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Red Dog, Red Dog
A National Bestseller and a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year
One of the most powerful, gripping works of fiction to come out of Canada, Red Dog, Red Dog is Patrick Lane’s virtuoso debut novel.
An epic novel of unrequited dreams and forestalled lives, Red Dog, Red Dog is set in the mid-1950s, in a small town in the interior of B.C. in the unnamed Okanagan Valley. The novel focuses on the Stark family, centring on brothers Eddy and Tom, who are bound together by family loyalty and inarticulate love.
There is Tom and Eddy’s father, Elmer Stark, a violent man with a troubled past, and Lillian, who married as a girl to escape life on the farm with her widowed mother, and now retreats into her own isolation. Unrepentant, bitter, older brother Eddy speeds freely along, his desperate path fuelled by drugs and weapons, while Tom, a loner, attempts to conceal their secrets and protect what remains of the family. Eventually, an unspeakable crime causes him to come face to face with something traumatic that has lain hidden in him since he was a boy. Narrated in part by one of the dead infant daughters Elmer has buried, the story unfolds gradually, as it weaves in family stories that reach back to the depression days and the harsh life of settlers in the 1880s West.
This is also a novel about a small community of people, about complicated loyalties, about betrayals and shifts of power. Filled with moments of harrowing violence and breathtaking description, of shattering truths and deep humanity, Red Dog, Red Dog is about the legacies of the past and the possibilities of forgiveness and redemption. With this astonishing novel, one of Canada’s best poets propels himself into the forefront of our finest novelists.
From the Hardcover edition.
One of the most powerful, gripping works of fiction to come out of Canada, Red Dog, Red Dog is Patrick Lane’s virtuoso debut novel.
An epic novel of unrequited dreams and forestalled lives, Red Dog, Red Dog is set in the mid-1950s, in a small town in the interior of B.C. in the unnamed Okanagan Valley. The novel focuses on the Stark family, centring on brothers Eddy and Tom, who are bound together by family loyalty and inarticulate love.
There is Tom and Eddy’s father, Elmer Stark, a violent man with a troubled past, and Lillian, who married as a girl to escape life on the farm with her widowed mother, and now retreats into her own isolation. Unrepentant, bitter, older brother Eddy speeds freely along, his desperate path fuelled by drugs and weapons, while Tom, a loner, attempts to conceal their secrets and protect what remains of the family. Eventually, an unspeakable crime causes him to come face to face with something traumatic that has lain hidden in him since he was a boy. Narrated in part by one of the dead infant daughters Elmer has buried, the story unfolds gradually, as it weaves in family stories that reach back to the depression days and the harsh life of settlers in the 1880s West.
This is also a novel about a small community of people, about complicated loyalties, about betrayals and shifts of power. Filled with moments of harrowing violence and breathtaking description, of shattering truths and deep humanity, Red Dog, Red Dog is about the legacies of the past and the possibilities of forgiveness and redemption. With this astonishing novel, one of Canada’s best poets propels himself into the forefront of our finest novelists.
From the Hardcover edition.
344 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2008
19 people are currently reading
438 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Lane
85 books39 followersPatrick Lane was born in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, on March 26, 1939. He has no formal education beyond high school in Vernon, B.C. From 1957 to 1968 with his young wife, Mary, he raised three children, Mark, Christopher, and Kathryn, and began working at a variety of jobs, from common labourer, truck driver, Cat skinner, chokerman, boxcar loader, Industrial First-Aid Man in the northern bush, to clerk at a number of sawmills in the Interior of British Columbia. He has been a salesman, office manager, and an Industrial Accountant. In 1968 his first wife divorced him. Much of his life after 1968 has been spent as an itinerant poet, wandering over three continents and many countries. He began writing with serious intent in 1960, practicing his craft late at night in small-town western Canada until he moved to Vancouver in early 1965 to work and to join the new generation of artists and writers who were coming of age in the early Sixties.
