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Songdogs
A powerful novel from the bestselling author of DANCER. Colum McCann's first novel goes back to the years before the Spanish Civil War, following the adventures of a peripatetic Irish photographer from the war-strewn shores of Europe to the exotic plains of Mexico. The story is told in the words of the photographer's only son, a wanderer himself, who uses his father's unreliable memories and the fading remnants of his art to piece together his family history and explain the mystery surrounding his mother - a Mexican beauty brought back by his father to Ireland.
212 pages, Paperback
First published January 10, 1995
121 people are currently reading
1270 people want to read
About the author
Colum McCann
81 books4,554 followersSign up for Colum's newsletter: http://bit.ly/mccannsignup
Colum McCann is the author of three collections of short stories and six novels, including "Apeirogon," published in Spring 2020. His other books include "TransAtlantic," "Let the Great World Spin," "This Side of Brightness,""Dancer" and “Zoli,” all of which were international best-sellers.
His newest book, American Mother, written with Diane Foley, is due to be published in March 2024.
American Mother takes us deep into the story of Diane Foley; whose son Jim, a freelance journalist, was held captive by ISIS before being beheaded in the Syrian desert.
Diane’s voice is channeled into searing reality by Colum, who brings us on a journey of strength, resilience, and radical empathy.
"American Mother is a book that will shake your soul out," says Sting.
Apeirogon (2020) became a best-seller on four continent.
“Let the Great World Spin” won the National Book Award in 2009. His fiction has been published in over 40 languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Paris Review and other places. He has written for numerous publications including The Irish Times, Die Zeit, La Republicca, Paris Match, The New York Times, the Guardian and the Independent.
In December 2023 Colum (as co-founder of Narrative 4) was the 2023 Humanitarian Award nominee, awarded by the United Nations delegations at the Ambassador's Ball in New York City.
Colum has won numerous international awards. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish association of artists, Aosdana. He has also received a Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres from the French government. He is the cofounder of the global non-profit story exchange organisation Narrative 4.
In 2003 Colum was named Esquire magazine's "Writer of the Year." Other awards and honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Irish Independent Hughes and Hughes/Sunday Independent Novel of the Year 2003, and the 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame for Irish Literature.
His short film "Everything in this Country Must," directed by Gary McKendry, was nominated for an Academy Award Oscar in 2005.
Colum was born in Dublin in 1965 and began his career as a journalist in The Irish Press. In the early 1980's he took a bicycle across North America and then worked as a wilderness guide in a program for juvenile delinquents in Texas. After a year and a half in Japan, he and his wife Allison moved to New York where they currently live with their three children, Isabella, John Michael and Christian.
Colum teaches in Hunter College in New York, in the Creative Writing program, with fellow novelists Peter Carey and Tea Obreht.
Colum has completed his new novel, "Apeirogon." Crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, McCann tells the story of Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan. One is Israeli. One is Palestinian. Both are fathers. Both have lost their daughters to the conflict. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other's stories they recognize the loss that connects them, and they begin to use their grief as a weapon for peace.
In the novel McCann crosses centuries and continents. He stitches together time, art, history, nature and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. Musical, cinematic, muscular, delicate and soaring, Apeirogon is a novel for our times.
It is scheduled for release in the U.S in February 2020.
Advance copies will be available here on GoodReads!!!!
Colum McCann is the author of three collections of short stories and six novels, including "Apeirogon," published in Spring 2020. His other books include "TransAtlantic," "Let the Great World Spin," "This Side of Brightness,""Dancer" and “Zoli,” all of which were international best-sellers.
His newest book, American Mother, written with Diane Foley, is due to be published in March 2024.
American Mother takes us deep into the story of Diane Foley; whose son Jim, a freelance journalist, was held captive by ISIS before being beheaded in the Syrian desert.
Diane’s voice is channeled into searing reality by Colum, who brings us on a journey of strength, resilience, and radical empathy.
"American Mother is a book that will shake your soul out," says Sting.
Apeirogon (2020) became a best-seller on four continent.
“Let the Great World Spin” won the National Book Award in 2009. His fiction has been published in over 40 languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Paris Review and other places. He has written for numerous publications including The Irish Times, Die Zeit, La Republicca, Paris Match, The New York Times, the Guardian and the Independent.
In December 2023 Colum (as co-founder of Narrative 4) was the 2023 Humanitarian Award nominee, awarded by the United Nations delegations at the Ambassador's Ball in New York City.
Colum has won numerous international awards. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish association of artists, Aosdana. He has also received a Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres from the French government. He is the cofounder of the global non-profit story exchange organisation Narrative 4.
In 2003 Colum was named Esquire magazine's "Writer of the Year." Other awards and honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Irish Independent Hughes and Hughes/Sunday Independent Novel of the Year 2003, and the 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame for Irish Literature.
His short film "Everything in this Country Must," directed by Gary McKendry, was nominated for an Academy Award Oscar in 2005.
Colum was born in Dublin in 1965 and began his career as a journalist in The Irish Press. In the early 1980's he took a bicycle across North America and then worked as a wilderness guide in a program for juvenile delinquents in Texas. After a year and a half in Japan, he and his wife Allison moved to New York where they currently live with their three children, Isabella, John Michael and Christian.
Colum teaches in Hunter College in New York, in the Creative Writing program, with fellow novelists Peter Carey and Tea Obreht.
