The Dog Fighter - by Marc Bojanowski (Paperback)

About the Book

In a stunning debut novel by 26-year-old Marc Bojanowski that is set in 1940s Mexico, a young man who becomes involved in a brutally violent spectator sport must choose his loyalties in the fight for a city's future.

Book Synopsis

A stunning novel set in 1940s Mexico about a young man who becomes involved in a brutally violent spectator sport and must choose his loyalties in the fight for a city's future.

The anonymous narrator of this remarkable novel is a young drifter in search of his future. The son of a passionate beauty and gentle doctor, he roams the border between the United States and Mexico, eventually settling in a sleepy Baja town on the verge of transformation.

Here he learns to stand face-to-face with dogs in a makeshift ring, to fight for money and fame, and becomes involved with a powerful and corrupt entrepreneur. But when he finds friendship with a revolutionary old poet and love with a beautiful, innocent girl, everything changes. Caught between the ways of his past and the dreams of his future, he must make a devastating choice that could cost him everything.

Written with bold lyricism and magical flair, The Dog Fighter is an exhilarating tale of brutality and violence, love and wisdom, heartbreak and redemption.

From the Back Cover

The anonymous narrator of this remarkable novel is a young drifter in search of his future. The son of a passionate beauty and gentle doctor, he roams the border between the United States and Mexico, eventually settling in a sleepy Baja town on the verge of transformation.

Here he learns to stand face-to-face with dogs in a makeshift ring, to fight for money and fame, and becomes involved with a powerful and corrupt entrepreneur. But when he finds friendship with a revolutionary old poet and love with a beautiful, innocent girl, everything changes. Caught between the ways of his past and the dreams of his future, he must make a devastating choice that could cost him everything.

Written with bold lyricism and magical flair, The Dog Fighter is an exhilarating tale of brutality and violence, love and wisdom, heartbreak and redemption.

Review Quotes

"A remarkable feat of cultural ventriloquism, an ecstasy of love, violence, history, and language. Time and again I was amazed by the lyrical and emotional depth of Bojanowski's vision, by the empathy that suffuses every page, every line. Bojanowski's narrator has no name, but he is one of the most profoundly felt characters in recent fiction. Seeing his world, through his eyes, will change the way you look at ours." - Dale Peck, author of Now It's Time to Say Goodbye and Martin and John
"Gripping.... Bojanowski's dog fighter is a Hemingway hero, violent, clean, a man of few words and a terrible romantic. Thoroughly absorbing." - New York Times Book Review
"Auspicious.... Bojanowski vividly conjures the voice of a strong, confused soul straining against desires and limitations he only half comprehends." - Washington Post
"A blood-sopped, sun-baked coming-of-age story. . . . Bojanowski doesn't settle for tilling an easy patch of soil, and this is partly what makes his novel so enjoyable. . . . Bojanowski's gambit pays off." - San Francisco Chronicle
"A finely crafted story about our eternal desire for violence." - Newsweek
"The Dog Fighter is primal and elemental, a simply told fable of love, hate, greed, good, and evil -- all grinding against each other like tectonic plates. . . . A pulse erupts that keeps you reading . . . on a wave of some spectacular imagery and writing." - Los Angeles Times
"Spellbinding. . . . An exceptional story of human loneliness and passion that will haunt every reader." - Library Journal
"Gripping. ... Bojanowski's dog fighter is a Hemingway hero. ... Thoroughly absorbing." - New York Times Book Review
"This debut novel twists into a poetic justice that delves deeper than shocking bloodletting scenes." - Chicago Tribune
"Fully realized, unbelievably accomplished, and a great read. His unnamed narrator wanders a surreal landscape reminiscent of Faulkner's Mississippi and McCarthy's Mexico. Bojanowski's prose shimmers with nuance. The Dog Fighter is sure to delight." - Darcey Steinke, author of Jesus Saves and Suicide Blonde
"Bojanowki's extraordinary narrator grabs you by the throat from the first page and doesn't let go till the last -- but the book stays with you even after that.... It is a relentless and remarkable achievement." - Geoff Dyer, author of Out of Sheer Rage and Paris Trance
"Voiced in a language that is both terrifyng and beautiful, The Dog Fighter is a finely crafted novel.... Bojanowski gives us a fascinating rogue's tale set in our recent past but a tale that is also thoroughly timely and modern, where age-old and universal themes -- love, virtue, redemption -- receive keen and careful examination." - Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Rails Under My Back
"Remarkable...Bojanowski's narrator has no name, but he is one of the most profoundly felt characters in recent fiction." - Dale Peck, author of Now It's Time to Say Goodbye
"A...novel that delivers. . . . Marc Bojanowski makes hay of high expectations." - Interview