A review by turrean
The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King
3.0
Sort of Pirates of the Caribbean meets Carl Hiaasen. The book jacket lead me to expect something a bit more...rollicking. The story was fascinating, though I thought the violent imagery (the main character fantasizes about killing or torturing people when they annoy her) got old fast.
The book tells two parallel narratives, and introduces a third about halfway thought the book. There's a fourth point of view, that a of an Irish boy, for about one chapter. The twin stories of Emer, an Irish girl from Cromwell's time, and Saffron, an American teen in the '70s, are fascinating. Emer's story is dramatic and heartbreaking; Saffron's voice is wry and sarcastic. The third POV belongs to a crazy person--literally--and is disturbing and dark, and at the same time darkly funny in a sick sort of way. (Hiaasen, for sure.)
I'm sure lots of readers would call this realistic; I'd call it brutal. Definitely for late teens or twenties.
Spoiler: was David reincarnated as Rusty? The last chapter has the word "grave" in it. Saffron says she hasn't killed Fred; does Winston do it?
The book tells two parallel narratives, and introduces a third about halfway thought the book. There's a fourth point of view, that a of an Irish boy, for about one chapter. The twin stories of Emer, an Irish girl from Cromwell's time, and Saffron, an American teen in the '70s, are fascinating. Emer's story is dramatic and heartbreaking; Saffron's voice is wry and sarcastic. The third POV belongs to a crazy person--literally--and is disturbing and dark, and at the same time darkly funny in a sick sort of way. (Hiaasen, for sure.)
I'm sure lots of readers would call this realistic; I'd call it brutal. Definitely for late teens or twenties.
Spoiler: was David reincarnated as Rusty? The last chapter has the word "grave" in it. Saffron says she hasn't killed Fred; does Winston do it?