Dog War

By Anthony C. Winkler

Book Overview

"Every country (if she's lucky) gets the Mark Twain she deserves, and Winkler is ours, bristling with savage Jamaican wit, heart-stopping compassion, and jaw-dropping humor all at once. And Dog War is his Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, except Precious is no yankee. She's a willful, stubborn, unintentionally funny Jamaican everywoman suddenly thrust into an America that's the opposite, always bending, twisting, and changing into shapes as confounding as they are hilarious. You don't read Dog War, you wait for the sparks to fly and hope they don't commit you for laughing out so loud for so long." --Marlon James, author of John Crow's Devil

In a new and highly original take on Jamaican life, Winkler, the Caribbean's unrivalled master of adult comedy, introduces the estimable Precious Higginson, a large-bottomed, meltingly juicy, middle-class Jamaican woman with unshakable ideas on the right and proper behavior for Christian Jamaican women, their husbands, and men and dogs in general. But, when her husband passes away suddenly, Precious finds herself isolated in a mountainous region of Jamaica where her husband had always dreamed of living.

Even worse, she finds her conventional world and her place in it coming apart--her ideas on proper behavior assailed on every side. One insulting episode after another occurs until she ends up in Miami working for a rich widow who is a fanatic about animals in general and her pampered lapdog in particular. With the indignities of life piling up on her, Precious struggles to make sense of the world she had lived in before her husband's death and to defend herself against monstrous assaults on her conventional beliefs. The climax of the story leaves Precious reeling, and sends her scurrying back home to evaluate this topsy-turvy madhouse called life and her place in it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933354283
• ISBN13: 9781933354286
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.6" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Wow

Mr. Winkler took me by surprise in this book. I thought that after being of the market for some time his skill would have been withered a little. But not he. That just goes to show, that what you have been blessed with lives on with you. I enjoyed this book tremendously. Read it again, and again. Dog rape, oh my! Hats of to you Mr. Winkler.

Another masterly work from Winkler

This later novel combines the outrageous wit of The Lunatic and the generous humanity of The Painted Canoe. If you already love Winkler, you will be satisfied. If you are new to his work, this could be the perfect introduction.

Dog War

Every time I see a new title available from Anthony C. Winkler, I buy it on the faith that he will take me home to the real Jamaica (as opposed to the Jamaica you see in the Sandals and Superclubs promotions). Dog War took me to the Blue Mountains that I love, but most of the action takes place in Kingston and Miami, two places that I can live without too much of a stay. The women characters are all extreme (meaning brow beaters) and the men are ruled by de' pum pum. The plot is imaginatively nuts, but it's Winkler's use of the Jamaican patois that I most enjoy. I would thrill to see another of his titles turned into a film, like The Lunatic. Long live Anthony C. Winkler, from your biggest fan!

Dog War

This book made me laugh out loud. If you need a light and funny book you can read quickly, this is it.