The Dog of the South - by Charles Portis (Paperback)

About the Book

From Arkansas down to New Mexico and eventually leading to Honduras, a man is on the hunt for his wife who is following her first husband by a trail of credit card receipts.

Book Synopsis

From Charles Portis, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of True Grit, The Dog of the South is a novel about a husband on a crazy road trip pursuing his runaway wife.

"Hilarious . . . is, to me, a very American voice." --Bob Odenkirk, The Week

Ray Midge is waiting for his credit card bill to arrive. His wife, Norma, has run off with her ex-husband, taking Ray's cards, shotgun, and car. But from the receipts, Ray can track where they've gone.

He takes off after them, as does an irritatingly tenacious bail bondsman, both following the romantic couple's spending as far as Mexico. There Ray meets Dr. Reo Symes, the seemingly down-on-his-luck and rather eccentric owner of a beaten-up and broken-down bus, who needs a ride to Belize. The farther they drive, in a car held together by coat hangers and excesses of oil, the wilder their journey gets. But they're not going to give up easily.

"[Charles Portis] understood, and conveyed, the grain of America, in ways that may prove valuable in future to historians trying to understand what was decent about us as a nation." --Donna Tartt, New York Times Book Review

Review Quotes

One hot summer we rented this house near Austin, Tex., that was on a river with natural springs where you could swim. I found a paperback of Charles Portis "Dog of the South" in the house, which I m ashamed to say I stole because it was so funny. I had to have it! Since then I ve bought other copies of that book and left them at people s houses in an attempt to revere the karma Arthur Bradford, author of "Dogwalker""

]One hot summer we rented this house near Austin, Tex., that was on a river with natural springs where you could swim. I found a paperback of Charles Portis] "Dog of the South" in the house, which I]m ashamed to say I stole because it was so funny. I had to have it! Since then I]ve bought other copies of that book and left them at people]s houses in an attempt to revere the karma] Arthur Bradford, author of "Dogwalker"

?One hot summer we rented this house near Austin, Tex., that was on a river with natural springs where you could swim. I found a paperback of Charles Portis? "Dog of the South" in the house, which I?m ashamed to say I stole because it was so funny. I had to have it! Since then I?ve bought other copies of that book and left them at people's houses in an attempt to revere the karma? Arthur Bradford, "New York Times Book Review"

About the Author

Charles Portis (b. December 28, 1933, d. February 17, 2020) lived in Arkansas, where he was born and educated. He served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, was the London bureau chief of the New York Herald-Tribune, and was a writer for The New Yorker. He was the author of five novels: Norwood, The Dog of the South, Masters of Atlantis, True Grit, and Gringos.