Helpful Score: 10
Fans of Diamant's The Red Tent who were disappointed by her sophomore effort (Good Harbor) will be happy to find her back on historical turf in her latest, set in early 1800s Massachusetts. Inspired by the settlement of Dogtown, Diamant reimagines the community of castoffswidows, prostitutes, orphans, African-Americans and ne'er-do-wellsall eking out a harsh living in the barren terrain of Cape Ann. Black Ruth, the African woman who dresses like a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, who runs the local brothel, and Judy Rhines, an unmarried white woman whose lover Cornelius is a freed slave, are among Dogtown's inhabitants who are considered suspecteven witchesby outsiders. Shifting perspectives among the various residents (including the settlement's dogs, who provide comfort to the lonely), Diamant brings the period alive with domestic details and movingly evokes the surprising bonds the outcasts form in their dying days. This chronicle of a dwindling community strikes a consistently melancholy tonereaders in search of happy endings won't find any herebut Diamant renders these forgotten lives with imagination and sensitivity.
Helpful Score: 6
Another excellent book from the author of The Red Tent! I love Diamant's writing style and she's wonderful at capturing the feel of different time periods. I loved this book (although Red Tent will always be my favorite).
Helpful Score: 6
Great read. Borders on chick lit.
Helpful Score: 6
Not as good as The Red Tent but a good book all the same. Diamant is a terrific writer and makes me care about all her characters.
Helpful Score: 5
An engaging array of characters you grow to care about in this absorbing novel. Diamant is a fantastic story teller and keeps you turning "just one more page" till late into the night. Really enjoyed this book!
Helpful Score: 4
Very enjoyable! I was disappointed with "Good Harbor" but this really redeemed her!!
Helpful Score: 3
An interesting though sad read--- a story of the assorted misfits and hermits living in the remains of a small Massachusetts village on Cape Ann near Gloucester only 50 miles from Boston in the early 1800's, diminished in reputation to the point of being called "Dogtown" after the pack of wild though not vicious dogs that call the area home. Deals with black-white relations, the whisper of "witchcraft", and ladies of the night as each character's story is revealed. This loosely bound collection of "witches", free Africans, sinners, orphans, and widows live out their mediocre lives in ramshackle houses amid hardscrabble gardens until slowly one by one they either die or move on to respectable paying jobs in Gloucester.
Helpful Score: 3
Early 19th century New England. Lots of really interesting characters. Quick read. I enjoyed it.
Helpful Score: 3
I loved this book. This is not my usual genre but when the author paints her charachters they are full blown, alive and the setting and the feeling of the time in history ring true! It is taking a scrap from history and making a story out of whole cloth! great read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I live in Massachusetts and could relate to the area where the story takes place. The characters were well developed and I was sorry to see the book end. I highly recommend it.
Helpful Score: 3
A beautiful slow pace drew me into this book until I loved the characters. I was disappointed when they died, and happy when they succeeded. The ending was realistic although disappointing. I look forward to reading more works by Anita Diamant as I enjoyed her writing style
Helpful Score: 2
The book is very slow, but the story is touching. I enjoyed the book very much.
Helpful Score: 2
This is a superb historical novel about the end of a tiny village on the high ground in the heart of Cape Ann. The place is peopled by characters such as Black Ruth, who dresses like a man. Mrs. Stanley, an imperious madam, and her grandson, Sammy, who comes of age in the brothel. Oliver Younger, who survives his childhood at the hands of his mean hearted aunt. The main character, Judy Rhines, is the heart and soul of Dogtown. She's fiercly independent yet heartbreakingly lonely. She is the victim of a doomed relationship with the freed slave, Cornelius Finson. This is a stunning novel that tells of the power of love and compassion in this windswept and barren landscape. A beautiful read.
Helpful Score: 2
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant is absolutely one of my very favorite books of all time. I got her other books simply because of that. This book, The Last Days of Dogtown, is one of the worst books I've ever read. I kept reading, thinking it had to get better. It did not, for me anyways. I'm still willing to give Anita Diamant a shot, so I'm on to her next book, Good Harbor, hoping for a better read!
Helpful Score: 2
Another gem by Diamant, in my opinion. I wanted the stories to keep going. This would make a great movie! Wonderful characters. And each had their own unique story, masterfully woven together.
Helpful Score: 2
Being a huge fan of "The Red Tent," I was expecting to totally love this book. I did not find it nearly as engaging as some of Diamant's other work. Still, it's worth the read.
Helpful Score: 1
This book is small but interesting to read. It is about the last residents of a dying town in New England in the early l800's and is full of strange but loveable characters. I would recommend this book highly. Genny Sikes
Helpful Score: 1
Although not as good as The Red Tent, I did feel sad to see it end.
