Dog People - Softcover

Mazza, Cris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1566890551 ISBN 13: 9781566890557

Publisher: Coffee House Press, 1997

Synopsis

Mazza's bizarre 90s characters communicate better with their dogs than their lovers. Rich detail, dramatic conclusion!

About this title

Review:

They don't talk, they rarely touch, and they turn to their dogs for solace. The characters in Cris Mazza's seventh novel don't represent broken dreams so much as chronic listlessness. The protagonist, Fanny, a would-be interior designer, "... had only completed one limited-budget job--she'd done over the interior of the little house they rented. She could dimly recall the vigor of that single miraculous day of endless energy." The book's tone--underrated and slightly deprecating--is a harbinger to the novel's action.

Why dog people? Mazza, winner of a PEN/Nelson Algren Award and coeditor of Chick-Lit and Chick-Lit 2, also trains and shows her dog, a basis for exploring the dynamics of her characters: a love-starved caterer, a fascist dog trainer, a lesbian dancer, the passive Fanny, and her husband, Morgan, a hopelessly mediocre dancer. People want the wrong people, and this same awkwardness extends to dogs. When the dog trainer expresses her interest in mating a wolf with Fanny's dog, the hapless, joyless mechanics that ensue illustrate the belief that all potential pleasures can be reduced to graphic mechanics.

From the Back Cover:

As marriages crumble and careers falter, Doreen and Fanny join forces to create a dog/wolf hybrid. Along the way, Fanny comes to realize the banality of her life stems from her expectation that intimate relationships will compensate for her failures. After sex therapy with her husband Morgan, a near affair with prima dancer Renee, and a friendship-turned-romance with her employer, Fanny breaks free and takes back control over her life. In her latest work, Mazza deftly fuses The Truth About Cats and Dogs with Basic Instinct.

About this edition

• Publisher: Coffee House Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1566890551
• ISBN 13: 9781566890557
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288