audreyhheart:A few months ago @darkness-befriended kindly recommended The Power of the Dog
audreyhheart:A few months ago @darkness-befriended kindly recommended The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage, and I later learned that the novel is being adapted into a Netflix film with Benedict Cumberbatch. I can’t think of a more perfect Phil! Kodi Smit-McPhee is playing Peter, another excellent casting choice.This book is a treasure. Nobody writes like this anymore, with such studied characterization (Phil is modelled on Savage’s own step-uncle), and profound sense of place (1920s Montana, where the author was raised). Savage understands his subject inside and out but more importantly, he understands people, their thoughts and their souls. Phil Burbank is one of the most layered characters I’ve ever read, full of contradictions: poor manners with a fine pedigree, a brutish cattle rancher with a keen intellect, unspeakably cruel but ultimately sympathetic. A riddle only Peter, his brother’s emotionally detached stepson, can crack. The plot is a Greek tragedy set in the American West. Love, jealousy, betrayal, revenge. Phil’s hubris, a product of his suppressed homosexuality, sets into motion the events that lead to the prospect of happiness and his downfall. A work of psychological realism, each scene is steeped in so much tension you can feel it in your bones. And like any great tragedy, the ending is a gut punch that feels both fitting and heartbreaking.I really hope the film takes off and more people discover Savage’s work. The real tragedy is that such great writer has fallen into obscurity. The Power of the Dog is a masterpiece and should assume its rightful place in the American canon. -- source link