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bibliocat4's review against another edition
2.0
To much going back and forth between far past, current time and murder. It didn't flow for me and it was hard to finish it.
martialia's review against another edition
4.0
Knowing just a little about Dogtown and feeling drawn to it, I was excited to find this book last weekend on a clearance table in a Sherman's (locals all know they are great!). I cracked it open a day or 2 later and was immediately anxious about the focus. The author spent a great deal of time on a real and horrible crime that happened in Dogtown in 1984, going deeply into the families of both murderer and victim as well as the murderer's psyche and many details of the crime and trial. She also had a near obsession with an artist who found his salvation during a time of personal crisis by healing and painting the very woods and stones of Dogtown. She spent a good deal of time on this artist's path and her own. It took a couple chapters before I was feeling more comfortable but gradually I was not wanting to put the book down. The attention to the details and the way she was able to tie the far past right in to the present and down the whole line of years was stunning...it was like the teasing apart of a complex tangled rope. From the glacier that deposited the boulders across the landscape through settlement, loss, growth, devastation, neglect, inspiration and a spiritual pull that many feel but are unable to explain it all was connected and beautifully observed. I would suggest this book as a read to nearly anyone with an interest in history or social change...and true crime. The last part is why I didn't give the whole 5 stars...though very well written, I chafed...I'm just not comfortable with the true crime genre.
bill1955's review against another edition
4.0
Four and a half stars! Very interesting and full of the local history of Dogtown and Gloucester/Rockport from colonial times to the near present. I can understand that if you aren't familiar with the area, you may not find it as interesting, but since I can personally relate to most of the locations described, I thought it was wicked awesome! (The history part anyway.) I was surprised to learn that the "Whale's Jaw" broke just 27 years ago. Wish I would have seen it before the change.
The murder part of the story is just so senseless and sad. I don't know what else I can say.
The stories and history, (pirates too!), make the book worth reading even if you're not interested in a senseless murder story.
The murder part of the story is just so senseless and sad. I don't know what else I can say.
The stories and history, (pirates too!), make the book worth reading even if you're not interested in a senseless murder story.
christinel's review
2.0
I will be curious to see what this author writes next. This is generally the kind of subject I like to read about: an interesting location, a bit of a history, a few interesting side digressions. This book aspires to be something like a John McPhee book or maybe a New England version of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. However, the murder that's described isn't much of a mystery - there's no real suspense to move the plot along. And although I also enjoy nonfiction books that meander along without a strong storyline, this means that the prose has to be really good, and this one didn't quite reach that level.
christinel's review against another edition
2.0
I will be curious to see what this author writes next. This is generally the kind of subject I like to read about: an interesting location, a bit of a history, a few interesting side digressions. This book aspires to be something like a John McPhee book or maybe a New England version of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. However, the murder that's described isn't much of a mystery - there's no real suspense to move the plot along. And although I also enjoy nonfiction books that meander along without a strong storyline, this means that the prose has to be really good, and this one didn't quite reach that level.
kathijo63's review against another edition
1.0
I wanted to like this book. I've been to Dogtown in Gloucester - its' great for a dog outing and the book did win the New England Award in Nonfiction. But I just couldn't get into it. I had to force my self to finish it. It was long, rambling and kept jumping around between the present day of the author researching the book to the settlers in the 1700's to some poet and some other painter. It was just a disjointed mess.
susannam's review
4.0
Dogtown: Death and Enchantment is close to me, literally - I live on the edge of Dogtown on Cape Ann and the murder victim is a member of the extended family, so I may not be entirely objective. That said....this is a terrific book. There are two main characters: the murderer and Dogtown itself. Where Elyssa East shines is in trying to get at the elusive character of a wild, abandoned yet treasured piece of earth in the center of Cape Ann. Dogtown has inspired artists, attracted the occult, accepted society's outcasts, nurtured its one of-a-kind characters. It anchors an important piece of Gloucester's identity. East gets it and the way she chronicles her search helps the reader understand more about this fascinating part of the world and its history. She initially travels to Dogtown to find the site of a painting by Marsden Hartley and her very first venture into the interior of Cape Ann leaves her unsettled. When she returns for more research, she finds a dark undercurrent that keeps rising in interviews with people, with the murder referenced over and over again, even though it had taken place almost 20 years earlier. She finds herself more and more drawn into the mystery and oddity of this place and finds herself going in directions she hadn't expected. I need to say that there are a few factual errors that won't bother most people and don't effect the truth of the overall story. This is a crime story, but even more, the portrait of a place.
cspiwak's review
3.0
it drove me to the internet to try to see the paintings, which I didn't feel the same passion for as the author obviously did.
It's an odd combination of history , art appreciation and true crime
It's an odd combination of history , art appreciation and true crime
aerinfirehair's review
3.0
I'm finding this really informative for a true crime story. Never knew anything about Marsden Hartley or Charles Olson before. But somehow the stories about the pirates and the Indians and the occult weren't quite as sensational as I expected. I guess I was expecting the Blair Witch Project or something. *laughs*
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