Helpful Score: 1
I almost hesitate to keep this book on my list as I loved it so....
A wonderfully written story of early America. Think I'll start reading again, tonight.
A wonderfully written story of early America. Think I'll start reading again, tonight.
Helpful Score: 1
Easy, entertaining read. Rich characters.
Helpful Score: 1
I won't go into what the story line is.Plenty of others have, with great skill, done that. But I disagree with the reviewer who claimed the writing to be disjointed and difficult to put up with. I found the author's style very readable and intriguing. Her descriptions of winter on the south shore of Massachusetts, specifically in the Gloucester area, were spot on. I grew up in that locale and can testify to the winter weather. Bone-chilling cold. I can only imagine what life must have been like for those poor souls in Dogtown who had so little to warm their bodies or hearts. And as far as no happy endings goes, I differ on that score too. It just depends on what one's idea of happiness is. Getting out of Dogtown to happily raise your family and own your own business as Oliver did, is just one example. Some died there, yes. But even in their deaths there was some resolution to their stories. Not everyone from Dogtown had a sad ending. I found the last of the book to be very satisfying. I enjoyed Diamante's story telling skills, she's an excellent writer. Don't let the fear of a sorrowful ending keep you from trying this title. Unless you are super sensitive, in which case you should stick to happy-ending authors, you will enjoy this book.
Helpful Score: 1
I listened to this on tape and it was very good, even better than The Red Tent.
Helpful Score: 1
i'm sorry to say i DNF this book. i have read her other 2 books and enjoyed them tremedously.
this book just feels disjointed. charachters thrown in here and there with no introduction,leaving you wonder "what the heck???"
really too bad, i wanted to love this book!
this book just feels disjointed. charachters thrown in here and there with no introduction,leaving you wonder "what the heck???"
really too bad, i wanted to love this book!
A simple book that will stir up some powerful emotions. Diamant writes about a little-known place just outside of Gloucester in Massachussetts, providing a fictionalized version of its gradual "death". Dogtown is now nothing more than boulders, woods and trails that provide evidence, here and there, of having been a place where a few weary souls lived hard-scrabble lives. The book delves into the lives of the last remaining occupants, revealing how they came to live in Dogtown, their struggles, losses, precious wins, and, ultimately, how they left. It's a wonderful novel with deeply complex characters that seem as real as your next-door neighbors. At turns frightening, tragic or poignant, "The Last Days of Dogtown" is a perfect choice for a book club read and this edition provides a reading group guide to help with discussions.
Highly recommend!
Highly recommend!
I enjoyed how each chapter was a diffrent person, but how they all intertwined.
I absolutely loved this book!the characters really came alive
Wonderful characters, an interesting moment in American history and a compelling storyteller made this a very good read.
Not as good as The Red Tent, though that would have been hard to top. Great charecter development.
A compelling story written in exquisite prose.
The cluttered and seemingly
disjointed first chapter quickly evolved to a series of individual character studies,
each more fascinating than the next. The omniscient narrator technique was used
to perfection -- young boy, old woman, black man, old maid, even a dog -- each of their
stories are told.
disjointed first chapter quickly evolved to a series of individual character studies,
each more fascinating than the next. The omniscient narrator technique was used
to perfection -- young boy, old woman, black man, old maid, even a dog -- each of their
stories are told.
This book was very hard to get into. As soon as I reached the chapter told from the dog's perspective, I knew it was not the book for me.
Although this book is supposedly a novel, it's starts out more as a set of short stories revolving around the same characters; it is not until the last half of the novel that a thread of a plot line is found. The stories are a bit disjointed and it's hard to get to know the characters because of scant character development, so it was difficult for me to really care about the story. It wasn't horrible though, and I finished it. It was good for historical background and to get to know what life was like in the early 1800's.
I loved Diamant's book, The Red Tent. It's hard for any novel to measure up to my love for The Red Tent....It's my favourite! This one was not as good, but Diamant is a fantastic writer and it's worth the read.
A few months ago, I read The Last Fish Tale which was a history of Gloucester, Massachusetts and its fishing industry. This nonfiction book also told of the surrounding area including Dogtown which was an abandoned village north of Gloucester. This piqued my interest in Dogtown and subsequently I ordered this book via an online trading site.