In 1966, with bill bissett and Seymour Mayne, he established Very Stone House, publishing the new post-war generation of poets. In 1968, he decided to devote his life exclusively to writing, travelling to South America where he lived for two years. On his return, he established a new relationship with his second wife, Carol, had two more children, Michael and Richard, and settled first in the Okanagan Valley in 1972 and then in 1974 on the west coast of Canada at Middle Point near the fishing village of Pender Harbour on The Sunshine Coast where he worked as a carpenter and building contractor. In 1978, he divorced and went to work as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg where he began his life with the poet, Lorna Crozier. Since then, he has been a resident writer at Concordia University in Montreal, The University of Alberta in Edmonton, the Saskatoon Public Library, and the University of Toronto. He taught English Literature at The University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon from 1986 to 1990, and Creative Writing at the University of Victoria, British Columbia from 1991 to 2004. He is presently retired from institutional teaching and leads private writing retreats as well as teaching at such schools as The Banff Writing Workshops, ‘Booming Ground’ at the University of British Columbia, The Victoria Writing School, and The Sage Hill Experience in Saskatchewan. He and his wife, Lorna Crozier, presently reside in a small community outside Victoria where he gardens and works at his craft.
His poetry, short stories, criticism, and non-fiction have won many prizes over the past forty-five years, including The Governor-General’s Award for “Poems: New & Selected” in 1979, The Canadian Authors Association Award for his “Selected Poems” in 1988, and, in 1987, a “Nellie” award (Canada) and The National Radio Award (USA) for the best public radio program for the script titled “Chile,” co-authored with Lorna Crozier. He has received major awards from The Canada Council, The Ontario Arts Council, The Saskatchewan Arts Board, The Manitoba Arts Board, The Ontario Arts Council, and the British Columbia Arts Board. He has received National Magazine awards for both his poetry and his fiction. He is the author of more than twenty books and he has been called by many writers and critics “the best poet of his generation.”
As a critic and commentator, he appears regularly on CBC, the national radio service in Canada, and on numerous other media outlets across Canada.
He has appeared at literary festivals around the world and has read and published his work in many countries including England, France, the Czech Republic, Italy, China, Japan, Chile, Colombia, the Netherlands, and Russia. His poetry and fiction appear in all major Canadian anthologies of English literature. A critical monograph of his life and writing titled "Patrick Lane,” by George Woodcock, was published by ECW Press.
In 1966, with bill bissett and Seymour Mayne, he established Very Stone House, publishing the new post-war generation of poets. In 1968, he decided to devote his life exclusively to writing, travelling to South America where he lived for two years. On his return, he established a new relationship with his second wife, Carol, had two more children, Michael and Richard, and settled first in the Okanagan Valley in 1972 and then in 1974 on the west coast of Canada at Middle Point near the fishing village of Pender Harbour on The Sunshine Coast where he worked as a carpenter and building contractor. In 1978, he divorced and went to work as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg where he began his life with the poet, Lorna Crozier. Since then, he has been a resident writer at Concordia University in Montreal, The University of Alberta in Edmonton, the Saskatoon Public Library, and the University of Toronto. He taught English Literature at The University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon from 1986 to 1990, and Creative Writing at the University of Victoria, British Columbia from 1991 to 2004. He is presently retired from institutional teaching and leads private writing retreats as well as teaching at such schools as The Banff Writing Workshops, ‘Booming Ground’ at the University of British Columbia, The Victoria Writing School, and The Sage Hill Experience in Saskatchewan. He and his wife, Lorna Crozier, presently reside in a small community outside Victoria where he gardens and works at his craft.
