Brown Dog: Novellas

A FEW SPOILERS The book is a series of novellas taken from other sources, about the title character, a maybe-Native American ne'er do well living a subsistence life in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He has to rank as one of the most unassuming characters in modern literature, but his adventures become epic, mostly the result of a series of poor decisions, usually involving women, that seem to lead him inexorably into trouble, drama and the occasional far away place. Hard to talk about without giving things away, but the stories take a serious turn when he becomes a foster dad, and it is that situation that pulls the various stories together and creates the arc of his growth. The final chapter seems slightly forced, tasked as it is with drawing in loose ends, but I found the ending hugely satisfying without seeming trite or fake happy. The title character tried my patience many times, but his heart won me over--not a guy I'm going to forget any time soon. I purchased the ebook on sale with half a dozen of his other titles, and I'm feeling very optimistic about it. ( )

4 ½ out of 5 stars
Brown Dog, B. D., may or may not be Indian. He may or may not have found his father's body at the bottom of Lake Superior. His main goals in life seem to be having sex with every woman possible, and get overly drunk as often as possible. He really likes women and he really likes drinking and he's not too concerned with legalities or political correctness.

And I love this guy. I'm a fairly new Jim Harrison reader, but I'm a fan. This series of novellas is a bit repetitive because they were first published as novellas, so there is a lot of catching up at the beginning of each one. But other than that, they hang together like a novel.

B.D. is about as nonjudgmental as you can get. And not much bothers him. He's got enough, but it never hurts to try for a little more. And he manages to get in trouble. A lot. What a great character is woven through these stories. They are a delight to read. ( )

Jim Harrison’s complicated uncomplicated character, Brown Dog, is a piece of work. A naturistic, drinking, working horn dog who lives on the edge of poverty and lawlessness, but is rich in his love of nature and fishing. He works just enough to get liquor money and his retirement fund goal is $1000. His story develops in the six novellas here, eventually he achieves almost contentment with Gretchen, the love of his life, an avowed lesbian social worker who is also the mother of his daughter. ( )

Highly entertaining stories. My complaints are few: overly dick-oriented (but that is part of the protagonist's distinguishing character); somewhat rambling; and an appalling lack of punctuation, particularly commas, which make the story hard to follow at times, requiring repeated readings of the same section to figure out what's going on or who's speaking. Otherwise, the stories are very colorful and engaging. Harrison really paints a complete, multi-textured picture of a very different sort of life from what anyone reading this book is familiar with. ( )

It's a bit like Henry Miller up in the Michigan Upper Peninsula instead of Paris. Food and sex, mostly. Instead of Henry Miller's literary work, Brown Dog goes fishing. As with Henry Miller, Brown Dog's mundane adventures are suffused with the sacred or sublime or spiritual.

There is certainly a general drift here - Brown Dog gets older, slows down, settles down, at least to a significant degree. There are not too many characters here. Some last a few books, some through the full series, some appear just in one book. We get to see different facets of folks. Things don't move too quickly but develop with some depth.

Reading this does remind me how what is meaningful in life doesn't require more than sitting quietly and soaking in what is there. The simpler, the richer.

Part of my motivation in reading this was to get more of a feel for the U.P. My grandfather was a hunting guide there and met my grandmother there. My grandmother spoke Chippewa though I don't know much about her genetic ancestry. This book really did help me connect with my heritage, in a crazy sort of way. Well a lot of my family is pretty wild too so there's that! ( )