Dodgers: A Novel
Dodgers is a dark, unforgettable coming-of-age journey that recalls the very best of Richard Price, Denis Johnson, and J.D. Salinger.
Itis the story of a young LA gang member named East, who is sent by his uncle along with some other teenage boys—including East’s hothead younger brother—to kill a key witness hiding out in Wisconsin. The journey takes East out of a city he’s never left and into an America that is entirely alien to him, ultimately forcing him to grapple with his place in the world and decide what kind of man he wants to become.
Written in stark and unforgettable prose and featuring an array of surprising and memorable characters rendered with empathy and wit, Dodgers heralds the arrival of a major new voice in American fiction.
Winner of the LA TIMES Book Prize of 2017 for Best Mystery/Thriller
Winner of the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger 2016 for Best Crime Novel of the Year
Winner of the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger 2016 for Best Debut Crime Novel
Winner of the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award
Finalist for the PEN/Heminghway Award 2017 for Debut Fiction
Longlisted for Andrew Carnegie Medal 2017 for Excellence in Fiction
Nominated for the Edgar Award 2017 for Best First Novel
ASIN : B011G3HBXS
Publisher : Crown
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : April 5, 2016
Language : English
File size : 2.9 MB
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 294 pages
ISBN-10 : 9781101903742
ISBN-13 : 978-1101903742
Page Flip : Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #1,197,960 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #1,647 in Action & Adventure Literary Fiction #2,022 in Black & African American Mystery, Thriller and Suspense #5,884 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
Customer Reviews: 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,299) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
Original price was: $20.00.$9.99Current price is: $9.99.
Dodgers is a dark, unforgettable coming-of-age journey that recalls the very best of Richard Price, Denis Johnson, and J.D. Salinger.
Itis the story of a young LA gang member named East, who is sent by his uncle along with some other teenage boys—including East’s hothead younger brother—to kill a key witness hiding out in Wisconsin. The journey takes East out of a city he’s never left and into an America that is entirely alien to him, ultimately forcing him to grapple with his place in the world and decide what kind of man he wants to become.
Written in stark and unforgettable prose and featuring an array of surprising and memorable characters rendered with empathy and wit, Dodgers heralds the arrival of a major new voice in American fiction.
Winner of the LA TIMES Book Prize of 2017 for Best Mystery/Thriller
Winner of the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger 2016 for Best Crime Novel of the Year
Winner of the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger 2016 for Best Debut Crime Novel
Winner of the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award
Finalist for the PEN/Heminghway Award 2017 for Debut Fiction
Longlisted for Andrew Carnegie Medal 2017 for Excellence in Fiction
Nominated for the Edgar Award 2017 for Best First Novel
ASIN : B011G3HBXS
Publisher : Crown
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : April 5, 2016
Language : English
File size : 2.9 MB
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 294 pages
ISBN-10 : 9781101903742
ISBN-13 : 978-1101903742
Page Flip : Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #1,197,960 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #1,647 in Action & Adventure Literary Fiction #2,022 in Black & African American Mystery, Thriller and Suspense #5,884 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
Customer Reviews: 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,299) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
Danae M. Falliers –
Street Minimalism – coming of age
It’s hard to give something 5 stars, when you presume it’s competing with the best in literature. But in it’s genre, and for ambition, 4 weren’t enough.I knew nothing of this novel before I bought it. It’s written by a white man, and uses black street language for his characters to communicate. Hat’s off to having the courage to do that. I didn’t find it at all offensive, but I’m white. Somehow, I don’t think it would be an African American, but of course I can’t say.This book weaves in and out of minimalism, which I like. If you’re looking for gang action it’s not for you. Usually, “arty” writing puts me off, but I stayed engaged thougout. I thought about the characters, and wondered what would happen. The Dodgers gives a heavy nod to The Wire, but quieter. It calls Haruf, but as teenage black (boys to-) men expelled from LA. The violence is very well contextualized and it carries a greater impact for it’s normalcy.The story builds a very quiet tension, and pays nice attention to detail. But not too much…all in all plausible, entertaining, interesting, somewhat odd, and subversive. I recommend it.Two small quibbles – the writer doesn’t write women anywhere near as bravely as he writes about another ethnicity (hardly at all and as props). And donuts come out of the fryer, not the oven.