His poetry, short stories, criticism, and non-fiction have won many prizes over the past forty-five years, including The Governor-General’s Award for “Poems: New & Selected” in 1979, The Canadian Authors Association Award for his “Selected Poems” in 1988, and, in 1987, a “Nellie” award (Canada) and The National Radio Award (USA) for the best public radio program for the script titled “Chile,” co-authored with Lorna Crozier. He has received major awards from The Canada Council, The Ontario Arts Council, The Saskatchewan Arts Board, The Manitoba Arts Board, The Ontario Arts Council, and the British Columbia Arts Board. He has received National Magazine awards for both his poetry and his fiction. He is the author of more than twenty books and he has been called by many writers and critics “the best poet of his generation.”
As a critic and commentator, he appears regularly on CBC, the national radio service in Canada, and on numerous other media outlets across Canada.
He has appeared at literary festivals around the world and has read and published his work in many countries including England, France, the Czech Republic, Italy, China, Japan, Chile, Colombia, the Netherlands, and Russia. His poetry and fiction appear in all major Canadian anthologies of English literature. A critical monograph of his life and writing titled "Patrick Lane,” by George Woodcock, was published by ECW Press.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
September 7, 2019
Το μοναδικό μυθιστόρημα του Καναδού ποιητή είναι μια εξαιρετική ιστορία που εισχωρεί βαθιά στο θέμα της βίας. Ο συγγραφέας δεν μιλάει γενικά για τη βία αφού οι κεντρικοί ήρωές του είναι τόσο τραγικοί που γίνονται μοναδικοί. Ξεκινά την ιστορία αυτή πιάνοντας τον αναγνώστη \"από τον λαιμό\" από τις πρώτες σελίδες. Κάνοντας κάποια flash back μέχρι το 1880 φτιάχνει ένα μυθιστόρημα με πολύ σφιχτοδεμένο story στο οποία οι ήρωες δείχνουν να μην μπορούν να ξεφύγουν από την βία που τους κυνηγά σαν κληρονομιά και σαν κατάρα ταυτόχρονα.
December 2, 2008
Patrick Lane's beautiful imagery juxtaposed with the "Stark" realities of its characters was in itself a feat. As I read, I felt what is at the heart of this first (!)novel, is a long, melancholy song. Very moving.
April 4, 2013
A Book Review
Red Dog Red Dog
by Patrick Lane
It amazes me. Settlers crossing North America in the 1800's.
The hardships they had to endure. Covered wagons, hostile Indians, winter. Food. Eating their dogs.
Hard to believe, in this day and age just how large North America really was. To cross the continent, the trip took months.
People were totally ignorant of the dangers and just weren't prepared for such a journey.
The story opens in the middle of the Saskatchewan prairies, with just such settlers, the death of a baby girl, who only lived for seven days.
These were hard and enduring times, the lawlessness, the hunger. Unwanted births. It's hard to imagine.
Generations later, the story turns to, two Stark brothers, Tom and Eddy, opposites. The year 1958, the place - the Okanagan Valley.
This novel is very black. There is no happiness to be had on any page and believe me I was hoping to find some just to relieve the agony I felt. The careless disregard for anything living. No matter human or...
If you're a dog lover don't read this book. Describes dog husbandry for profit and fighting extensively.
I have to remember it's only a book. That was then this is now. We've come along way baby, just in compassion alone. Then you occasionally hear stories of people like Michael Vick and this is 2013 not 1958 when it was more common.
Patrick Lane has a style his own, maybe a little flowery with his descriptions but very believable characters and in your face situations. Abuse, incest, rape, murder all in one book.
I enjoyed this book. It was a real down to earth history lesson.
I give it two thumbs up, reluctantly, because it was a good read. It kept my attention from page one to the end. If there would have been one moment of happiness I'd have no reason to complain, but there wasn't and I was left feeling uneasy and spent.
Maybe that's how I am supposed to feel.
Michael Estey
Red Dog Red Dog
by Patrick Lane
It amazes me. Settlers crossing North America in the 1800's.
The hardships they had to endure. Covered wagons, hostile Indians, winter. Food. Eating their dogs.
Hard to believe, in this day and age just how large North America really was. To cross the continent, the trip took months.
People were totally ignorant of the dangers and just weren't prepared for such a journey.
