The Power of the Dog

This is one heck of a novel. Set on a Montana ranch in 1924-25, it tells of a domestic drama involving two brothers and the tensions that quickly develop when one of them marries a widow with a teenage son. The driving emotional force in the novel (and the "dog" of the title) is the older, unmarried brother, a fascinating study in western machismo, who is both sharply intelligent and capable of merciless cruelty, all apparently masking a fiercely denied homosexuality. The opening scene of the novel, with a vivid description of castrating calves graphically characterizes him as cutting and brutal, while wounded both emotionally and sexually. Savage is breathtakingly insightful in his portrayal of this man, exploring his darkest thoughts and carefully observing his behavior. He gets so far beneath the skin of the character, exposing the ugliness beneath his roughly handsome exterior, it makes you uncomfortable.The novel is wonderfully crafted. Savage shifts easily from the point of view of one character to another, maybe 10-12 of them altogether. And even the most minor characters -- the cook, a maid, an Indian, the brothers' parents -- come to life vividly. The story is told economically, and narrative threads are dovetailed neatly together. Suspense builds steadily, and key details are placed strategically, so that when the final scenes play out, the ending is both surprising and inevitable.Meanwhile the story takes place in a richly detailed context of everyday life of cowboys and ranch hands -- meals in the ranch house, the idle hours of Sundays around the bunkhouse, the ordering of items from the Sears Roebuck catalogue, and the work of taking cattle to market, branding, and haying. Savage is intimately aware of this world and the minds and attitudes, hopes and fears of the unschooled men who inhabit it.Though it takes place on the other side of the continent, I was reminded of another writer, Richard Yates, whose "Revolutionary Road" (1961) has something of the same mood, and the same interest in the emotionally isolated lives of characters who are bound by the constraints of time and place. Annie Proulx writes an informative afterword to the new edition of Savage's novel. It's worth mentioning that she takes up the theme of homosexuality in a Western setting in her "Brokeback Mountain," which is included in her terrific collection of Wyoming stories "Close Range."I recommend "The Power of the Dog" to readers interested in Western fiction, Montana ranch life in the early 20th century, psychological studies, and domestic drama that focuses on the interplay of family members' strengths and weaknesses. As a companion, I recommend Ralph Beer's Montana ranch novel "The Blind Corral."

This is an incredibly well crafted novel. A brilliant, complex tale of complicated, twisted but plausible characters, fraught with tension. Savage masterfully employs foreshadowing and understatement throughout the novel; it clearly requires a re-reading to appreciate them all, as well as its many metaphors. This tale is so powerful that in the first read you are compelled to proceed reading rather than to slowly savor it. After having finished it, I found myself repeatedly rereading the impeccable last 15 pages -- the perfection of the novel's end literally takes your breath away.It is rare that one comes across a novel as well written as this: impressive, satisfying, masterful.

Every once in a while you stumble across a book that stays on your mind long after you finish the last page. This is the type of book you want to recommend to everyone, but instead, you only tell your close friends. When people ask "Have you read anything good lately?" You respond without hesitating "The Power of the Dog," but don't bother to describe the book. It is just that good.I rarely watch a movie twice, almost never read the same book over. This book is worthy of a second reading. I feel fortunate to stumble upon this incredible story by a genius author...

I read this novel when it first appeared and thought it was a work of art then. Some thirty-four years worth of reading and teaching literature since has not changed my opinion: This is a beautifully wrought study of the effects that unregenerate evil can have on passive, powerless good. Told from the perspective of most of its major characters, the novel doesn't lecture, but lets events play out in the cattle-ranching west of the 20's to their shocking, wickedly satisfying, conclusion. As I did thirty-four years ago, I'll be pressing this copy of Savage's powerful novel on everyone I know who loves a finely crafted story by a masterful writer.

Originally published in 1967 by Little Brown, this reissue has all the qualities of first-rate literary fiction, and what Annie Proulx calls in her afterword, "... a work of literary art." Then why is Thomas Savage not a big name on the literary landscape, like Hemmingway, Faulkner, or the contemporaries like Cormac McCarthy or Proulx herself? I had to read Proulx's afterword to realize why readers in 1967 weren't coaxed into buying Savage's novel. There's no doubt in my mind that it was a review blitz that damned its progress, and though Proulx's afterword comes highly in praise, I fear that one of her earlier points could still have the same effect even today. In THE POWER OF THE DOG, set in the 1920's on a Montana ranch, brothers and polar opposites, Phil and George Burbank, share the duties of managing one of the wealthiest ranching operations in the state. Though powerful and envied by many, the Burbanks battle their own form of intrapersonal loneliness. George -- the younger of the two, a stocky, polite and quiet type, who doesn't mind a suit of clothes and can often be seen driving his Reo automobile -- is forever holding back the manipulating ways of Phil, a lean and rugged cowboy who rarely changes his work clothes, bathes once a month (and not at all in the wintertime), and never wears gloves of any kind for any reason. The only force that could ever bring the relationship face to face is undoubtedly a woman, but contrary to most plots, this woman is loved by one, and despised by the other. Phil humiliates the woman's husband publicly to the point where he commits suicide. George is soon there to console her, remedying his own need for love and companionship. After a short courtship he brings her home to the ranch as his wife. Not at all happy, Phil is determined to drive her away, and hopefully before her son -- away at boarding school and one Phil calls a sissy - comes to stay for the summer. THE POWER OF THE DOG is a rich and enthralling tale, brilliantly written with all the qualities of most classic literature. Larry Watson, author of MONTANA 1948 referred to it as "... a masterpiece." With "... the dynamics of family, the varieties of love, and the ethos of the American West." That review alone might have induced more readers, but the Publisher's Weekly review of January 2, 1967, may have proved that the novel wasn't ready for an audience not yet exposed to the hidden community, or the gay rights movement of later in that decade, thus having "... strong literary but rather less commercial appeal." Though it is hinted in the novel that Phil is a repressed homosexual, it is not so blatant that it becomes disturbing, even to most homophobics. The story has so many other stronger qualities that far outweigh any alarming aspect of Phil's implied nature, that it should not have turned away any reader in 1967, no more than it would turn them away in 2001. THE POWER OF THE DOG is undoubtedly a classic novel, and Thomas Sav