I'm having a very unique problem lately. This is the second book that I've thoroughly enjoyed that I can't really recommend to anyone for fear that they'll hate it. So, once again, take my rating and this review with a grain of salt. You'll likely fucking hate this book. 

Where You Once Belonged is a book that I would label a tragedy, in the vein of such depressing fair as Of Mice and Men and The Green Mile. Bad shit happens in this book, and the author doesn't care about your need for retribution or a happy ending. Not all books need to see our characters riding off into the sunset. But you should also know that this book is terrifically short. It does not overstay its welcome, and when the final kick to the nuts is revealed, I didn't find myself saying, "I wasted all my time reading this for that?" Because, while the ending is fitting, given the previous 170 pages, the last four pages are more open-ended than Jada Fire. But, in my opinion, that's okay, because this book isn't a time sink.

(To the dudes out there Googling Jada Fire, you're welcome. Ladies who dig ladies, you are also welcome.)

The packaging of this book is misleading. This is not about what happens when a town hero returns after disappearing. It is about what happened before and directly after he disappears. Only the first and last chapters are in the present. Everything else is first-person omniscient (bold move by the author, as I've only read three books [this is the fourth] that use this crazy style of narration) and 90% of that is flashbacks. First-person omniscient is uber strange. This is a narrative style that is told as if you're listening to someone recollect true events. But what's odd about it is that the narrator knows what everyone is doing, even though they were not there to witness it: he knows their motivations, their actions, their truest, deepest feelings. It could be said that, since our main character Pat Arbuckle, is a journalist, he could have interviewed everyone, but given the knowledge he might have acquired, I don't think this is a good explanation. There are things in here I doubt the people in this town would have admitted to their closest, most-trusted loved one, let alone a newsman.

Which brings me to why you might hate this book. It opens in such a way as to give you certain promises that it never delivers on. You expect the book to be about what happens in this town after Jack Burdette returns, but it's not about that. Not in the least. If you go into this expecting to get answers to those questions, you will be sorely upset.

I, however, love a dour and dire piece of writing, if I'm in the mood for it. And that's exactly what this books is. It is fucking harsh. Bring Kleenex.

In summation: Where You Once Belonged is an arresting, affecting, powerful, and short novel. Recommended for fans of Hemingway, Steinbeck, and O'Connor.

Final Judgment: A thug-punch to the feels.

APA Citation: 

The prodigal son returns to his hometown of Holt, Colorado to what should have been his day of reckoning. Instead he will once again create havoc in someone else life. This novel took a turn I was not expecting and the ending was not one I expected at all.

Once again , Haruf with his understanding of small towns and the people who inhabit them, writes a novel that is anything but simple. Using his spare style of prose but an intimate tone by our narrator, a young man who runs the local paper that his father ran before him, he presents this story of a man, who was once his friend, and the havoc this man causes in many lives.

I will miss this man's writing, his simplicity yet earnestness in telling tales of ordinary people. He has one more book that comes out fairly soon and then no more.

Margaret Wise Brown wrote my favorite childhood book Home For a Bunny. She also wrote Goodnight Moon which is one of my favorite books to read to my kids. Surely I would love a book about Mister Dog the pipe smoking dog who belongs to himself!

It turns out Mister Dog is not his name. His name is actually Crispin's Crispian.

"His name was Crispin's Crispian because he belonged to himself."

Sure. That makes perfect sense.

This is one odd little book.

"He was a funny old dog. He liked Strawberries."

It seems there are people who are against this book due to the pipe smoking and the fact that a little boy goes home with the dog, etc., etc. It's a 1950's Golden Book with a pipe smoking dog. I'm not sure what folks really expect, but I do know that I expected a nice story at the heart of Mister Dog. Unfortunately, this book was a weird mess with one odd event after another.

"This evening he made a bone soup with lots of meat in it. He gave some to the boy, and the boy liked it. The boy didn't give Caspian his chop bone, but he put some of his bright green vegetable in the soup."

The writing style changed several times throughout the book which added to the overall strangeness.

The only way I would recommend Mister Dog is in the "Hey, you want to see a really strange book?" kind of way. I haven't read this to my kids, and I don't plan to. I remember their reaction to But No Elephants. I'm not bringing them down that road again.

All I can say is I'm a glutton for punishment. After writing this review I decided I'd try reading Mister Dog to my kids after all. My oldest declared: "That doesn't make any sense." I knew better. I really did.

This is a short fanfic, not m/m, part of an as yet unwritten series. An intriguing plot, Dean was abducted aged five and changed into a skinwalker. His father John thinks he is dead and vows revenge. Bobby Singer rescues Dean at age eight and raises him as his own son. Some syntax problems but a compelling read.

Prequel timestamp - See Spot Run - http://archiveofourown.org/works/174496