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The Power of the Dog

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The Power of the Dog

By: Thomas Savage, Annie Proulx - introduction
Narrated by: Chad Michael Collins, Annie Proulx
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

NOW THE WINNER OF THE 2022 BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR AND TWO 2022 BAFTA AWARDS

Discover Thomas Savage's dark poetic tale of a small town in early 20th-century America that inspired the new Jane Campion film.

Phil and George are brothers and joint owners of the biggest ranch in their Montana valley.

Phil is the bright one, George the plodder. Phil is tall and angular; George is stocky and silent. Phil is a brilliant chess player, a voracious reader, an eloquent storyteller; George learns slowly and devotes himself to the business. They sleep in the room they shared as boys, and so it has been for 40 years.

When George unexpectedly marries a young widow and brings her to live at the ranch, Phil begins a relentless campaign to destroy his brother's new wife. But he reckons without an unlikely protector.

From its visceral first paragraph to its devastating twist of an ending, The Power of the Dog will hold you in its grip.

©2016 Thomas Savage (P)2021 Penguin Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Ranch Dogs

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Critic reviews

"With its echoes of East of Eden and Brokeback Mountain, this satisfyingly complex story deserves another shot at rounding up public admiration." (Guardian)
All stars
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A wonderful, hidden gem that I am pleased has now been thrust into the spotlight after it was adapted in to film.

Wonderful.

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A great book, subtle and intelligent. The film version for once is as memorable as the book - first time I’ve experienced that!

Good

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This is a brilliant depiction of venom that is painful to read but ultimately turns into compassion as well as satisfaction. Read it before you see the movie

Brilliant, painful, satisfying

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I purchased this title purely off the back of publicity around the Netflix film. What a great listen, superb story. I’d read a description of the story as a psychological Western - and that it is. One of the few audiobooks I could easily have listened to in one go. Very enjoyable.

Dark story, fascinating, great performance

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Brilliant book can't wait to see the film. Will listen to this again. Fully recommend.

Power

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A literary masterpiece.

A brave story of then sexual taboos, sexism, cultural, class, and ethnic prejudice.

Pivotal to the plot is the self loathing of a way of being veneered by macho discipline and a hypercritical bitchy attitude towards others to steer them clear of any idea of the almost central character of Phil as a homosexual in denial.

All the threads of landscape, period, ranch life, small town attitudes, conflicts of modern progress, maintaining traditions, and the main characters and their complexities, and characters that form the essential weft and warp in the principal lives of the story are pieced together with powerful strength of evocative description and narrative .

A tableau remarkably structured - almost like a poem. The optimism captured in the conclusion does not take away from the realism of the whole work.

I think this is a book I will return to again, and realise even more depth in its brilliance each time.

The reading was superb.

The afterword by that equally great writer, Annie Proulx was a final treat in the enjoyment of this overall presentation

The Power of the Dog

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I loved this journey back to the old days in Cowboy Country. However, the journey around it's characters personality traits and flaws is relevant today.

Engaging read. Gripping from start

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With minimum dialogue volumes of details build subtle and beautiful and terrible portraits of the key characters.

Sparse & sublime

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First book I didn’t finish. It was so slow and very monotone. Too descriptive for an audiobook, maybe better in print.

Very slow

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There is nothing in this book that you won’t find in just about every western ever made. Overly sentimental reading of an overly sentimental book, made me cringe to be honest.
I can only assume given the hype the film is better than the book.
A “woe is me” book from start to finish, Pass!

Utterly over rated

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