Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

On Thursday, January 15, 2008 at 6:30 PM, the Darlington book group will meet at the branch to discuss Anita Diamant's The Last Days of Dogtown. Call 410-638-3750 for details.

The Last Days of Dogtown is set near Gloucester, Massachussetts, and is loosely based on a true story of a real place called Dogtown Commons.

This Booklist reviewer of June 1, 2005 sums up the book very well, giving just enough information to intrigue without giving away the secret at the center of the story:

"In the early days of the nineteenth century, a declining hamlet nicknamed Dogtown by detractors houses a pack of semi-feral dogs and an eclectic group of residents too stubborn, too poverty stricken, too worn down, or too old to relocate. As the interrelated stories of these unfortunate souls are recounted, the reader is irresistibly drawn into their orbit, becoming emotionally invested in both their individual and their collective lives. Widows, witches, spinsters, whores, abused and neglected children, freed slaves, and one particularly odious villain populate the ramshackle dwellings that dot the ruggedly stark landscape. At the center of these heart-wrenching sagas is Judy Rhines, a kindhearted middle-aged maiden who harbors a secret so passionate and so scandalous its revelation would bring her instant ruin and tear the moribund town apart. One by one, both the animal and the human characters die or move away, sealing the inevitable fate of the doomed community."

Conversation Starters:

"Diamant adeptly manages to evoke the minutiae of everyday living..."

"Diamant... expertly weaves together seemingly disparate stories of a dying Massachusetts town into something greater than the sum of its parts."

Several characters stand out. Which characters did you like the most?

"Diamant has a gift for storytelling..."

"Diamant... throws almost too many people at us simultaneously in the opening chapter."

"Diamant quickly and obliquely sketches complex relationships among characters we have just met, which may be initially confusing or even annoying to some readers.

Characters are "richly imagined," "nasty," "creepily fascinating." Do you agree; and also do you agree that Diamant elicits sympathy for these hard-bitten characters?

About the author:

Anita Diamant's website

Anita Diamant on Dogtown

Publisher's Reading Group Guide

Kirkus gave Last Days a Starred Review and has this high praise for it: "This is a deeply satisfying novel, populated by people we care about, delineated in spare, elegant prose. Moving, absorbing and engaging: first-rate fiction that will appeal to the literary-minded as well as those in search of just a plain-old good read. " Don't miss this absorbing tale!