Doghead: A Novel - Hardcover

Ramsland, Morten

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312376545 ISBN 13: 9780312376543

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 2009

Synopsis

From a fiercely funny Danish John Irving, a bighearted, epic story of mad dogs, naughty boys, strange relatives, and family secrets

An international sensation sold in seventeen countries around the world, Doghead has critics across the globe declaring, “brilliant,” “magnificent,” “powerful and engaging.” “When I read it I had to pinch my arm to see if I was dreaming,” says Weekendavisen (Denmark). “It was really that good.” Morten Ramsland won Author of the Year and Book of the Year for Doghead in Denmark, and critical comparisons include Gunter Grass, Jonathan Franzen, Peter Høeg and Gabriel Garcia Marquez—everyone agrees that here is a world-class writer.

In Doghead, Ramsland treats U.S. readers to a highly imaginative, exuberant saga that follows three generations of a wildly dysfunctional Norwegian family. The tale begins as Asger, the narrator, visits his dying grandma, who has a few corrections to make to certain family stories. Asger learns that contrary to popular belief, Grandpa was not a war hero. Instead, his nickname was "Crackpot," and both before and after he escaped from a Nazi concentration camp, he was to put it bluntly, a cheat and a liar.

From there the real family history unfolds, and like all great stories, it is a tale that will stay with the reader forever. Doghead is certain to win this internationally celebrated author an equally devoted and enthusiastic following in the U.S.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Naughty boys. Dirty secrets. Mad dogs. In the Eriksson family, childhood is a disturbing experience, full of crude and disturbing rites of passage. It all started with Askild ‘the Silent Crackpot’: painter, murderer and thief. His son, Niels ‘Jug Ears’ Junior, is born in an outhouse, wins respect by kicking other boys in the balls, and uses dynamite to blow up the privy when his father sells his cherished coin collection. And his son, Asger ‘the Liar’, collects stories about his shipwrecked family which are always exciting, though not entirely true. Unable to banish Doghead, a horror from his childhood, he reveals the very bad deeds children can do – pushing his family forward, past a point of no return. Doghead is a richly imaginative farcical tragedy, a witty saga of three generations of wild Eriksson men. 'A huge international success...combines rambunctiousness, salty humour and poetic imagination.' Independent on Sunday

About the Author

Morten Ramsland, born in 1971, has a degree in Danish and Art History. Doghead is his first book to be published in English. A huge bestseller in Denmark, it won four major literary prizes there including Author of the Year, Book of the Year, the Reader’s Prize and the most prestigious prize for literature, the Golden Laurel Prize. It has also won the Premio Berto and Premio Edoardo Kihlgren 2nd Prize in Italy.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0312376545
• ISBN 13: 9780312376543
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384