Colum has completed his new novel, "Apeirogon." Crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, McCann tells the story of Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan. One is Israeli. One is Palestinian. Both are fathers. Both have lost their daughters to the conflict. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other's stories they recognize the loss that connects them, and they begin to use their grief as a weapon for peace.
In the novel McCann crosses centuries and continents. He stitches together time, art, history, nature and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. Musical, cinematic, muscular, delicate and soaring, Apeirogon is a novel for our times.
It is scheduled for release in the U.S in February 2020.
Advance copies will be available here on GoodReads!!!!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
January 10, 2017
Nearly every sentence feels perfect - not a wasted word . I found myself reading paragraphs again. But it's always so much more with McCann - not just the language but the story, all of it. I've read several of McCann's later works and I consider him to be one of the finest contemporary writers so I was curious about his first novel. I was not disappointed. Returning to his home and his father after five years, a young man who has been in search of his mother who left when he was 12, discovers through memories and photographs taken by his father, some of their past and his. The narrative moves from present to past and back again effortlessly and without any need of transition. McCann just tells the story in this way of Colin, his Irish born father Michael, a photographer who roams the world and eventually meets and falls in love with Colin's mother, Mexican born, Juanita. Colin tries desperately to piece together their sad and devastating story by traveling to the places his father and later both of his parents traveled from Mayo County to Mexico to Wyoming. I'm not sure I really felt there was any resolution for Colin's search and I'm not sure I really understood either of his parents but I did feel in the end, that Colin had found the way to healing. I still have other McCann novels to read and I will certainly get to them.
September 17, 2016
3.5 Stars
Songdogs is Colum McCann's first novel, It is a multilayered story and written with McCann's usual sharp writing style and eloquence of prose.
The story is set around Conor Lyons who just returns from abroad to Mayo in Ireland after a five year trip to visit his aging father. He spends the week going over his fathers past life as a photographer when he spent time wandering through war torn Spain and then through Mexico where he meets and marries his wife(Conor's mother). After a period of time the couple return to settle in Ireland.
I love McCann's character development and the sense of time and place in his stories, Each novel is an experience and you are transported by his imagery and story telling. I think this would make an excellent book club read as the characters are real and complex and you just want to dissect this novel on completion and I can imagine a wonderful book club discussion around this one.
This is a tale of rememberance and while the story flows I did however find that his flowery and sensual prose (while beautiful) did on a couple of occasions interrupt the flow of the story for me.
I listened to this one on audible and while the narrator was good for the most part I cringed when he read the characters of the father (Michael) and other minor characters as felt they were almost cartoonish and would have preferred to have read a hard copy of this one. An enjoyable and satisfying read but not one for my favorites list.
This is my 5th novel by Colum McCann and Dancer
is still my favorite to date.
Songdogs is Colum McCann's first novel, It is a multilayered story and written with McCann's usual sharp writing style and eloquence of prose.
The story is set around Conor Lyons who just returns from abroad to Mayo in Ireland after a five year trip to visit his aging father. He spends the week going over his fathers past life as a photographer when he spent time wandering through war torn Spain and then through Mexico where he meets and marries his wife(Conor's mother). After a period of time the couple return to settle in Ireland.
I love McCann's character development and the sense of time and place in his stories, Each novel is an experience and you are transported by his imagery and story telling. I think this would make an excellent book club read as the characters are real and complex and you just want to dissect this novel on completion and I can imagine a wonderful book club discussion around this one.
This is a tale of rememberance and while the story flows I did however find that his flowery and sensual prose (while beautiful) did on a couple of occasions interrupt the flow of the story for me.
I listened to this one on audible and while the narrator was good for the most part I cringed when he read the characters of the father (Michael) and other minor characters as felt they were almost cartoonish and would have preferred to have read a hard copy of this one. An enjoyable and satisfying read but not one for my favorites list.
This is my 5th novel by Colum McCann and Dancer
is still my favorite to date.
January 19, 2020
[3.4] A contemplative novel about a man's visit to his father and childhood home, interspersed with memories of his parents and childhood. McCann writes breathtakingly beautiful prose that frequently stopped me in my tracks. But for me, this novel felt static with too much description.
January 10, 2017
ETA: It bothers me that I don't explain more about the theme of the story, but I don't know how to explain without giving the whole thing away. In addition I am pretty darn sure that others may not interpret this story as I do. What I think is so tragic and beautiful at the same time is that the father, the photographer, being who he is and If you read this, please tell me if you react as I do? I love both HOW McCann writes and WHAT he has to say.
******************
With his shirt open to the third button, he turned around from the fireplace. His chest was a xylophone of bones sticking out against his skin. His face and arms still held some tan, but the veil of his throat was lost to whiteness and the remaining chest hairs curled, acolytes of gray. His neck was a sack of sag and his trousers were huge on him. Not to healthy for him to be out in the cold. Although it would be lovely if I could see him cast in the way he used to. Even when I detested him, there were times when I was astounded just to watch him cast, back when the river was alive. Those flicks of the wrist like so many fireflies on the bank. The hooks glinting on the lapel of his overcoat. The huge sadness of him disappearing as the rod ripped away. Him counting under his breath, “One, two , three, here we go.” Lassoing it to the wind. Brisk upward motion of the tip of the glass rod, sometimes drawing off the flies by false casting. Finally watching them curl out over the water, and plunk, reeling the surface into soft circles. Stomping his feet on the bank. Spitting out over the water. All sorts of hidden violence in the motion. He coughed again…..
