The Last Days of Dogtown

I am an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, and read 100 books last year (my pandemic therapy) and I've read "The Last Days of Dogtown" twice and loved in both times. Ms. Diamant brought to life the marginalized citizens of this area of Cape Anne and it is one of my all-time favorite reads. It is brilliant.

The humanity is undeniable

I read this book first, then found The Red Tent. I enjoyed both of them very much. Diamont is a brilliant writer of multi-layered fiction that is more complex than it might appear at first. She avoids the traps so many writers of historical fiction fall into: the tendency to overload with historical detail, or of creating characters that are contemporary to us, but placed in a historical context. In her books, the history is simply the backdrop for the experiences of human beings whose lives fit into the time and place. Both these books opened doors into lives that would otherwise have been opaque to me, and illuminated my own life in the process. I wonder if the reason that those who were disappointed by Dogtown after reading The Red Tent is because there was something in The Red Tent that particularly resonated for them--and they were seeking the same resonance in Dogtown. Both these books resonated for me, and drew me into the world they created. I am looking forward to reading more of Anita Diamant's work.

This beautiful novel is written with sensitivity and the author has a distinct way of capturing human emotion and feelings. I can almost feel the cold and the heat, smell the flowers and feel the pain and loneliness of the characters. This book can take one back to a time and place in their own lives, one locked in memory, but forever changed. The novel is quite unique from The Red Tent. The mark of a good author is one that can write without shadows of their previous works. I have become a fan of Ms. Diamant and cannot wait to read more of her books. What a storyteller!

WOW!! Just finished the Last Days of Dogtown and I'm overwhelmed and very appreciative of the gift Anita Diamant has given to me and all who read this remarkable book. I am reviewing the CD version of the book. Congratulations to whomever selected Kate Nelligan. Kate so realistically portraying so many diverse characters. Check it out, if you haven't heard it, yet. It takes a CD or so to get into the "idiom" of the townspeople, but it is well worth learning. I'm a firm believer in the oral tradition of storytelling. A different part of the brain processes oral words from that which does the written word. The Last Days of Dogtown is full of stories of people that don't often see the light of day. The "downstairs" people. The people who build the railroads and don't become land barons. The people in the movies who are serving and begging. The majority of the planet's people. (The main trajedy of Hurricane Katrina was how it blew away the pretence that people don't get left behind to die by those who are better off. The oppressive poverty endured by the last residents of Dogtown was palpable. I could taste it and smell it. At first, I wanted to run and hide from it. The first CD was hard for me because I resisted identifying with any of the characters. I didn't want to suffer like they were suffering. But Anita hooked me with Cornelius's story. Hard as his life was, he didn't give up. I must say that Ms. Diamant's male characters are much more fleshed out than I remember from her earlier books. These are men I wanted to know and men that I cared about. Even the SOB's were interesting and real enough that they "belonged" in the story. I could understand their racism and classism as attempts at self preservation, not just blind, stupid acts. Of course the women were the most real and the center of the book. I have no problem with heroines and think that we need more "herstory" than we have, anyway. I don't think I've ever read a more tender portrayal of poor hookers. We usually see and read about those who want to "get out" or those who succeed in finding a way to thrive. Not in Dogtown. The book shows the misogyny shown to women who struggle to survive with so little: called witches or whores. The hard life of any women who chose to live alone, is clearly represented. Even when dead, there was not much forgiveness from the "Hireling Priests". Not very many choices for uneducated women who wouldn't/couldn't find a man. Same for the black folks who wanted to live a "free" life. Hadnt' thought about the bounty hunters who could kidnap a black person and sell them into slavery in the South. I loved the way the minister was blackmailed into leading Cornelius's funeral. And Ruth's having to pass for a man and then living alone with and like a dog says it all. This book is a very powerful statement of how racism dehumanizes everyone. This is still partially evident in t

It's rumored and many of the people in Gloucester, Massachusetts believe the folks over in Dogtown, a town that has been named for the pack of almost wild dogs who run free in the town that is hour's walk away, are witches, but they're not. They are simply outcasts, black folks, prostitutes, widows, drunks and the like. Folks they'd look down on, folks just trying to get by, dealing with the daily evils one might find if you are not gentry in 1814. Dogtown is a small farming village by Cape Ann that failed to make it and so winds up being a town for those on the bottom rungs of society who mired in poverty or just plain lazy make do by selling berries or a brew the make from twigs and roots. However, their betters do not admire their endeavors, instead they make fun of them, call them trasheaters. In Dogtown those who can, get out. We meet some of dogtown's residents at a funeral, like Ruth a black stonemason who happens to dress like a man (remember this is the early 1800s); a madam that is raising her grandson in her brothel; a couple of lesbian prostitutes among others; but the mourner who really grabs the reader's attention is Judy Rhines, a poor woman who had been abandoned by her father when she was eight years old. Judy is a sad and lonely woman who once had an affair with a freed slave, but she was forced to end the affair and now her heart only beats half the time. Her only companion now is one of the town dogs. THE LAST DAYS OF DOGTOWN is a character study of the people mentioned above and others that will both take you back to a place in time where life was hard, sometimes cruel, often unfair and it make you glad you live when and where you do. Anita Diamant's people are sometimes too real, so real you want to cry, so real you will be thinking about them long after you finish this gorgeous story. Five stars from me. Review Submitted by Captain Katie Osborne