Dogface: A Novel

by Garigliano Jeff

A sharp, dark, humorous debut about a teenage commando wannabe who runs amok in a boot camp for juvenile delinquents.

Fourteen-year-old Loren is obsessed with all things Special Forces, secret missions, rules, and regulations—it’s all so finite and orderly. Especially compared to other parts of Loren’s life. His mom, for example, keeps introducing him to a string of loser boyfriends, and the latest one, the golf pro, is so irritating that Loren decides to stage a night raid and vandalize his beloved golf course.

When the mission goes embarrassingly awry, Loren’s mom sends him to Camp Ascend!, where a dedicated staff of specialists are trained to whip “mixed-up” teens back into shape. Or so it seems.

What Loren’s mom doesn’t know—and what Loren soon discovers—is that Camp Ascend! is actually a scam run by an ex-con nicknamed “the Colonel,” his ditzy, overly tanned wife, and her manic, kid-hating brother. And so Loren finally has a real-life to free himself and his new posse of delinquent friends from Camp Ascend! and to take the place down.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Young Adult

325 pages, Hardcover

First published January 18, 2008

Reviews

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dogface starts out with an outstanding premise, but unfortunately falls short of potential, at least for me. First, the good points. Loren is an outstanding character, and has much in common with teens I have known. He is very intelligent, and quite capable of seeing through the inconsistencies and absurdities of adult logic. While adults in the novel consider him to be mixed up, he is far more rational than any of them. His mother fits some parents I know to the proverbial "T". She is more concerned with herself than with her kid. I have known kids sent to treatment centers for doing far less than what Loren has done. When Loren arrives at Camp Ascend, the story sort of begins to unravel for me. Most of the other characters are mere caricatures. The Camp itself is ludicrous, and it is simply not believable that the Colonel can be so shifty as to set up so many offshore bank accounts and elude the law for so long, yet is incapable of organizing a camp that wouldn't fool any woodchuck that happened to wander through! Bogus treatment centers abound in the real world, sometimes existing for years. Loren is not given much of a challenge, considering the nonsensical and inept management of the camp. I would have loved to have sen him a more realistic setting. It's easy to spot Liz as his future romantic interest, but even she is pretty one-dimensional. Donovan is a sadist, but a stupid and pathetic one, which takes away from Loren's mission. I don't believe that Camp Ascend would have lasted one cycle, much less the nine or so that the book mentions. I would rather have seen Loren up against some of the Treatment Centers or Boot Camps that I have read and heard of in real life. The ending seems sort of contrived, and I began skimming the last few chapters. Now, to be fair, it may be that the author is deliberately exaggerating the absurdity of the situation to make some sort of a social statement on mainstream values along the lines of, say, Animal Farm. It's not a bad book by any means, especially for teens, and I would certainly recommend it to my Young Adult patrons, which I think is the best audience for it.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got to page 165 where there is a scene of gratuitous violence by one of the characters towards a cat which I had to skip. I've also decided at this point to stop reading as I keep getting this sensation that this is not new territory. It strikes me, at least in some ways, as very similar to Holes by Louis Sachar. It doesn't seem like this book is bringing anything new to the subject and, according to one reader of Holes, that book had not only the actual narrative going for it, but also metaphor and deep learning by some of the characters (I'm paraphrasing very badly here). This book, while in some ways entertaining, also has a character who is deeply disturbed & sadistic, and the overall feel I get for this book is that it is a straight narrative. There's nothing wrong with it but I don't feel compelled to finish it either.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those books that is not great, but is so super-good that you develop a real affection for it. The characters pretend to be cliches, but actually are nuanced and real and funny and human. It's no Holes... Holes is Great with a capitol G, but it has the same flavor and if you liked one you'll like the other. I love how things are always going awry in it-- almost like an old-school farce. On a serious note, it is rare to find a book that deals matter-of-factly with the way "troubled teens" can be literally, physically, tortured in these reform camps, without being histrionic or preachy or dry and social-worky. I think I might write the author a fan letter.

[becky bristol · Rating 3 out of 5]

on page 50 something and am curious where this story will go. the characters are becoming fun and interesting.....oh the places this can go.......
finished the book and really enjoyed the characters
they were believable and interesting
reminds me of the days i would sneak out of the house.....

[Bookmarks Magazine]

Rejected by 25 publishers before finally making it into print, former Naval officer Jeff Garigliano's debut novel is being billed as adult fiction despite its young protagonists and adolescent themes. "I looked at

[Tobius · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was funny in parts, and not so funny in others..
The main character is sent to a camp for kids that are out of control, and that is where the story picks up speed, not quite like a locomotive, more like a tram :-)
But still a good read.

[Tamara]

Also mentioned in EW, "[a] niche between YA fiction, military fantasy, and chick lit for dudes..." Whoa.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this YA fiction. finished in 4 days, i think? some parts were a little much for me, (some animal violence) but it was a page turner.

[Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Good humor, dark, and very satisfying. Like a big steak after being stuck in the woods for a week.

[Alex Pollack]

Reading this now....

[Carolyn Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great young adult book! A heroic 14-yr-old with authority problems is sent to a camp run by criminals. Some things at the end were left a little fuzzy, but the plot held together over all.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes me want to write like a guy.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

At Reading Rants:

http://www.readingrants.org/2008/10/2...

[Calwriter8966 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darkly funny book

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book. I couldn't put it down. It's a well-told, compelling story.