These lines are found within the first ½ hour of my listening to the audiobook reading by Paul Nugent. My breath was taken away. I couldn’t help but compare these lines with Steinbeck’s in his book “Travels with Charley”, also depicting a fisherman standing in Wellingtons in a river cluttered with garbage. McCann’s reference to garbage is to be found in the words “back when the river was alive” and a gate that slowed the stream’s tempo and reeds that grew along the embankment. Nugent’s timing, intonation and inflections make the Irish brogue come alive. For me this is pure poetry. And this is just one snippet. You should read McCann’s lines depicting coyotes. Steinbeck describes them too, but not like this! I should not compare, but how can I not?!
Now I am going to keep my mouth shut and see if this caliber of writing can be sustained throughout the entire novel.
The answer is yes. Astonishingly beautiful writing from start to finish. I would recommend that you listen to this because the narration was wonderful too.
McCann never writes books about happy, simple situations, but he shows beauty and hope. This book ends with a huge salmon leaping high over the brook and the line: "Let this joy last itself into the night." The lines are exquisite. His message too, but this is no fairy tale. This book is about a son trying to understand his parents, their relationship and how he fits in. His mother is Mexican, father Irish and a photographer. He fought in the Spanish Civil War. The son travels to all these places and through his father’s photos and his own memories he seeks to understand the past. Sex is both cruel and glorious, that is my only hint. I understood why each, the mother, the father and the son, felt and behaved as they did. Love and sorrow. Good memories and regrets. When you look at your own parents and your relationship to them don't you too see love and sorrow all jumbled together? Readers’ circumstances will be different but we can all recognize the emotions.
This is my favorite book by Colum McCann! I only have one more book left to read by him: Fishing the Sloe-Black River. I will read this next. I have only one complaint: I want longer books and more of them.
******************
With his shirt open to the third button, he turned around from the fireplace. His chest was a xylophone of bones sticking out against his skin. His face and arms still held some tan, but the veil of his throat was lost to whiteness and the remaining chest hairs curled, acolytes of gray. His neck was a sack of sag and his trousers were huge on him. Not to healthy for him to be out in the cold. Although it would be lovely if I could see him cast in the way he used to. Even when I detested him, there were times when I was astounded just to watch him cast, back when the river was alive. Those flicks of the wrist like so many fireflies on the bank. The hooks glinting on the lapel of his overcoat. The huge sadness of him disappearing as the rod ripped away. Him counting under his breath, “One, two , three, here we go.” Lassoing it to the wind. Brisk upward motion of the tip of the glass rod, sometimes drawing off the flies by false casting. Finally watching them curl out over the water, and plunk, reeling the surface into soft circles. Stomping his feet on the bank. Spitting out over the water. All sorts of hidden violence in the motion. He coughed again…..
These lines are found within the first ½ hour of my listening to the audiobook reading by Paul Nugent. My breath was taken away. I couldn’t help but compare these lines with Steinbeck’s in his book “Travels with Charley”, also depicting a fisherman standing in Wellingtons in a river cluttered with garbage. McCann’s reference to garbage is to be found in the words “back when the river was alive” and a gate that slowed the stream’s tempo and reeds that grew along the embankment. Nugent’s timing, intonation and inflections make the Irish brogue come alive. For me this is pure poetry. And this is just one snippet. You should read McCann’s lines depicting coyotes. Steinbeck describes them too, but not like this! I should not compare, but how can I not?!
Now I am going to keep my mouth shut and see if this caliber of writing can be sustained throughout the entire novel.
The answer is yes. Astonishingly beautiful writing from start to finish. I would recommend that you listen to this because the narration was wonderful too.
McCann never writes books about happy, simple situations, but he shows beauty and hope. This book ends with a huge salmon leaping high over the brook and the line: "Let this joy last itself into the night." The lines are exquisite. His message too, but this is no fairy tale. This book is about a son trying to understand his parents, their relationship and how he fits in. His mother is Mexican, father Irish and a photographer. He fought in the Spanish Civil War. The son travels to all these places and through his father’s photos and his own memories he seeks to understand the past. Sex is both cruel and glorious, that is my only hint. I understood why each, the mother, the father and the son, felt and behaved as they did. Love and sorrow. Good memories and regrets. When you look at your own parents and your relationship to them don't you too see love and sorrow all jumbled together? Readers’ circumstances will be different but we can all recognize the emotions.
This is my favorite book by Colum McCann! I only have one more book left to read by him: Fishing the Sloe-Black River. I will read this next. I have only one complaint: I want longer books and more of them.
September 9, 2019
After my original review disappeared from here this is Re-post of it which I found in an old notebook. :)
For a slim volume,a little over 200 pages, this is a book of quite some substance. From the first page the weight of the words consumes you. This is an eloquent tale of a sons search for his parents history. His beautiful Mexican 'Mam' and his Irish father.
There is not a plot to be had, but the language and the characters are more than your heart can stand anyway. How anyone can express themselves in such a profound and lyrical way is beyond me. This man writes for my souls needs.
The part called Saturday McCann cleverly uses descriptions of the photographs taken by his father by not just looking at them but by "going into them" seeing past the peripheral and "walking" in the picture, seeing the background characters and imagining the conversations. This is a dream like part of the book which I really enjoyed.
Photos are just a moment frozen in time, but like a memory, how reliable are they at painting the true story?
