Brown Dog: Novellas
Jim Harrison
(Author)
Description
"Among the most indelible American novelists of the last hundred years. . . . [Harrison] remains at the height of his powers."--Dwight Garner, The New York Times on The River Swimmer New York Times best-selling author Jim Harrison is one of America's most beloved writers, and of all his creations, Brown Dog, a bawdy, reckless, down-on-his-luck Michigan Indian, has earned cult status with readers in the more than two decades since his first appearance. For the first time, Brown Dog gathers all the Brown Dog novellas, including one never-published one, into one volume--the ideal introduction (or reintroduction) to Harrison's irresistible Everyman. In these novellas, BD rescues the preserved body of an Indian from Lake Superior's cold waters; overindulges in food, drink, and women while just scraping by in Michigan's Upper Peninsula; wanders Los Angeles in search of an ersatz Native activist who stole his bearskin; adopts two Native children; and flees the authorities, then returns across the Canadian border aboard an Indian rock band's tour bus. The collection culminates with He Dog, never before published, which finds BD marginally employed and still looking for love (or sometimes just a few beers and a roll in the hay), as he goes on a road trip from Michigan to Montana and back, arriving home to the prospect of family stability and, perhaps, a chance at redemption. Brown Dog underscores Harrison's place as one of America's most irrepressible writers, and one of the finest practitioners of the novella form. Praise for Jim Harrison's Brown Dog: "There is broad comedy in the writing, but also tenderness, and never a moment when the reader isn't rooting for Brown Dog to get it right. . . . We would all be the poorer if deprived of Jim Harrison's first-rate stories."--The New York Times Book Review on The Summer He Didn't Die "Brown Dog, an old friend to fans of Harrison, . . . boasts the rare ability to reject the frills and artificial complexities of modern life and keep to the basics. . . . Like reading a book describing dear friends."--Miami Herald on The Farmer's Daughter "A 21st-century version of Huck Finn."--The Charleston Gazette on The Farmer's DaughterProduct Details
Price
$27.00
$25.11
Publisher
Grove Press
Publish Date
December 03, 2013
Pages
448
Dimensions
6.2 X 9.1 X 1.9 inches | 0.02 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780802120113
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Jim Harrison is the author of thirty-five previous books of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction, including Legends of the Fall, The Road Home, Returning to Earth, and The English Major. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he has had work published in twenty-seven languages. Harrison lives in Montana and Arizona.
Reviews
Praise for Brown Dog A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2013 "What Harrison does on every page of Brown Dog is have fun . . . not simply for the sake of delight but because he believes delight is as close to sublimity as humans can get. . . . The great project of life, he reminds us, is to sit still long enough to appreciate it." --Anthony Doerr, The New York Times Book Review "Brown Dog is . . . an everyman on the most fundamental level . . . vividly, evocatively, alive. . . . These novellas read like a nuanced conversation between author and character. . . . Masterful." --David Ulin, Los Angeles Times "Harrison's writing is funny, generous, and bittersweet, with an unexpected, plain-speaking poetry." --Andrea Denhoed, New Yorker (Online--"Books to Watch Out For") "There's no mistaking Harrison's signature style. . . . Brown Dog is rich in character and incident, rude humor and melancholy. It is both heartfelt and ruefully real." --William S. Kowinski, The San Francisco Chronicle "The delightful and maddening character of Brown Dog . . . [is] one of Harrison's best-loved creations. . . . [Brown Dog] stands among Harrison's best work." --Tim McNulty, The Seattle Times "Harrison's [prose] is exuberant. . . . I can't think of a better writer on the clash of humans and the natural world. He's a force of nature on the page." --Porter Shreve, The Washington Post "Lovable . . . Brown Dog . . . is a big-hearted rascal who is always getting into deep trouble with the ladies, and often with the law. . . . Strong and spirited, and there is some great storytelling here." --Jim Carmin, Minneapolis Star Tribune "Is there another novelist in the last hundred years who has developed a character as vivid as Brown Dog? . . . Mr. Harrison's . . . skill at developing and fleshing out characters into breathing beings--people you know or once knew--is remarkable." --Jonathan Rickard, New York Journal of Books "B.D.'s adventures are quirky, sometimes humorous, sometimes illegal. . . . But his simplicity is all on the surface. As Harrison artfully shows, inside B.D. roil the complexities of his past, a past that dances in ancient choreography with his present--and his future." --Daniel Dyer, The Cleveland Plain Dealer "One of literature's great characters. . . . An essential collection from an American legend." --Publishers Weekly (Best of 2013) "One of America's greatest writers . . . An indelible character . . . Brown Dog is a robust, ribald, and irreverent tribute to the idea and ideal of maximum life." --David Masciotra, The Daily Beast "Rollicking comic novellas . . . Brown Dog is very much an American hero--not the macho blowhard kind but the picaresque variety, a la Huck Finn." --Colette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times "Deeply magnetic . . . [Brown Dog] leaps off the page with the same comedy and verve that Ignatius J. Reilly does in . . . A Confederacy of Dunces." --Dimitri Nasrallah, Toronto Star (Canada) "One of the great characters in American literature--as American as Twain's Huck Finn or Hemingway's Nick Adams." --Bruce Jacobs, Shelf Awareness "Pity poor Brown Dog, the Everyman of the North Woods, whose luck would be nonexistent were it not bad. Still, Brown Dog's countenance is as cheerful as Don Quixote's was woeful. . . . Rollicking, expertly observed, beautifully written. Any new book by Harrison is cause for joy, and having all the Brown Dog stories in one place is no exception." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
