Review of "Dogs" by Abigail DeWitt

Dogs a novel by Abigail DeWitt

Review by Joy Boothe

In the prologue DeWitt’s protagonist Molly tells us, “What breaks my heart is the begging, the shamelessness of a dog’s desire. A dog will follow you around, matching its pace to yours-only a little more eager-even after you’ve pushed it away. Say no like you mean it and it follows you with its eyes, whimpering, thumping its tale.” What breaks Molly’s heart about dogs will end up enlightening and breaking the reader’s heart about Molly.

Abigail DeWitt is a brave and as Lee Smith stated “extravagantly talented” writer. Like all really good stories Dogs has often startling layers of meaning along with humor that rings unfailingly true. Avoid gulping down this richly crafted novel. Sip slowly and much will be revealed. Molly Moore (self-proclaimed bad girl) is fourteen as the story begins. In Hebrew, Molly is the diminutive of Mary-also meaning wished for child-also meaning rebellion and bitter. The English meaning of Molly is “of the sea”. Dewitt indeed takes us diving as deeply as we are willing to go to look behind the many masks Molly puts on to survive emotionally unavailable, flawed and ultimately very human parents. Attempting to find her place amidst the chaos and often parallel struggles of her four siblings and best friend Becky-Molly while blessed with intelligence and what remains of her childhood innocence explores and escapes by playing in the yard with Buttercup her dog moving on heartbreakingly soon tothe escapes of her family and friends -sex, food, tobacco and alcohol amongst them. DeWitt’s strong narrative coupled with sensitivity and insight into her characters keeps Dogs from the stereotypes sometimes found in coming of age stories. Told in a series of flashbacks when as an adult and parent Molly begins to face the truths of her life she meets head on with one of her biggest challenges- how to come to terms with the knowledge that her father a highly respected judge has committed and kept hidden a heinous crime. “He’s dead himself now-he died in the crook of my arm this morning and now, if I want , I can prove what people only thought… .”

Set in the hot political and physical landscape of Texas in the 1970’s and ‘80s the heat generated byAbigail Dewitt’s Dogs will linger long after you put her book down.