Outside of a Dog: Jones, Diana: Dogsbody

Delurker

Delurker wrote on November 6, 2007 at 9:48 PM:

I find DWJ's endings are often very abrupt, too, which is disappointing. (Although how disappointed I am varies from book to book - sometimes very little, sometimes quite a lot.)

Kate

Kate wrote on November 6, 2007 at 9:53 PM:

I adore the ending of _Deep Secret_--the way it manages its shifts is a constant source of amazement to me. I was just kinda enh about her other books for no real reason that I remember now.

Kate

Kate wrote on November 6, 2007 at 10:30 PM:

Err, except for Howl's Moving Castle.

Jeane

Jeane wrote on November 7, 2007 at 11:29 AM:

Oh, I love this book! Since I was a kid. But I have tried to read several others of Jones', and none have hit the mark for me.

Dan Blum

Dan Blum wrote on November 8, 2007 at 11:38 PM:

DWJ likes to surprise you with the ending, which I appreciate, but she doesn't set the ending up well enough in every book. Dogsbody is definitely an example of that. But when she does get it right it works very well - in addition to Deep Secret, I'm thinking of Hexwood, The Time of the Ghost, etc.

Kate

Kate wrote on November 9, 2007 at 9:46 AM:

Jeane: she really seems to be that kind of author.

Dan, yes, I think that for all that _Deep Secret_ goes mythic at the end, you know that the mythic turn is coming because you've seen the external trappings of it already.