Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre - best quote ever in life!
In Dogfight, Burgess provides the reader with a dummies guide to the drug trade, specifically in Queens. The story takes place in Jackson Heights/Elmhurst/Corona (the lines of these neighborhoods are pretty foggy to me) which is my neighborhood! So you know I was excited. What I like about this story is that it can appeal to a large amount of audiences because it deals with subjects like drugs and crime but also, it proffers a great love story.
Burgess does an awesome job at characterization and instantly from page one, the reader jumps into the mind of Alfredo Batista. Alfredo is a drug dealer, who took on a major power move when his brother, Jose (now Tariq) got arrested after getting into a messy robbery. This power move was the only ammonition to the town bochince (for you non-Spanish speakers, that’s gossip) which caused people to say that Alfredo snitched on his bro to move on up. Others wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, until he did the ultimate faux-pas of romancing his brother’s girlfriend, Isabel, and impregnating her.
And so, the reader is taken on a journey with Alfredo trying to make his wrongs right… perhaps, make it up to his brother and somehow move out of his parents’ home to start his own family. In an attempt to prepare the ultimate welcome-back package for Tariq, Alfredo and his sort of trusty sidekick, Winston rob a young Russian teen drug dealer for his Estacy pills. Little do they know, this young boy is little brother to the head honcho of the Estacy game, landing Alfredo and his camp in a world of trouble. Not to mention, Alfredo and Winston must also find a dog, preferably a voracious pitbull for the illegal basement dog-fight welcome back party for Tariq.
This book is very reminiscent of Ernesto’s Bodega Dreams. Alfredo and Isabel are very much like Chino and Blanca, in a sense. However, I find Alfredo and Isabel’s relationship to be more profound and I adored it. I enjoyed a lot of moments in Burgess’s narration and how he pulled very witty humor out of sticky situations. But I found myself getting frustrated at Isabel’s character and how long it took her to say ‘No’ and stand up for herself. Given her life experiences, I get it but I don’t know I wanted to shake her at times.
As much as I enjoyed this novel, I found the ending to be, what a literary enthusiast would call, a serious “cop-out.” Burgess built up so much momentum to leave the reader disappointed. I even felt that the narrative voice has changed.
Nevertheless, I loved the story and I still think the book is brilliant.
♥ Sandra Dee
HYFR.
HELL YEAH Fuckin’ RIGHT!
WTF was she thinkin?!
