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VIEW FROM MOUNT DOG
Book by Hamilton-Paterson, James
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 1992
13 people want to read
About the author
James Hamilton-Paterson
41 books94 followersJames Hamilton-Paterson is a British poet, novelist, and one of the most private literary figures of his generation. Educated at Exeter College, Oxford, he began his career as a journalist before emerging as a novelist with a distinctive lyrical style. He gained early recognition for Gerontius, a Whitbread Award-winning novel, and went on to write Ghosts of Manila and America’s Boy, incisive works reflecting his deep engagement with the Philippines. His interests range widely, from history and science to aviation, as seen in Seven-Tenths and Empire of the Clouds. He also received praise for his darkly comic Gerald Samper trilogy. Hamilton-Paterson divides his time between Austria, Italy, and the Philippines and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 28, 2025
From the flyleaf of the jacket of the 1986 hardback edition from MacMillan:
"What a person sees as reality depends, to a considerable extent, on where that person stands. For most of us ours is a world where things are right as long as they look right as long as they look right, as long as correctly dressed people come through the right doors at the right time, saying the right time, saying the right things. A world where we accept the rightness of our lives, and our perceptions, as easily as we accept the rising and setting of the sun.
"In 'The View From Mount Dog' James Hamilton-Paterson tilts our world just enough to change the angle of perception: just enough so that the mundane becomes extraordinary, the bizarre eerily ordinary. What happens, for example, when a sultan grows tired of acting the sultan, when a forty-one-year-old scriptwriter who despises sports becomes the greatest athlete who ever lived, when the Virgin Mary tangles with the Peace Corps?
"From England to the Philippines, from the Middle East to South America, the stories in this collection portray a world that is far stranger, and far more lawless, than we often would like to admit. Disturbingly provocative and disquietingly humorous, 'The View From Mount Dog' is unmistakably the work of an original and uncompromising talent."
I have supplied the above because it is everything you need to know before reading these superb stories. Hamilton-Paterson is a superb writer, perhaps the sort of writer that no longer exists, or is possible to exist. He has written superb fiction and non fiction. He is impossible to categorize except as a writer whose every work leaves you wanting more. He is an author you need to discover, so read this or any of the other numerous works by him I have reviewed. They are all worth reading.
"What a person sees as reality depends, to a considerable extent, on where that person stands. For most of us ours is a world where things are right as long as they look right as long as they look right, as long as correctly dressed people come through the right doors at the right time, saying the right time, saying the right things. A world where we accept the rightness of our lives, and our perceptions, as easily as we accept the rising and setting of the sun.
"In 'The View From Mount Dog' James Hamilton-Paterson tilts our world just enough to change the angle of perception: just enough so that the mundane becomes extraordinary, the bizarre eerily ordinary. What happens, for example, when a sultan grows tired of acting the sultan, when a forty-one-year-old scriptwriter who despises sports becomes the greatest athlete who ever lived, when the Virgin Mary tangles with the Peace Corps?
"From England to the Philippines, from the Middle East to South America, the stories in this collection portray a world that is far stranger, and far more lawless, than we often would like to admit. Disturbingly provocative and disquietingly humorous, 'The View From Mount Dog' is unmistakably the work of an original and uncompromising talent."
I have supplied the above because it is everything you need to know before reading these superb stories. Hamilton-Paterson is a superb writer, perhaps the sort of writer that no longer exists, or is possible to exist. He has written superb fiction and non fiction. He is impossible to categorize except as a writer whose every work leaves you wanting more. He is an author you need to discover, so read this or any of the other numerous works by him I have reviewed. They are all worth reading.
July 13, 2015
I like this author, having previously only read his Fernet Brancha series. So I had been looking round for anything else he had written when I came across this little gem.
The View from Mount Dog is a collection of short stories, a genre I am not at ease with, but to fill a day or two lounging on the beach, why not. Well, I really enjoyed it. There are a dozen stories or varying length and subjects. They do share a style of writing that is Hamilton-Paterson's own, uniquely. Easy to read, eloquent language, perhaps a little old fashioned, personal. All the stories focus on a narrow field, necessarily for short stories. But in creating main character and the setting, they paint a sufficiently detailed picure to draw the reader in (well, this reader anyway). The story develops and then, suddenly, ends. Just like that. Now that sounds like it's a bad thing. But actually, it's not, The story ends when you were really expecting it to over the last few pages. But it doesn't end in the way you were expecting. Not all of the i's have been dotted or t's crossed, but many have - enough to make the ending satisfying. You don't want more - you just need time to adjust to what you have got!
The View from Mount Dog is a collection of short stories, a genre I am not at ease with, but to fill a day or two lounging on the beach, why not. Well, I really enjoyed it. There are a dozen stories or varying length and subjects. They do share a style of writing that is Hamilton-Paterson's own, uniquely. Easy to read, eloquent language, perhaps a little old fashioned, personal. All the stories focus on a narrow field, necessarily for short stories. But in creating main character and the setting, they paint a sufficiently detailed picure to draw the reader in (well, this reader anyway). The story develops and then, suddenly, ends. Just like that. Now that sounds like it's a bad thing. But actually, it's not, The story ends when you were really expecting it to over the last few pages. But it doesn't end in the way you were expecting. Not all of the i's have been dotted or t's crossed, but many have - enough to make the ending satisfying. You don't want more - you just need time to adjust to what you have got!
September 9, 2007
A wonderful collection of stories, bristling with ideas, wit and energy, ranging from the documentary realism of deep-sea fishing in the Philippines to a thought-provoking and whimsical (in the most serious sense) reworking of The Wind in the Willows. Hard to find at a reasonable price, but keep trying. You won't regret it!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews