 5 stars Dogs can do only so much for humans
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2016
Eight stories. Each involves dogs, but they are not so much about the dogs as they are about the people.

All of the stories display above-average writing, or storytelling, ability. With regard to the last two stories, however, I don't care one whit for the content. The last one has apocalyptic and cannibalistic elements. So, if you pick up the book, my advice is to stop after the first six stories. They, at least, are worth reading, though I wouldn't place any in my pantheon of great American short stories and I doubt that you will find any of them uplifting. All are a little offbeat and wacky. For the most part, they deal with death, severed relationships, and ennui. Dogs can do only so much towards making people's lives rewarding.
2 people found this helpful
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Traveler
5.0 out of 5 stars A lot to like in this book.
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2020
Verified Purchase
Loved this little book of short stories. The author delivered such believable and interesting characters, both human and animal. I could see the houses, backyards and porches, and soak up those rural vibes and the interactions that bound them together.
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H. Houlahan
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2016
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Exactly what the title says. Flannery O'Connor or John Hollander, with dogs.
One person found this helpful
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Abbie Ginn
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2014
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very satisfied
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Dr. Trout
3.0 out of 5 stars O.K. but far from great
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2016
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A few good stories but they become rather repetitive.
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