The Dictator: A Novel

by David Layton

From the author of The Bird Factory, a new novel about an estranged father and son forced together under the same roof—one losing his grip on reality and the other discovering a secret past that he may never fully understand.

Aaron, unhappy in middle age, must deal with the reverberations of the financial crisis, his increasingly alienated teenaged daughter and the sudden care of his father, Karl, a man he hardly knows, who is descending into Alzheimer’s.

Karl is a man who has survived by reinventing himself many times over. Blustering, arrogant, he is convinced that the world is intentionally trying to confuse him, not least his good-for-nothing son. Not like his other son, the one he left behind. If only Karl could remember his name, and where he is, Karl would go and find him.

With a deft touch and a wonderful ability to show the humorous in the tragic, David Layton has created a novel that explores the relationship between fathers and sons, and how the events of the past translate down through generations. Told from the alternating perspectives of Karl and Aaron, and travelling from present-day Toronto to a postwar settlement of Jewish immigrants in the Dominican Republic, Untitled Novel is at turns funny, poignant and insightful.

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 9, 2017

About the author

David Layton is author of the acclaimed memoir Motion Sickness. David grew up all over the world and now divides his time between Toronto and Barbados.
He is the son of the acclaimed Canadian poet Irving Layton and American author and journalist Aviva Cantor.

Reviews

[Proserpine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure what's going on with Goodreads' title--there seems to be a glitch--but I read David Layton's "The Dictator: A Novel" in one sitting because, from beginning to end, it was impossible to put the book down. The story offers insights into the complex and painful themes of parent-child estrangement, family history, connectedness, and how much is ultimately knowable about the lives of the people who are or ought to be closest to us. It's a painful, compelling, compassionate and complex story. Both thematically and in David Layton's lovely, polished prose, there is much to feast on and mull over in this story.

[Dana Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but I felt like I spent a lot of time waiting for something to happen and many of the characters were somewhat one dimensional with very specific traits but little to no explicit or implicit explanations for said traits.

These could have been conscious decisions from the author but made the book somewhat lacking for me.

All this to say I did really enjoy this read! The perspective was mew and fresh plus followed a small but extremely interesting demographic not often spoken about.

[Ruthy B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique perspective on the effects of Jewish culture from the Holocaust. Not your typical sad tale, more of a story about the sheer will to survive. Well written and easy to follow, and the conflict will keep you interested as to how the story will resolve. Definitely adding to Reco!

[Victoria Shepherd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartfelt and fascinating, the rarely told story of eldercare from the male perspective.