Rod Bell –
His English is Too Good
There is much that is good about this book. It’s fun to read, in a page-turner sort of way, and it seems to have things to say about the context of the story, which is about four teen-aged African American youths who are sent by their gangster boss to travel by car from LA to Wisconsin, there to kill a witness to an earlier gangster slaying. These are young guys; the protagonist is 15 and the designated trigger man is 13.The protagonist, East, knows virtually zero about the world beyond his housing project, the Boxes, so we enjoy that rather easy pleasure of seeing the surprise and wonder of someone finding out what we already know all about. Remarkably, we don’t have to suspend disbelief all that much to accept this improbable journey by four young members of an urban organized crime gang.But the characters? I feel about East and his cohort sort of how I used to feel about movie characters in TV and movies back in the 1950s and 60s, the ones with an African American couple who faced cruel prejudice by the white middle class. Just in case we missed the dramatic elements, the African American couple was a flawless example of the middle class ideal: Nice-looking, immaculately clean, intelligent, very well spoken, with no discernible accent. It didn’t take an Einstein to notice that the only objection anyone could have to these paragons of middle class virtue would be merest prejudice; the conceit was just too obvious for a critical viewer, however (though they kept making those shows).East is not that simple. He is complex and fascinating; he has managed to construct an identity out of rough elements in a harsh, demanding world. But his English is too good. He doesn’t sound like a boy from the Box with no education and no middle class acquaintances. He wasn’t believable enough to make me appreciate what a remarkable character Brewer has ginned up for us.
William Capodanno –
Don’t “Dodge” This One: Polished Debut Shines on Multiple Levels
Sure the comparisons to Richard Price are inevitable, but Bill Beverly’s debut novel “Dodgers” signals the arrival of a unique voice on the literary scene. When you imagine all the possible outcomes for a coming of age, gangster, road trip novel, you’re more likely to expect a mess rather than a first rate novel. However, Beverly manages to create a completely original story centered around some memorable characters. The main character is East, a 15 year old drug runner overseeing a lookout crew in the projects of LA. After a police raid sets the crew back, partially the result of the carelessness of the lookout crew, East’s father, Fin, sends him from LA to Wisconsin on a “hit” to kill the judge in an upcoming trial that threatens to cripple the drug empire.East, along with his combative younger half-brother Ty, along with two equally entertaining characters, Michael and Walter, set out from the projects, The Boxes, in a nondescript minivan for Wisconsin with little more than the clothes on their back and some cash. While East is quiet and introspective, Ty is the proverbial loose cannon on the verge of snapping at the slightest provocation. The journey from LA to Wisconsin provides some memorable encounters, especially in Iowa where they are instructed in their call back to LA to pick up their weapons for the hit. However, it is the quiet moments of the ride across unfamiliar terrain that shines brightest. This America is far different from few square miles in LA that East has spent all the days and nights of his short life.It is in the last third of the book that “Dodgers” demonstrates Beverly’s talent. The pace is methodical in a completely positive way. Beverly doesn’t rush the story from East’s transformative encounter with Ty, to when he and Walter’s paths diverge and finally through his isolated walk through Ohio and his work at the paintball facility. “Dodgers” is a remarkably accomplished novel that surprised me for being far more than an action packed thriller.
Dr U.K. Bhadra –
The book came just as the description in the amazon listing – hardcover, very good quality, and the Dust Jacket intact.Thanks.
Clarkie –
This book is definitely a five star! Writing excellent. Story line interesting and intriguing. The characters are so well developed, I understood them, although the world they inhabit was foreign to an old man like me. But it came to life, amazingly. Their emotions as the novel porgressed were so well realized and true. Nothing phony, Oh, I loved it! I recommend it
Victor –
CWA Gold Dagger winner, this is a hard-hitting gripping gritty thriller st in a world alien to most of us.Slightly reminiscent of S.E.Hinton’s teen novel The Outsiders, this is a coming of age novel for our time. Not for the faint-hearted, Dodgers brings to life a world of drugs, racism, exploitation, poverty, brutality and corruption as well as complex brotherly love and loyalty. A challenging read that goes where most would fear to tread; disturbing and unsettling but a work of distinction, deserving of the accolades received..
Dr.Stephan Teichmann. –
Eine Gruppe von 4 farbigen Jugendlichen aus Los Angeles wird mit einem Mord an einem Richter im Mittleren Westen beauftragt, um ein Gerichtsverfahren zu verzögern. Um keine Spuren zu hinterlassen und um nicht aufzufallen, fahren sie – anstatt zu fliegen – mit einem Van durch die einzelnen Bundesstaaten nach Osten, was mehrere Tage dauert. Anreise, Übergabe der Waffen und der Auftrag selbst laufen dann etwas anders als geplant. Harte, schnörkellose Sprache für die Beschreibung eines trostlosen Daseins in einem winterlichen, harten Land.
simon s. –
The book was in French, I required an English version… Where did it say it was in French?