** RE READ September 2019
This author never ceases to astound me with his beautiful, lyrical prose.
Painting pictures in my mind with his words and making me feel I know his characters makes him, in my opinion one of our finest, living writers.
His descriptive prose is perfect here and the story tight and intense.
I loved Conors Dad as a crotchety old man, with his 'grapes of wrath' which he calls his piles and his need to be off fly fishing the huge fish he says is in the river.
This book is full of colour, even the different winds are colours according to Juanita, Conors beautiful Mexican 'Mam'
I know that I will read this again and again over the years it is one of my favourite books.
5* Is certainly not enough for this.
For a slim volume,a little over 200 pages, this is a book of quite some substance. From the first page the weight of the words consumes you. This is an eloquent tale of a sons search for his parents history. His beautiful Mexican 'Mam' and his Irish father.
There is not a plot to be had, but the language and the characters are more than your heart can stand anyway. How anyone can express themselves in such a profound and lyrical way is beyond me. This man writes for my souls needs.
The part called Saturday McCann cleverly uses descriptions of the photographs taken by his father by not just looking at them but by "going into them" seeing past the peripheral and "walking" in the picture, seeing the background characters and imagining the conversations. This is a dream like part of the book which I really enjoyed.
Photos are just a moment frozen in time, but like a memory, how reliable are they at painting the true story?
** RE READ September 2019
This author never ceases to astound me with his beautiful, lyrical prose.
Painting pictures in my mind with his words and making me feel I know his characters makes him, in my opinion one of our finest, living writers.
His descriptive prose is perfect here and the story tight and intense.
I loved Conors Dad as a crotchety old man, with his 'grapes of wrath' which he calls his piles and his need to be off fly fishing the huge fish he says is in the river.
This book is full of colour, even the different winds are colours according to Juanita, Conors beautiful Mexican 'Mam'
I know that I will read this again and again over the years it is one of my favourite books.
5* Is certainly not enough for this.
March 24, 2013
It is so very hard to describe the vividness and richness of McCann's writing to those who have never read him. He describes scenes and people so incredibly well that one can picture being there and watching everything as his story unfolds. This is a family novel, a son searching for the truth about his parents, though he knows where his father is, he needs to understand their story and find out the truth about his mother. His father was a photographer, during the Spanish war and the horrors of war are told unflinchingly, yet it is the characters this novel is most focused on.There are scenes of beauty and scenes of horror, but the scene that will remain with me is the ending one, a father, a son and a beautiful fish.
July 25, 2024
Wistful, elegiac.
April 17, 2014
I had to remind myself that this is Colum McCann's first novel. It is so rich and complete and lyrical and courageous. Like his more recent masterpieces, McCann is toying with themes of memory and personal history, but in this case the story is very small -- just one man searching for his parents, one of whom is physically present, one of whom is physically missing.
The story moves back and forth in time which was a bit confusing at first, but once I gave in to his storytelling, I realized its brilliance. Memory is not linear -- it meanders and one thought inevitably leads to an unexpected place. This book is most certainly not driven by plot. It's a mental exercise, but one filled with beauty in terms of both language and characters.
Eventually I plan to make my way through all of his published work.
The story moves back and forth in time which was a bit confusing at first, but once I gave in to his storytelling, I realized its brilliance. Memory is not linear -- it meanders and one thought inevitably leads to an unexpected place. This book is most certainly not driven by plot. It's a mental exercise, but one filled with beauty in terms of both language and characters.
Eventually I plan to make my way through all of his published work.
April 1, 2018
Yeah, so. This is a great example of how a writer has significantly improved with age. As a huge fan of McCann’s recent work, particularly “Let The Great World Spin” and “Transatlantic”, this early novel is a disappointment. His prose is overly flowery, his adjectives just too stretchy, and his dialog just flat. You can see the promise of a future star, but I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone but a diehard fan who must read everything from a particular writer.
September 9, 2019
Just great!
Colum McCann is some writer.
The prose is brilliant.
The descriptions of Mexico and Wyoming are so vivid.
The story is very deep and sad and the characters are so real.
It was a very engrossing book to read that was hard to put down.
Highly recommend.
Colum McCann is some writer.
The prose is brilliant.
The descriptions of Mexico and Wyoming are so vivid.
The story is very deep and sad and the characters are so real.
It was a very engrossing book to read that was hard to put down.
Highly recommend.
February 15, 2021
It’s a decent story but the writing is reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy if he took some antidepressants for a few weeks before settling into writing. Less bleak but still overwrought. I like the attempts at fresh turns of phrase but it quickly becomes tiresome. Sometimes older people walked hunched over, they don’t have to be paying homage to the ground or in communion with the grass or whatever. The jazz notes copulating in the air had me rolling my eyes; I think I strained an ocular connection and I had to finish it reading with one eye. It’s good but not as good as it tries to be.
May 15, 2021
I reread this by mistake, but must admit that I had no recollection of a prior reading! It is Colum McCann's first novel. While the writing is quite good, it is not of the same caliber as that in Let the Great World Spin or his most recent Apeirogon. It was a bit overwritten at times. As the Kirkus review (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...) says, "Ably written in its particulars yet loose-leafed in the assembly: a work of promise having parts far greater than the whole."
