Why read The Dog of the South?

Book cover of The Dog of the South

Book description

Ray Midge is waiting for his credit card bill to arrive. His wife, Norma, has run off with her ex-husband, taking Ray's cards, shotgun and car. But from the receipts, Ray can track where they've gone. He takes off after them, as does an irritatingly tenacious bail bondsman, both following…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Dog of the South as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Joshua Gaylord

Author

Charles Portis makes me want to be a better writer. I read this book and thought, “I didn’t know you were allowed to write like this.”

The narrative is meandering but still poignant. The language sometimes soars and sometimes boils and sometimes crawls through the gutter. But there is a feeling of inevitability on every page, as though you were witnessing, with every line of dialogue or description, a shift in the earth, the creep of a glacier. You think: “There is no other way this book could be written.” With each event, you think, “There is no other way…

From Joshua's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

John Milliken Thompson

Author

Has to be one of the funniest novels ever written: a road-trip story with weird characters, small-time conmen, and twisting dialogue that could’ve been assembled by Beckett. It’s impossible to predict where the story’s heading. There’s nothing like it out there, and it’s as different from Portis’s brilliant True Grit as Mark Twain from Cormac McCarthy (both of whom Portis resembles), and probably his best.

From John's list on The best non-Faulkner books from the American South.