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Read Songdogs (1996)

Songdogs (1996)

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Author
Genre
Rating
3.79 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0312147414 (ISBN13: 9780312147419)
Language
English
Publisher
picador

Songdogs (1996) - Plot & Excerpts

Being a hobby photographer myself, I found the premise of this story interesting. Can a man's life be told and re-told through the scrutiny of his own photographic documentation of it? It surely makes for a potentially vivid tale, and I definitely think the author makes good on this prospect. To begin with however, the characters McCann creates were a bit hard to get a grip on for me. The story is that of a son searching for answers to questions of his parent's life before his coming to being, and reasons therein for his mother upping and leaving their home when he was only a little child. His father was a photographer, and documented much of his and the boy's mother's life photographically. The story is told in present, through the boy conversing with his now old father, and in past tense through the scrutiny of the father's many pictures. In his later writings I think that one of the fascinating feats of Colum McCann is his ability to portray father-and-son relations. To begin with, this relation was a what was bit hard to grasp in Songdogs. But after finishing the book I am left deeply touched. The images of old men, once tough and handy, now old and vulnerable beneath their facade, have always moved me. As the past and presents eventually meet in this tale, it is this facade of the father, McCann breaks down. The whys and ways of his life become clearer. Perhaps not in the way the son had imagined - when searching for answers in our distant we seldom find what we look for, but often we find something else - but you feel that a long lost father-and-son-bond is somewhat restored. Restored in a heartwarming and measured way. The prose is crisp and virbant, and Songdogs is definitely worth a read.

I had to remind myself that this is Colum McCann's first novel. It is so rich and complete and lyrical and courageous. Like his more recent masterpieces, McCann is toying with themes of memory and personal history, but in this case the story is very small -- just one man searching for his parents, one of whom is physically present, one of whom is physically missing.The story moves back and forth in time which was a bit confusing at first, but once I gave in to his storytelling, I realized its brilliance. Memory is not linear -- it meanders and one thought inevitably leads to an unexpected place. This book is most certainly not driven by plot. It's a mental exercise, but one filled with beauty in terms of both language and characters.Eventually I plan to make my way through all of his published work.

What do You think about Songdogs (1996)?

I was prompted to read this after reading Colum McCann's most recent novel, "Let the Great World Spin"- also an exceptional book and highly recommended reading. "Songdog" is his first published novel, and it is absolutely one of the best books I've read. The imagery is so vivid, the characters so real. I would be pulled into a Norman Rockwell painting while reading the descriptions of photographs taken by "the old man", though the purity and grace of those descriptions was likely far from reality. It is in parts a tragedy, other parts insightful and enlightening, always engrossing and beautifully written. Classic tale of family, searching, understanding and acceptance if not forgiveness, and realizing that history (our memory) is "3/4 imagination and the rest lies".
—Robin

This book somehow ended up in my bedroom at my parents' house (probably cast off by my dad after he was finished with it) and I just sort of fell into reading it. Because of its random appearance I didn't expect much from it and I was pleasantly surprised. It's the story of a son who traces his father's life through scraps of letters and old photographs. From Ireland to Mexico and back again, Collin follows his father on the journey of his life and loves. If this book ever finds its way into your hands, don't resist. It won't be a bad experience.
—Emily

This book made me wish that Goodreads had half stars so I could give this a 3 1/2 (somewhere between I liked it but not quite to I REALLY liked it). This is Colum McCann's first novel and it's clear he's a wonderful writer as he moves between the past and the present in the lives of Conor Lyons and his parents. Conor returns to his home in Ireland after several years of wandering and finds his father in less than stellar shape--frail, not taking care of himself, and going off to fish every day in a polluted stream near their house. Conor's father, Michael, took up photography at a young age, traveled around the world, and ended up meeting Conor's mother in Mexico. After living in several places in the U.S., they return to Michael's home town, where Conor is subsequently born. But there's far more to the story than that, and McCann weaves Conor's narrative of trying to connect with his father in the present day with stories both of Michael and Juanita in the past as well as Conor's search for his mother--a search that takes him to a small village in Mexico, San Franicisco, and Wyoming. The story is nuanced, a bit grim, but sometimes beautiful and makes me wonder how much of his own life McCann mined for this. Definitely worth reading . . . if only to see how a brilliant novelist first began working out some important themes on paper.
—Jennifer

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