In my first review, below, I called the main character Colin. The correct name is Conor. Otherwise, the first review is accurate, if rather superficial. What came through on this second reading, some six years later, is the story of father rather than the mother. Conor is shocked to see how his father has changed, at how debilitated he is. Conor sees his father through far more mature eyes now and is able to get past the rage and resentment that caused him to leave.
In this recent You Tube video McCann reads from the book in a tribute to the Tyrone Guthie Centre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imK6e....
First Review
This is the first novel by one of my favorite authors - Colum McCann. The prose, as always, is lyrical and beautiful. The story is sweet and sad and much simpler than his more current books.
Colin is 23. He has returned home to Ireland because his visa to the US has expired. He will spend whatever time is necessary and then get another visa and return to the US, where he is living in Wyoming. He has not seen his father since he left home five years ago in search of his mother.
This is the story of the life of Colin's Irish father and his Mexican mother, as Colin remembers hearing it from his parents and others and seeing it in the photos his father took. It is also the story of Colin's travels in search of his mother -- his journey to her small village in Mexico, his visit with her friend CiCi in San Francisco, his trip to New York City to walk the streets where his parents lived for many years, and finally his trek to Wyoming, where he realizes he will never find her but stays anyway. And finally it is the story of Colin and his father reaching some sort of understanding as they finally talk about his mother.
In my first review, below, I called the main character Colin. The correct name is Conor. Otherwise, the first review is accurate, if rather superficial. What came through on this second reading, some six years later, is the story of father rather than the mother. Conor is shocked to see how his father has changed, at how debilitated he is. Conor sees his father through far more mature eyes now and is able to get past the rage and resentment that caused him to leave.
In this recent You Tube video McCann reads from the book in a tribute to the Tyrone Guthie Centre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imK6e....
First Review
This is the first novel by one of my favorite authors - Colum McCann. The prose, as always, is lyrical and beautiful. The story is sweet and sad and much simpler than his more current books.
Colin is 23. He has returned home to Ireland because his visa to the US has expired. He will spend whatever time is necessary and then get another visa and return to the US, where he is living in Wyoming. He has not seen his father since he left home five years ago in search of his mother.
This is the story of the life of Colin's Irish father and his Mexican mother, as Colin remembers hearing it from his parents and others and seeing it in the photos his father took. It is also the story of Colin's travels in search of his mother -- his journey to her small village in Mexico, his visit with her friend CiCi in San Francisco, his trip to New York City to walk the streets where his parents lived for many years, and finally his trek to Wyoming, where he realizes he will never find her but stays anyway. And finally it is the story of Colin and his father reaching some sort of understanding as they finally talk about his mother.
December 10, 2022
"The whole world was looking for someone who was gone."
The narrator of "Songdogs", Conor, left his home in Ireland to search for his Mexican mother, who disappeared when he was a child. Why she left is known; where she went is not directly answered, but it seems clear both that she did not journey far and that she meant to never be found alive.
All the characters suffer from a lack of connection to either time or place. Conor's father, orphaned twice, also left Ireland as a young man, searching for something he could not articulate. Mexico, California, Wyoming, New York--no place could hold him. His restlessness was insistent, reckless, dragging his reluctant wife again and again from any promise of integration.
Michael fancied himself a photojournalist, an artist-photographer. He used his camera as a barrier, a way to keep his life and the other people in it, even and especially his wife, at a distance. His photos were an attempt to construct a narrative, to shape and control his story. But they objectified Juanita and pushed her further and further away.
He promised to take her back to Mexico, breaking the promise over and over and over again.
Conor retraces his father's, his parents', journey, finding his mother's Mexican town and her American friend Cici, working odd jobs and staying for awhile in the town in Wyoming that seemed to be a place his mother could have put down roots--but he brings back with him only ghosts. His father has become a ghost too, his existence in Ireland so faint as to be nearly invisible.
"There was always a deep need for miracles" Conor thinks, channeling his mother's voice, and as he looks into the world around him without much hope, but still undefeated, for clues.
The narrator of "Songdogs", Conor, left his home in Ireland to search for his Mexican mother, who disappeared when he was a child. Why she left is known; where she went is not directly answered, but it seems clear both that she did not journey far and that she meant to never be found alive.
All the characters suffer from a lack of connection to either time or place. Conor's father, orphaned twice, also left Ireland as a young man, searching for something he could not articulate. Mexico, California, Wyoming, New York--no place could hold him. His restlessness was insistent, reckless, dragging his reluctant wife again and again from any promise of integration.
Michael fancied himself a photojournalist, an artist-photographer. He used his camera as a barrier, a way to keep his life and the other people in it, even and especially his wife, at a distance. His photos were an attempt to construct a narrative, to shape and control his story. But they objectified Juanita and pushed her further and further away.
He promised to take her back to Mexico, breaking the promise over and over and over again.
Conor retraces his father's, his parents', journey, finding his mother's Mexican town and her American friend Cici, working odd jobs and staying for awhile in the town in Wyoming that seemed to be a place his mother could have put down roots--but he brings back with him only ghosts. His father has become a ghost too, his existence in Ireland so faint as to be nearly invisible.
"There was always a deep need for miracles" Conor thinks, channeling his mother's voice, and as he looks into the world around him without much hope, but still undefeated, for clues.
Did not finish
December 20, 2024I hardly ever give up on a book. I think this is only the second time. Often I will read twenty or thirty pages, even forty pages if the book is long, before deciding whether or not I am going to read it. That does not count as giving up on a book to me, it just means the book, like many books I have never opened, was not for me. No harm done.
