Suzanne
Rating:
Review
In a sea of fiction about dysfunctional families, Doghead just may be the whopper of them all. Asger, the grandson and narrator, is visiting his dying grandmother Bjork, who manages to set him straight regarding certain skeletons in the family closet when she's not suffering from fits of dementia. The result is the story of three generations of Asger's Norwegian family, beginning in Norway and eventually moving on to Denmark. Bullying, rape, incest, and hallucinations of future lovers and a past ancestor are included, along with an overweight retarded aunt called "The Little Bitch" by her niece and nephew. Asgild, the grandfather, is a thief, a liar, and an alcoholic whose unusable cubist ship designs get him fired from one architect job after another. Two of Asger's older relatives, Applehead and Knut, run away to sea at a young age and don't come back for years and years – who can blame them? As you can tell, nicknames run amok, and they're never nice. Ultimately my main impression is of a bunch of mean, coarse people doing brutal things to each other. If it weren't for the unceasing cruelty in this tale I might have found it more interesting. The subtitle reads "Reality is not for children" but I'd say this reality is not for anyone.
Best Line:
"Just wait until you have to go out into the real world..." (pg. 230)
Kim
Rating:
Review
We've all read those certain books that are so good you'll stay up into the wee hours completely engrossed in a story.
Doghead is not that kind of a book. Truth be told, I got half way into it and called in sick for the remainder. The narrator, Asger, has the great misfortune of being born into a family of liars, dreamers, thieves and addicts, making every character in this story hard to love, or even tolerate. I had high hopes for this book, mostly because of the title and cover art, I'll admit. Next time I'll try to be less shallow when choosing reading material, I swear.
Best Line:
"Usually he just drew big heads and little feet, but suddenly the pencil stub slid between his fingers, and on the face of one of the figures he drew a triangle that looked exactly like a fang."