This was a fictionalized account of the last residents of Dogtown in the early 19th century as it nears its last day. It tells the story of various people who lived a very hard existence there and tried to eke out a living. This included several women that made their livelihood by doing odd chores, housekeeping, farming, or prostitution. Also included are two African Americans that went to Dogtown to live in peace away from the rest of the world. One of them, Cornelius, has an affair with a single white woman who lives alone, Judy, but because he is afraid of discovery abandons her for his and her safety. He ends up being the last resident of Dogtown and wound up in a poorhouse before he died. And then there is Ruth, a black woman who tries to pass herself off as a man whose mother came from Africa on a slave ship. There are instances of love and caring throughout the novel but also prejudice and coldheartedness by residents of both Dogtown and nearby Gloucester.
Overall, I enjoyed the stories of the Dogtown residents. Maybe someday I will visit the area. I know there are still hiking trails that go through the area and some people think that Dogtown is a haunted ghost town.
This was a fictionalized account of the last residents of Dogtown in the early 19th century as it nears its last day. It tells the story of various people who lived a very hard existence there and tried to eke out a living. This included several women that made their livelihood by doing odd chores, housekeeping, farming, or prostitution. Also included are two African Americans that went to Dogtown to live in peace away from the rest of the world. One of them, Cornelius, has an affair with a single white woman who lives alone, Judy, but because he is afraid of discovery abandons her for his and her safety. He ends up being the last resident of Dogtown and wound up in a poorhouse before he died. And then there is Ruth, a black woman who tries to pass herself off as a man whose mother came from Africa on a slave ship. There are instances of love and caring throughout the novel but also prejudice and coldheartedness by residents of both Dogtown and nearby Gloucester.
Overall, I enjoyed the stories of the Dogtown residents. Maybe someday I will visit the area. I know there are still hiking trails that go through the area and some people think that Dogtown is a haunted ghost town.
We read this book in our offline book group. I really enjoyed the characters and the story -- the last days of a dying town, what happened to the people.
A story of the folks who people a village near Cape Ann, Mass. in the 1800's. Written "with compassion for her characters" states The Boston Globe and many of them are women.
Didn't want to put it down.
A magnificent storyteller with vast imaginative range, Anita Diamant gave voice to the silent women of the Old Testament in The Red Tent. Now, in her third novel, she brings to vivid life an early New England world that history has forgotten.
Set on Cape Ann in the early 1800s, The Last Days of Dogtown is peopled by widows, orphans, spinsters, scoundrels, whores, free Africans, and "witches." Nearly a decade ago, Diamant found an account of an abandoned rural backwater near the Massachusetts coastline at the turn of the nineteenth century. That pamphlet inspired a stunning novel about a small group of eccentrics and misfits, struggling in a harsh, isolated landscape only fifty miles north of Boston, yet a world away.
Among the inhabitants of Dogtown are Black Ruth, an African woman who dresses as a man and works as a stone mason; Mrs. Stanley, an imperious madam whose grandson, Sammy, comes of age in her rural brothel; Oliver Younger, who survives a miserable childhood at the hands of a very strange aunt; and Cornelius Finson, a freed slave whose race denies him everything. At the center of it all is Judy Rhines, a fiercely independent soul, deeply lonely, who nonetheless builds a life for herself and inspires those around her to become more generous and tolerant themselves.
This is a story of hardship and resilience -- and an extraordinary re-creation of an untold chapter of early American life. With a keen ear for language and profound compassion for her characters, Diamant has written her most moving and powerful novel.
Set on Cape Ann in the early 1800s, The Last Days of Dogtown is peopled by widows, orphans, spinsters, scoundrels, whores, free Africans, and "witches." Nearly a decade ago, Diamant found an account of an abandoned rural backwater near the Massachusetts coastline at the turn of the nineteenth century. That pamphlet inspired a stunning novel about a small group of eccentrics and misfits, struggling in a harsh, isolated landscape only fifty miles north of Boston, yet a world away.
Among the inhabitants of Dogtown are Black Ruth, an African woman who dresses as a man and works as a stone mason; Mrs. Stanley, an imperious madam whose grandson, Sammy, comes of age in her rural brothel; Oliver Younger, who survives a miserable childhood at the hands of a very strange aunt; and Cornelius Finson, a freed slave whose race denies him everything. At the center of it all is Judy Rhines, a fiercely independent soul, deeply lonely, who nonetheless builds a life for herself and inspires those around her to become more generous and tolerant themselves.
This is a story of hardship and resilience -- and an extraordinary re-creation of an untold chapter of early American life. With a keen ear for language and profound compassion for her characters, Diamant has written her most moving and powerful novel.
Anita Diamant is an exceptional storyteller.
This story gives a unique perspective to the people who lived in Dogtown, Massachusetts.
loved this book,much better than Red Tent.
This is a paperback advanced reading copy.