I was plugging along in this book, which is only 212 pages, and it was interesting enough. I liked the parts about Conor retracing his father's vagabond travels through Spain, Mexico and the US while very young. I thought, when I started the book, that there was going to be more about those travels than there was.
I put the book down, started reading other books, forgot I was reading this one, found it in the pile, but was no longer interested. That lack of interest is probably why it fell to the bottom of the stack in the first place. I was on page 96. Do I ignore the fact that I had read almost half the book? I decided that was enough to write a review and say the beginning was interesting, but I got bored when it got into the details of Conor's poor relationship with his father. I have scanned the second half, but not carefully enough to say I finished it.
I was plugging along in this book, which is only 212 pages, and it was interesting enough. I liked the parts about Conor retracing his father's vagabond travels through Spain, Mexico and the US while very young. I thought, when I started the book, that there was going to be more about those travels than there was.
I put the book down, started reading other books, forgot I was reading this one, found it in the pile, but was no longer interested. That lack of interest is probably why it fell to the bottom of the stack in the first place. I was on page 96. Do I ignore the fact that I had read almost half the book? I decided that was enough to write a review and say the beginning was interesting, but I got bored when it got into the details of Conor's poor relationship with his father. I have scanned the second half, but not carefully enough to say I finished it.
March 2, 2010
One of my favorite authors—his first novel, which is a harbinger of his coming works. The short book covers a week-long visit of a son with his aged father, contrasted with scenes from the lives of his parents when they were beginning their relationship.
McCann shows compassion, but is never treacly.
McCann shows compassion, but is never treacly.
November 17, 2019
4.5 stars
This book began awkwardly for me. I typically settle in early with how I approach a book, for language or for content. This book stymied me for a while. I found there to be long dry patches interspersed with pages and pages of magnificent prose. The farther along I got, the more tightly wrought the language and content became.
I like the way this book treats the complexity of personality and relationship. It’s a sad book in a matter of fact kind of way. It’s never maudlin or melodramatic. Definitely worth reading.
This book began awkwardly for me. I typically settle in early with how I approach a book, for language or for content. This book stymied me for a while. I found there to be long dry patches interspersed with pages and pages of magnificent prose. The farther along I got, the more tightly wrought the language and content became.
I like the way this book treats the complexity of personality and relationship. It’s a sad book in a matter of fact kind of way. It’s never maudlin or melodramatic. Definitely worth reading.
August 24, 2022
This was a lovely poignient account of a boy and his father and a search for his lost mother. Starting and finishing on the West Coast of Ireland, the story moves through the Spanish Civil War to Mexico to California, across country to New York via Wyoming and back to County Mayo. Colum McCann is such an eloquent writer it is a pleasure to read whatever he writes.
March 25, 2018
Een mooi en gevoelig boek van een zeer goede schrijver. Songdogs is uit 1995, een vroeg boek dus van Colum McCann. Zijn taalgebruik is - zeker in verhouding tot latere boeken - soms wat zwaar aangezet: veel metaforen, veel details, veel gebeurtenissen. Later heeft hij veel minder taal nodig om zijn doel te bereiken. Maar de ontroering die je altijd voelt bij het lezen van zijn boeken is er ook nu.
February 16, 2025
Fabulous. Everything McCann writes is pure magic.
January 7, 2026
if '500 miles' was a book
June 16, 2023
A voyage into the River of Memory and the Eternal Quest for Truth.
I sought out this work as a respite from the Day-to-Day of Life’s events. With his trademark short, sharp, violent slash-ridden Prose, McCann evokes the struggle of Memory against Reality’s minutia, every detail accurately painted to reveal its contrast with the fog of his recalled Past.
His beautiful recall of moments with his Ma giving way to difficult encounters with his intransigent Pa create an all too familiar Drama we all can relate to with the passing of years. All these scenes intertwine to keep the Reader involved and impatient for resolution which makes Songdogs, the nickname for the constantly hunting, haunted, coyote, a pleasurable experience.
Four Stars. ****
I sought out this work as a respite from the Day-to-Day of Life’s events. With his trademark short, sharp, violent slash-ridden Prose, McCann evokes the struggle of Memory against Reality’s minutia, every detail accurately painted to reveal its contrast with the fog of his recalled Past.
His beautiful recall of moments with his Ma giving way to difficult encounters with his intransigent Pa create an all too familiar Drama we all can relate to with the passing of years. All these scenes intertwine to keep the Reader involved and impatient for resolution which makes Songdogs, the nickname for the constantly hunting, haunted, coyote, a pleasurable experience.
Four Stars. ****
April 10, 2020
I first read "Let the Great World Spin" fresh out of college during a typically dolorous time of working food service despite having a degree, poking through Good Wills in search of the Real Deal. I had never heard of McCann - picked up the book like all the other suckers because of the National Book award endorsement - and quickly found a voice all my own, undusty with academia, each sentence pulsating and lyrical and of the now.
"Songdogs" never reaches the dizzying heights of "Let the Great World Spin," but it's one magnificent first novel, one that anyone should feel proud of, despite my initial apprehensions.
