The Dogs of Winter: A Novel - Hardcover

Nunn, Kem

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068482647X ISBN 13: 9780684826479

Publisher: Scribner, 1997

Synopsis

A mystic surfing haunt known for its deadly waves and Native American land becomes the site of tragedy when a young Indian boy drowns there, inciting violence on a nearby reservation and drawing a destitute photographer into the obsessive world of surfing. 50,000 first printing. Tour.

About this title

Reviews

"Surfers loved their stories. Big waves and outlaws. Eccentrics who had managed somehow to beat the system, to stay in the life when others moved inland and paid taxes." No one knows this better than Nunn (Pomona Queen), who, after 13 years, returns to the California surfing setting of his acclaimed first novel, Tapping the Source. Despite recent screw-ups, past-his-prime surfing photographer Fletcher is hired by a glossy surfing magazine to shoot aging master Drew Harmon and a couple of hot-shot tyros at a legendary Northern California beach dubbed Heart Attacks. The assignment is a bonehead idea from the start. Harmon?a semi-recluse who lives on an Indian reservation and pitched the photo shoot for unknown reasons?has no idea where Heart Attacks actually is. He's not entirely sane, in fact, and neither is his wife, a working witch. Also, the residents of the reservation are eager for confrontation, and murderously outsized cold-water waves (known to surfers as "dogs of winter") pound the shoreline. The novel begins to build a head of steam as an examination of how outsiders can wreak havoc on a small community. The tone changes dramatically when the surfers hit the road and are hunted by a band of Native Americans who've burnt down Harmon's home and kidnapped his wife. But this is no chase-the-gun-down thriller, and before you can say, "endless summer," the plot veers off in an even more sinister direction. Chapters alternate in perspective between those of Fletcher, Harmon's wife and a mixed-race official from the tribal council who bears the unlikely name of Travis McCade. It's hard to understand McCade's purpose in the novel since, structurally speaking, all he does is provide a sane foil for Harmon and fall for the man's wife. Fletcher serves the same functions, and more naturally. Even so, the story rides high, sped by prose as crisp as a breaking wave, as Nunn, a skilled author, once again writes deeply about a subject he knows and loves. Paperback rights to Washington Square Press; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A few years back, one of the big stories in the surfing world was the discovery of a "secret spot" in Northern California with monster waves that rivaled those of Hawaii's Waimea Bay. Nunn, author of Tapping the Source (1984), one of the few classics of surfing fiction, explores the premise of an undiscovered surfing paradise in this ambitious but poorly focused novel. Jack Fletcher, an aging sports photographer hooked on pain pills, accompanies legendary longboard master Drew Harmon and two pierced and tattooed younger pros on an expedition to document a fabled spot known as Heart Attacks near the Oregon border. For the older men, this is a final opportunity to cash in on a sport that has nearly ruined their lives. Essentially a West Coast version of James Dickey's Deliverance (1970), the book has as its main attraction a colorful supporting cast of rural weirdos, New Agers, and substance abusers. For larger collections of California fiction.?Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch., Los Angeles
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Jack Fletcher is far removed from his glory days as a pioneer in photographing surfers; now he's landlocked, reduced to shooting newlyweds in Pomona Valley, imbibing a steady diet of beer chased by muscle relaxants. Then he gets a call from the editor of a prestigious surfing magazine who offers him the gig of a lifetime: the chance to shoot big-wave legend Drew Harmon on the water in Heart Attacks, California's premier secret surfing spot. He jumps at the chance, but it goes bad right from the start. While they're doing prep work in a local backwater, their fragile rubber boat capsizes in turbulent water, and the young Indian boy at the helm drowns. This incident enrages the local Native Americans, but nothing will keep Drew Harmon off the water, so they set off for Heart Attacks with members of the boy's tribe and a lawman in pursuit. Nunn has returned to the territory mined in his first book, Tapping the Source (1983), now a much-revered cult novel. His latest is a crackerjack read, and the surfing scenes are truly remarkable, lit up by tough, lucid prose. Nunn might push the mythic overtones of his "iron men and holy goofs" too hard, but he writes like a dream, and Fletcher, full of regret and a real love for his craft, makes for a compelling lead character. Joanne Wilkinson

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 068482647X
• ISBN 13: 9780684826479
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368