The most famous work by the celebrated American poet Aldous W. Bates. The poem first appeared in Popular Metallurgy in the June issue for the year 1913. Bates was, in fact, married to what we would now refer to as non-bio companion named Alice Menzies, who had previously been part of a steam engine. They had one child, a boy, who the couple named Boot. The child showed early promise as a can opener before succumbing to an over-fondness for WD-40 and dying in obscurity in 1957. A full account of the life and work of Aldous W. Bates is available in book form under the title "Hard and Steamy: A Love Story" 353 pages, Slagheap Press 1931. The volume is renowned for both its fearless eroticism and the inclusion of a formula for what was, at the time, a newly discovered alloy.
Holy cats. Or, dogs I should say. What a book. A four year old boy is abandoned in an empty Moscow apartment by his mother and uncle. He wanders out alone for a short time and then he is adopted into a clan of feral dogs who live in the basement of a half-destroyed vacant church. For the next few years they become his family, he does as they do and they are his family. At first he is useless but eventually becomes indispensable thanks to his ability to strategize and to melt in and out of human spaces. The feral clan is fiercely loyal to each other, and together they survive even the harshest winters. I was pulled in completely, and cared fiercely about the pack as I read.
Understand, this is no children's fairy tale. The realities of their violent, brutal lives are told with no mercy. I had to put the book down a couple of times when something bad happened to the dogs or the boy. Eventually, the "dog boy" draws the attention of the militia and also a pair of researchers who run a clinic for children who can be rehabilitated. One really wonders by the end, who the beasts really are, here.
This book made me howl at the end. I wept. The whole thing is searing and engrossing and difficult and beautiful and awful. Like an unexpected vivid memory of home or a sudden grievous wound, I will never forget it, or quite get over it, I think. Wow.
Let me start by saying that the earlier installment, "Beartown" was magnificent. This book has almost all of the same characters, and is written in the author's engaging style which makes me want to keep reading "just five more pages" until it's the middle of the night and I'm half way through. He makes you care about this little town and its hockey club.
BUT.
Backman does something in this book that he did not do in the first one. He keeps breaking the fourth wall. He does this often, and in two main ways. The first way is by stepping outside the story to deliver little homilies about people and life. Let the story tell it, like in the first book! The second way is by constantly saying what kind of story this is. Just tell the story and let your reader decide. I had one other gripe with this book. Red herrings. I know, it's done all the time, but at some point I felt like I was just being manipulated and messed with. I could almost feel a grinning Backman sitting at his keyboard saying, "Watch this!" as he pulls the (carefully laid) rug out. Plot twists are one thing. Heavy-handed set-ups are another. Backman is plenty skilled enough to make a reader invest their heart in his story, but apparently not restrained enough to stop screwing with same readers.
I would give 3.5 stars if I could. I rounded up on the strength of the two books together. Recommended, but with reservations, and strong advice to read "Beartwown" first, not because you won;t understand the second book if you don't, but simply because the first book is better.
