Doghead

by Morten Ramsland (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.31

  Tormented by bloodhounds chasing him on an east German plain, Askild Eriksson is a murderer, a cubist painter and a thief. His son, Niels Jug Ears Junior, pencils monsters all over the house, finds he's often the one holding the family together but uses dynamite to blow up the privy when his cherished coin collection is sold. And our narrator, The Bastard Boy, a hero for drinking his cousin's pee, fears dogs coming out of the walls and can't stop obessing about the space under the stairs, has a startling confession to make. But in order to do so, he must plumb his shipwrecked family history to sort out the chaos and clear the way. Three generations of wild and dysfunctional Eriksson men are seen through layered and looping stories as each endures coming-of-age trials and their inevitable ensuing humiliations. ut as the stakes are raised, our narrator's reality and mythology merge into one to become the DOGHEAD. Unable banish it to the shadow realm, he tells us about all the bad things children do- pushing the past forward and past the point of no return.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $4.42

  Naughty boys, dirty secrets, mad dogs - in the Eriksson family, childhood is a shocking experience, full of crude and disturbing rites of passage. It all started with Askild 'the Crackpot', chased by bloodhounds on a German plain after escaping from a Nazi concentration camp: he is a painter, a murderer and a thief. His son, Niels 'Jug Ears' Junior, is born in an outhouse, wins respect by kicking other boys in the balls, and uses dynamite to blow up the privy when his father sells his cherished coin collection. And his son, Asger 'the Liar', collects stories about his shipwrecked family which are always exciting though not entirely true. He is haunted by the time he spent hidden in the space under the stairs with his fat aunt, aka 'the Little Bitch'. He has a confession to make and a buried treasure to find. Unable to banish Doghead, a horror from his childhood, to the shadow realm, he reveals the very bad deeds children can do - to push his family story forward, past a point of no return. Doghead is a richly imaginative farcical tragedy; a witty saga of three generations of wild Eriksson men. It touches on chilling themes - concentration camps, child abuse, alcoholism, rape - yet warmly celebrates the stories that hold families together.