The story opens in the middle of the Saskatchewan prairies, with just such settlers, the death of a baby girl, who only lived for seven days.
These were hard and enduring times, the lawlessness, the hunger. Unwanted births. It's hard to imagine.
Generations later, the story turns to, two Stark brothers, Tom and Eddy, opposites. The year 1958, the place - the Okanagan Valley.
This novel is very black. There is no happiness to be had on any page and believe me I was hoping to find some just to relieve the agony I felt. The careless disregard for anything living. No matter human or...
If you're a dog lover don't read this book. Describes dog husbandry for profit and fighting extensively.
I have to remember it's only a book. That was then this is now. We've come along way baby, just in compassion alone. Then you occasionally hear stories of people like Michael Vick and this is 2013 not 1958 when it was more common.
Patrick Lane has a style his own, maybe a little flowery with his descriptions but very believable characters and in your face situations. Abuse, incest, rape, murder all in one book.
I enjoyed this book. It was a real down to earth history lesson.
I give it two thumbs up, reluctantly, because it was a good read. It kept my attention from page one to the end. If there would have been one moment of happiness I'd have no reason to complain, but there wasn't and I was left feeling uneasy and spent.
Maybe that's how I am supposed to feel.
Michael Estey
December 13, 2010
Can I give negative stars?
Worst. Book. Ever. The End.
Worst. Book. Ever. The End.
July 31, 2011
The novel begins with a bang, a stunning opening chapter followed by five almost as vivid, but then narrative thrust is lost amidst a welter of irrelevant characters and explorations of the lives of the protagonist's parents and grandparents. Eventually the plot is slowly resumed, and by the end is moving at a reasonable pace, but it's too late: the reader has been kept waiting too long.
The digressions are often powerful in themselves, and do shed light on the main characters, but they overwhelm the book, occupying at least half of its total bulk. There is much exquisite, carefully-polished writing throughout. I suspect this material would have worked better as a collection of short stories. A disappointment, but with moments of excellence.
The digressions are often powerful in themselves, and do shed light on the main characters, but they overwhelm the book, occupying at least half of its total bulk. There is much exquisite, carefully-polished writing throughout. I suspect this material would have worked better as a collection of short stories. A disappointment, but with moments of excellence.
May 14, 2016
Didn't finish it. Beautifully written at times but not enough to keep my interest.
April 6, 2022
Εξαιρετική αποτύπωση της Αμερικής του 1958 με τη ζωή να δείχνει το σκληρό της πρόσωπο εξ ίσου σε όλους. Ζωές σπαταλημένες πίσω από μηδενικές προσδοκίες που συχνά οδηγούνται σε δράματα. Αφού προηγουμένως στήσει αυτό το ζοφερό σκηνικό ο Λέιν με απόλυτο ρεαλισμό, θα επιχειρήσει ακολούθως να μπει στην ψυχοσύνθεση των ηρώων του. Η έκπληξη που περιμένει εκεί τον αναγνώστη θα είναι ακόμη μεγαλύτερη. Παρότι ο χρόνος μέσα στον οποίο κινείται όλο το βιβλίο είναι μια εβδομάδα εν τούτοις θα έχουμε την ευκαιρία να γνωρίσουμε τις ζωές των πρωταγωνιστών και των προγόνων τους έως άλλες 2 γενιές πίσω κι είναι αξιοσημείωτος ο τρόπος με τον οποίο το πετυχαίνει αυτό ο συγγραφέας. Πολύ δυνατή ιστορία που συναρπάζει τον αναγνώστη και που δεν επιτρέπει στιγμή να διακυβευτεί το ενδιαφέρον του. Η μετάφραση κι η επιμέλεια έχουν εμφανή ελλείμματα αλλά αν τα προσπεράσει κάνεις θ' απολαύσει ένα εξαιρετικό μυθιστόρημα. Ιδιαίτερη μνεία αξίζει το εξώφυλλο. Είναι η επιτομή του "μια εικόνα χίλιες λέξεις", ή μάλλον 90.000 λέξεις (που περίπου είναι όλο το βιβλίο).