The thing is real slim: large font and small pages and bottom margins fit for taking notes in. But, one of Pharaoh's lean calves it is not. McCann stacks and packs the first hundred pages with memories and very little dialogue, which equals a slower, richer read. I thought I had the story pegged as a Gatsby-esque quest-to-understand-great-person - because,to my credit, the novel opens this way. A son revisits his wretchedly aged father (this novel scores high on the OH GOD-ometer, meaning it's incredibly gross at points: farting, peeing in the tea-cup in the sink, men reaching through the hole in their overcoats so they can masturbate in public, toothless men, hemorrhoids and mirrors; there's no airbrushing of anything, it's like the anti-Precious Moments. It's like Precious Moments if Precious Moments were a series of figurines about your aging father's gout)
- where was I? -
a son revisiting his WRETCHEDLY aging father, inter-spliced with stories of WHEN MAN WAS GREAT. This is an incredibly common narrative device. Most writers bear intense insight but have less than exotic lives. And as readers, we can understand the average-person-narrator and share in their fascination of the GREAT PERSON. If the narrator were the GREAT PERSON, that might be interesting, but then again, the having of greatness and the articulation of it are often two very different skill sets. But at least with the example of Gatsby, Nick's interactions happen in real time, and so Gatsby carries forward Nick's less than fascinating life. But in "Songdogs," all the exotic things happen in the past, and I found myself - at first - mostly wanting the camera to cut away from the narrator. But, NO SPOILERS, McCann inverts this convention excellently, and I found myself quite moved by this story of fathers and sons and the gulf between them.
Like any McCann novel, Songdogs contains a real banquet of startling phrases and how-the-hell-did-he-think of this type details. I kept imaging myself in front of a blank page, wondering from what cistern I would draw all of these experiences from. I've read interviews where McCann suggests to "write what you don't know," and his globe-trotting novels normally take this advice as sacrosanct, however, I couldn't help but see the young author's own experience in the pages. McCann himself took a tour of America by bicycle in the 90's and spent time in places like Wyoming. This is far from Roman a Clef, but it still contains more of his raw experience, from my mind.
The novel raises many questions, but like all good art, provide few answers. How tethered are we to place? Why do we find the past so much more captivating than the present? Where did we go wrong? Is there any hope for us in this beautiful, absurd world? Can we make amends? Like the novel itself, I know I'll tuck a number of things from this book in my pocket, carry them around a while. Follow the dead a spell.
"Songdogs" never reaches the dizzying heights of "Let the Great World Spin," but it's one magnificent first novel, one that anyone should feel proud of, despite my initial apprehensions.
The thing is real slim: large font and small pages and bottom margins fit for taking notes in. But, one of Pharaoh's lean calves it is not. McCann stacks and packs the first hundred pages with memories and very little dialogue, which equals a slower, richer read. I thought I had the story pegged as a Gatsby-esque quest-to-understand-great-person - because,to my credit, the novel opens this way. A son revisits his wretchedly aged father (this novel scores high on the OH GOD-ometer, meaning it's incredibly gross at points: farting, peeing in the tea-cup in the sink, men reaching through the hole in their overcoats so they can masturbate in public, toothless men, hemorrhoids and mirrors; there's no airbrushing of anything, it's like the anti-Precious Moments. It's like Precious Moments if Precious Moments were a series of figurines about your aging father's gout)
- where was I? -
a son revisiting his WRETCHEDLY aging father, inter-spliced with stories of WHEN MAN WAS GREAT. This is an incredibly common narrative device. Most writers bear intense insight but have less than exotic lives. And as readers, we can understand the average-person-narrator and share in their fascination of the GREAT PERSON. If the narrator were the GREAT PERSON, that might be interesting, but then again, the having of greatness and the articulation of it are often two very different skill sets. But at least with the example of Gatsby, Nick's interactions happen in real time, and so Gatsby carries forward Nick's less than fascinating life. But in "Songdogs," all the exotic things happen in the past, and I found myself - at first - mostly wanting the camera to cut away from the narrator. But, NO SPOILERS, McCann inverts this convention excellently, and I found myself quite moved by this story of fathers and sons and the gulf between them.
Like any McCann novel, Songdogs contains a real banquet of startling phrases and how-the-hell-did-he-think of this type details. I kept imaging myself in front of a blank page, wondering from what cistern I would draw all of these experiences from. I've read interviews where McCann suggests to "write what you don't know," and his globe-trotting novels normally take this advice as sacrosanct, however, I couldn't help but see the young author's own experience in the pages. McCann himself took a tour of America by bicycle in the 90's and spent time in places like Wyoming. This is far from Roman a Clef, but it still contains more of his raw experience, from my mind.
The novel raises many questions, but like all good art, provide few answers. How tethered are we to place? Why do we find the past so much more captivating than the present? Where did we go wrong? Is there any hope for us in this beautiful, absurd world? Can we make amends? Like the novel itself, I know I'll tuck a number of things from this book in my pocket, carry them around a while. Follow the dead a spell.
November 23, 2018
For me, an essential component of enjoying a novel is finding a character I can relate to, someone I want to follow along on their journey. My difficulty discovering that in Songdogs set me back, despite sometimes experiencing the writing as ravishing. The narrator is a bit of a cipher, so much so that I wondered if this book was largely autobiographical. The story is told with a lack of interest in the narrator that feels like the narrator can only be the writer himself, disinterested because he's already known territory to himself.
Beside the narrator, the central character is his father, who is increasingly unlikeable as the book goes on. One of the more touching aspects is how the narrator continues to love his father even as the old man reveals more vanities & weaknesses. The writer's mother also figures heavily but only as a child's memories and her lustful husband's photographs. A few other characters flit in and out but they either stay briefly or are portrayed as kind of simple.
