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archaicrobin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I added Dog Soldiers to my TBR list after seeing it on a buzzfeed list for “books that will change your life” or “books that stick with you” it was one of those. I wanted to try and branch out with my reading in 2021 since I mainly read horror and thrillers, so a historical crime drama that is said to be an excellent read sounded like a good idea.
I’ll start by saying I did not hate this book. I can see why people love it, it’s just really not for me. The characters are all archetypes of the time, and none of them come off as real people. You have the journalist in Vietnam that decides to just run dope for some reason randomly. You have his hippie junkie wife, that enthusiastically goes along with it again for no real reason because they both say over and over again they don’t care about the money. You have the old friend who’s a war veteran and apparently either really good at dealing or completely insane, probably both. And then of course you have the crooked cop giving them hell over this dope.
For me this book was really hard to get through. I love character driven stories, thought provoking prose, and great storytelling. Dog Soldiers is told in a completely detached method of writing, there are details for the settings and scenarios but none given to the characters. They don’t have personal thoughts, not really. None of them even seem to have any emotions, they’re all just there to be part of the story and move it along. This detached sort of writing works for this type of novel, but it’s not something I enjoy. I really had to sit down and force myself to get through this one, it was so boring at points.
It was also so weird!! Converse and Marge are married but they both sleep around so is it an open marriage? Is it a failed marriage? Wait they have a kid?! You’re so far out from these characters’ lives that information like this is just strange. And there are some scenes in this book where I literally put the book down and was like wait what? So is this happening or did I read this wrong?! After finishing this book to me it really felt like more of a historical account and analysis of this time in America. An account and statement of American lives during and after the Vietnam war.
I can’t say this novel is terrible because I CAN see why some people would like it. I wasn’t angry or felt like I wasted my time but I didn’t really enjoy it either which is why the two stars felt fitting to me. Will this novel stick with me as Buzzfeed promised? Who knows. The characters sure wont.
I’ll start by saying I did not hate this book. I can see why people love it, it’s just really not for me. The characters are all archetypes of the time, and none of them come off as real people. You have the journalist in Vietnam that decides to just run dope for some reason randomly. You have his hippie junkie wife, that enthusiastically goes along with it again for no real reason because they both say over and over again they don’t care about the money. You have the old friend who’s a war veteran and apparently either really good at dealing or completely insane, probably both. And then of course you have the crooked cop giving them hell over this dope.
For me this book was really hard to get through. I love character driven stories, thought provoking prose, and great storytelling. Dog Soldiers is told in a completely detached method of writing, there are details for the settings and scenarios but none given to the characters. They don’t have personal thoughts, not really. None of them even seem to have any emotions, they’re all just there to be part of the story and move it along. This detached sort of writing works for this type of novel, but it’s not something I enjoy. I really had to sit down and force myself to get through this one, it was so boring at points.
It was also so weird!! Converse and Marge are married but they both sleep around so is it an open marriage? Is it a failed marriage? Wait they have a kid?! You’re so far out from these characters’ lives that information like this is just strange. And there are some scenes in this book where I literally put the book down and was like wait what? So is this happening or did I read this wrong?! After finishing this book to me it really felt like more of a historical account and analysis of this time in America. An account and statement of American lives during and after the Vietnam war.
I can’t say this novel is terrible because I CAN see why some people would like it. I wasn’t angry or felt like I wasted my time but I didn’t really enjoy it either which is why the two stars felt fitting to me. Will this novel stick with me as Buzzfeed promised? Who knows. The characters sure wont.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death and Antisemitism
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