February 12, 2020
Beautifully written but so hard to get into. Skipped quite a few pages through the dog fights. Not even sure why that was in there ?
February 2, 2025
This was a difficult book to start but once I got past the fact that I wouldn’t like any of the people I found myself compelled to read late into the night to finish. The tragic lives and loss, the hardships the characters endured and yet there was still loyalty between the brothers. A bond so deep that only death could sever and set them free. The writing was exquisite, poetic and I was completely drawn in.
May 6, 2020
This book is stark and brutal in its protrayal of a rough upbringing in the Okanagan in British Columbia. These brothers are feral and they are slowly drawn into a crime that will define them.
The ghosts of dead siblings haunt them and the bed-ridden mother still wields power over them. Yet somehow I can't stop reading. It's like driving past the scene of a car accident and seeing the humanity of thise involved.
The ghosts of dead siblings haunt them and the bed-ridden mother still wields power over them. Yet somehow I can't stop reading. It's like driving past the scene of a car accident and seeing the humanity of thise involved.
May 20, 2024
This is a top contender for worst book I've read. Mentions Salmon Arm tho.
October 13, 2025
I wish I could give this book zero stars
October 28, 2023
The book had some characters and events that captured my interest and some compelling imagery, but mostly it was repetitive and pretentious, and frankly, boring.
June 16, 2015
Once again a National Best Seller that is totally outside my idea of a goodread. Set in the 50s in Alberta, where I grew up, Saskatchewan, Montana et al, narrated by a deceased infant daughter, this book thank GOD does not begin to resemble the life I knew growing up in that era and that place. While his writing may be "richly textured" it is also morbid depressing and moves at a pace that makes paint drying seem instantaneous. I QUIT at page 175 and the only thing I learned was that Qu'Apelle means Who Calls, so an entire waste, but I also quit filled with anger rage and depression. Thank you very much Patrick Lane.
Read
March 9, 2011I've read some bad Canadian literature but this is just pure shit. At first I was somewhat intrigued by the first person narrative of a dead six month old baby girl. This without asking the question, how did she learn to speak so well? It's just an allegorical device, poetic licence in literature. Garbage. If this was written as a regular readable story, as interestingly as possible, it would still be dull and boring. A "who cares" tale dressed up in lyrical mis-use. I gave it a 1 because you have to give it something. Turns out I gave it a none, which is fitting.
December 21, 2017
Don't go near this work unless you are prepared to be beaten senseless time and time again. An amazingly powerful story which was even harder to read the second time through because I knew what was coming. There is no way to describe this other than to say it is an emotional black hole from which you cannot emerge unscathed.
April 3, 2018
This is a first for me — I absolutely could not finish this book. Dull, dreary, boring and pointless. Gave it a valiant effort but after slogging through it for well over a week, and only getting halfway through, I’m finally throwing in the towel. Reading should not be a chore.
October 30, 2019
Well..this was a story to fall into!!
I don't even know why..or what to say about it. It kinda feels like it had to be 'told' by a tormented adults perspective of growing up.
Very good..a most forehead creasing absorbing read.
Thank you.
I don't even know why..or what to say about it. It kinda feels like it had to be 'told' by a tormented adults perspective of growing up.
Very good..a most forehead creasing absorbing read.
Thank you.
March 26, 2015
Couldn't finish this. Life is already full of cruelty and despair I don't necessarily want to read about it. This one was just a little too depressing for this guy.
December 28, 2011
Cannot get into this book. It is so depressing. Giving up.
July 22, 2012
You just have to put a book down when you're constantly forcing yourself to pick it up. The low rating of this book already tells me I wasn't the only one that thought it was bad...
October 18, 2013
Horrible... Depressing and strange!
Couldn't even finish it!
Couldn't even finish it!