The books covers a lot of territory geographically, which I thought I would enjoy, but it never seems to like any of the places it lands. They are all impoverished or bigoted or lonely. Like his father, the narrator wants to spend his life on the move, always chasing something over the next horizon.
McCann has a beautiful turn of phrase. He can put words together in a way that reveals truths hitherto unknown. It's a well-crafted book, and if you have more in common with the characters than I did, you will probably really enjoy it. Here are a few highlights:
"a studied patience in the movement"
"two Protestant ladies who lived together in a giant house near the edge of the sea" (these were my favorite characters but they didn't last long)
"flowers that he'd plucked from the sides of dark pools"
"They punched the air and grabbed at their crotches"
"it's always nice to be back anywhere, anywhere at all, safe in the knowledge that you're getting away again."
"The town was thin."
"an acceptance of danger"
"He put his head near his wife's shoulder, smiled"
"the wheelbarrow by the barn rocked a little from side to side"
"scared of living"
Beside the narrator, the central character is his father, who is increasingly unlikeable as the book goes on. One of the more touching aspects is how the narrator continues to love his father even as the old man reveals more vanities & weaknesses. The writer's mother also figures heavily but only as a child's memories and her lustful husband's photographs. A few other characters flit in and out but they either stay briefly or are portrayed as kind of simple.
The books covers a lot of territory geographically, which I thought I would enjoy, but it never seems to like any of the places it lands. They are all impoverished or bigoted or lonely. Like his father, the narrator wants to spend his life on the move, always chasing something over the next horizon.
McCann has a beautiful turn of phrase. He can put words together in a way that reveals truths hitherto unknown. It's a well-crafted book, and if you have more in common with the characters than I did, you will probably really enjoy it. Here are a few highlights:
"a studied patience in the movement"
"two Protestant ladies who lived together in a giant house near the edge of the sea" (these were my favorite characters but they didn't last long)
"flowers that he'd plucked from the sides of dark pools"
"They punched the air and grabbed at their crotches"
"it's always nice to be back anywhere, anywhere at all, safe in the knowledge that you're getting away again."
"The town was thin."
"an acceptance of danger"
"He put his head near his wife's shoulder, smiled"
"the wheelbarrow by the barn rocked a little from side to side"
"scared of living"
October 25, 2013
I should have a list of books that were more deserving of attention and care than I bestowed upon them. But sometimes life just interferes with my reading. Yet, I did love this book, even though I had put it aside for days on end.
This is my first book by Colum McCann and I know there will be more. In here he tells a story that is never black and white, as the most important relationships in our lives aren’t. A son returns to visit his aging and dying father while he reminisces on their life and his mother’s disappearance years earlier.
Photography has been a hobby /obsession for me for many years now, and I loved that photography and its capacity of eternalizing a moment plays such an important part in this book.
Thanks Chrissie for pointing me in the direction of Songdogs. Highly recommended.
This is my first book by Colum McCann and I know there will be more. In here he tells a story that is never black and white, as the most important relationships in our lives aren’t. A son returns to visit his aging and dying father while he reminisces on their life and his mother’s disappearance years earlier.
Photography has been a hobby /obsession for me for many years now, and I loved that photography and its capacity of eternalizing a moment plays such an important part in this book.
Thanks Chrissie for pointing me in the direction of Songdogs. Highly recommended.
October 31, 2018
Twenty-three-year-old Conor has come back to Ireland after years of looking for his mother in North America, only to find his father, a failed photographer who worked as a roofer, subsisting in filth and rather incapacitated by a smoker's cough. As he stays with his father and tries to make his life a little more comfortable, Conor reminisces about his childhood and his travels, and grows closer and more understanding toward his father. Loved this book! McCann’s writing is almost lyrical. Wonderful descriptions of Ireland, Mexico, California, Wyoming and terrific characters. When I finished, I was surprised how much he packed into 212 pages. Highly recommended.
March 28, 2008
This book somehow ended up in my bedroom at my parents' house (probably cast off by my dad after he was finished with it) and I just sort of fell into reading it. Because of its random appearance I didn't expect much from it and I was pleasantly surprised. It's the story of a son who traces his father's life through scraps of letters and old photographs. From Ireland to Mexico and back again, Collin follows his father on the journey of his life and loves.
If this book ever finds its way into your hands, don't resist. It won't be a bad experience.
If this book ever finds its way into your hands, don't resist. It won't be a bad experience.
April 18, 2012
I had read McCann's "Let the Great World Spin" and really liked it so I thought this would be a good choice. In fact it was wonderful. This is his first book and it is so touching and poignant. It jumps back and forth in the life of a young Irish man searching for his Mexican mother, exploring each culture beautifully and his parents amazing story and journey to the present. I listened to this book in audio form and the reader, Paul Nugent, did such a great job with the accents. Beautiful book!
February 14, 2010
This odd little book held my interest and created some interesting characters. In it, a young man follows his father's photos to search for his mother who abandonded him at a young age. The story takes place in Ireland, Mexico, San Francisco and Wyoming. There are some very touching scenes as the young man cares for his aging father for a short time.
November 29, 2015
Nonlinear narration at its most cogent. I applaud the choice of developing the main narrator mostly in the form of outlines: his function, and our function as curious children, is peering stupefied into the happier past of our parents. I didn't realize this was Colum McCann's first novel until just now. Byjesus.
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