August 15, 2013
Couldn't even finish it
April 17, 2022
Typical north-american novel, all characters seem to never clear out their feelings.
November 12, 2022
Strongly developed sense of place, deeply poetic imagery and word use; a historical account of the semi-feral lives of poor settlers in Western Canada through the first half of the 20th century. As someone descended from a similar violent Okanagan settler background, it really resonated with me. The downside is that there are a couple of distracting literary devices/choices (the dead baby narrator, and formatting which is so poetic it distracts from the flow of prose - great if you like to stop and read the poetry of landscape, terrible if you don't like to grind through pages of natural imagery as metaphor).
The other drawback is that reads as a primer for intergenerational trauma without allowing enough moments of enduring tenderness and hope to create a safety that really draws the reader in, giving it an overall bleakness that left me feeling a little bruised and empty by the end. Likely the intention, but definitely not a good recommendation for people who prefer authors who are more gentle with their readers. Some authors want their readers to work for the experience, and some want their readers to relax into the story; this book is of the former category.
Taking that into consideration, I took a poetry class with Patrick Lane over two decades ago at UVic and he was an excellent teacher and poet; it was this commitment, understanding of him as a writer, and my own family history that kept me compelled to finish this gritty, dark book, but I do understand how a lot of reviewers put it down without finishing it. It's basically an invitation to witness murder and dog fights coordinated by alcoholic criminals and hopeless women, and most of us don't want to be at that party.
The other drawback is that reads as a primer for intergenerational trauma without allowing enough moments of enduring tenderness and hope to create a safety that really draws the reader in, giving it an overall bleakness that left me feeling a little bruised and empty by the end. Likely the intention, but definitely not a good recommendation for people who prefer authors who are more gentle with their readers. Some authors want their readers to work for the experience, and some want their readers to relax into the story; this book is of the former category.
Taking that into consideration, I took a poetry class with Patrick Lane over two decades ago at UVic and he was an excellent teacher and poet; it was this commitment, understanding of him as a writer, and my own family history that kept me compelled to finish this gritty, dark book, but I do understand how a lot of reviewers put it down without finishing it. It's basically an invitation to witness murder and dog fights coordinated by alcoholic criminals and hopeless women, and most of us don't want to be at that party.
July 4, 2025
Ok I am stunned that this only has an average 3.15 rating, what?! I adored this book, super hard to read at times due to the level of violence, heartbreak and cruelty. Which was never gratuitous and always completely believable which made it harder to read. The book is somewhat based on the author's life and it conveyed the reality of poverty, desperation and despair in a time when there was no social net in Canada. For anyone who believes we should dismantle our social supports, read this first!
The depictions of nature and the inner thoughts of one of the main characters was exquisitely beautiful. I didn't like the prose style of the ending, but the image of the mother and girlfriend preparing the dead body will stay with me for awhile.
The depictions of nature and the inner thoughts of one of the main characters was exquisitely beautiful. I didn't like the prose style of the ending, but the image of the mother and girlfriend preparing the dead body will stay with me for awhile.
November 23, 2020
This book was thoroughly depressing with its unlikeable characters, dog fights, violence, poverty, etc., I could go on. However, the author's style of writing had a beautiful quality to it, not surprised to learn he is a poet. I will remember this book for its sadness but probably wouldn't recommend it to others because it is just SO depressing.
November 22, 2018
Seemed like really good writing but could not get past the weird sexual descriptions at the beginning of the book and did not want to encounter more (only a man would write about children looking at their father's 'heavy cock'...)
April 15, 2022
Bleak, hard, unrelenting. That's how this book felt, and that's how some lives are lived. I think every social work / psych / pre-med student in the country should read this book as an eye-opening, consciousness-raising exercise. Masterfully told story.
August 7, 2018
A quietly stunning tale. Patrick Lane writes beauty into the reckless and heartbreaking. His poetry raises the ugly to wonder whether wasps or dog fights.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews