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Summary: It was interesting and suspensful!
Review: Neil was abused by his father since he was a young boy. When he accidentally kills another boy, named Ian Curtis, his father finds the body in the trunk of his car and hides it and tries to destroy all of the evidence, being the sheriff, he knows exactly what to do. In my opinion, the book was very intriging and suspensful. If I had to reccomend the book to anyone it would be to mature young adults, and adults mainly due to the explicit sexual content in three sections of the book.
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Summary: Diamond Dogs: A Novel
Review: Nice twisted ending, lots of dramatic detail and an anticipated outcome. I loved reading this! Great book for me cause I have to do a book report on it! Its great to see how bad it can get so now I know I wont get drunk and hit a kid!
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Summary: Terrific teenage first-person narrator
Review: Powerfully written, deep but approachable, Diamond Dogs is a great read. The book's best quality is the first-person narrator. Seventeen-year-old Neil tells us the story in his own voice, but unlike other first-person teenage narrators, Alan Watt captures the thoughts, actions, fears and emotions of a young person extremely well. In so many other books the narrator seems like a kid written by an adult, either too wise or to naïve for his (or her) supposed years. As Neil tells us his story, Watt deftly moves from action to thoughts, from detail of the crime to the results of the action within the walls of his school, at home and in Neil's private world. Terrific teenage first-person narrative of a multi-layered story makes Diamond Dogs an important book.
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Summary: This work carries a powerful message
Review: Seventeen year old Neil (named for the singer Diamond) Garvin is the Carmen, Nevada high school golden boy. Neil, the son of the sheriff, is the very popular quarterback of the football team. However, inside, Neil suffers from the desertion of his mother when he was an infant and the cruelty of his so-called charming father, a closet abuser. Neil has learned abusive behavior from his dad, just ask his mates. At a party, Neil accidentally kills Ian Curtis. While investigating, his father realizes Neil did the crime and covers up his son's activities. The townsfolk begin a search for the missing Ian and the lad's mother asks her FBI brother for help. As the outsiders come closer to uncovering the truth, the war between father and son is on the brink of exploding. DIAMOND DOG is a well-written character study that portrays the abusive father, but provides a deep scrutiny into the impact of parental dysfunctional behavior on the child. The story line is fast-paced and loaded with emotion and tension, but requires some acceptance of the implausible happening, which surprisingly does not detract from this insightful look at negative nurturing. Although the novel is a police procedural in the widest definition of the sub-genre, Alan Watt's novel lights up the family drama fans with a fabulous debut book. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: assignment in school
Review: The book that I am reading is "Diamond Dogs" by Alan Watt. This book is about truth, and about how Neil doesn't want to tell the truth because he doesn't want to get into trouble, and gets his friend locked up until he tells them.
It starts out with Neil, who is the star quarterback on the high school football team. The football team and other people are having a party, and Neil and his girlfriend get into a fight. Neil goes outside and starts picking on a kid named Ian; he gives him a wedgie and sends him on his way. Nobody wanted Neil to leave, and urged him to "Come in and have some coffee." Neil should have had some coffee so he could have sobered up before he left. When Neil leaves, he acts stupid and hits something on the road. Neil's dad Chester is the sheriff of Carmen, and so Neil gets away with the whole accident......he didn't just hit "something" on the road, he hit Ian and drove away. Neil's father finds Ian's body in the trunk of their car, but the next day the body is gone when Neil looks for it.
When Neil decides to go with his dad to a Neil Diamond concert he takes his mind off everything until FBI agents start stalking him and try to make him talk about everything that happened. Neil's dad Chester tells him everything about what had happened to his mother. "Like father, like son" they always say, and in this story it is true. "What do the agents want? Did they find Ian's body?" That is what you will have to find about if you read this book...
Overall, Diamond Dogs is a good book that is very thrilling if you could get into it like I did. I give it 4 out 5 stars.
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Summary: A book I read in English
Review: The novel Diamond Dogs by Alan Watts is about a young boy named Neil Garvin. Neil was a popular high school quarterback whose life changes after he commits an accidental crime while driving home drunk after a party. Neil's father was the sheriff of their home town Carmen. To everyone else, Chester seemed like the perfect father, but in his own house he was an alcoholic and abuser. "He was always bragging about me to everybody. I think most people thought he was just this charming guy who really loved his son. He hardly showed his other side, at least not outside the house." Chester covers up Neil's crime by burying Ian's body without consulting Neil. Neil and his best friend Reed have plans to play football at the same college after high school. Neil become very discouraged after the accident and quits the football team. Reed becomes very worried about him. But on the other hand, Neil's father becomes very furious with him because he is living out his dreams through Neil and football. The FBI is called in by the victim's family. Agent Clive Burden questions everyone who was at the party. The evidence provided by the kids proves that Neil is responsible for the disappearance of Ian Curtis. People become suspicious and distant from Neil, including his best friend Reed. "I could feel the stares. I sat there wondering if they knew - everyone who'd seen the condition I'd been in that night." In the end, Neil realizes and regrets all the mistakes he's made in life; his dishonest and unfaithful behavior to his girlfriend; making fun of students who weren't as popular as he was; teasing teachers, just because they knew they would get away with it because they were athletes. "We'd throw chalk at him when he wasn't looking and yell in class while he was writing on the board. And when he turned around pretend to be studying. We'd just be yelling nonsense. And we'd really yell, I mean we would scream... We did it to torment him." The biggest regret Neil had was that he had turned into his father. Overall, I would give Diamond Dogs four stars. It was a truthful book that is great for teenage students to relate to. The author describes very well what the life of Neil Garvin was like. It is a book with interesting conflict of interest.
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Summary: Novel Review For Diamond Dogs
Review: The novel Diamond Dogs was written by Alan Watt. Diamond Dogs is a novel about the importance of telling the truth and what trouble will come if you decide to keep silent. Neil Garvin must learn the hard way about when to keep quiet and when to speak out. After a horrific change of events, everyone's lives suddenly revolve around one purpose: to determine what happened to Ian Curtis. Also this book focuses a lot on the reputation of the main characters. "How do you think it would make me look if my boy got picked up for drunk driving?" says Neil's father. The reputation of Neil, the star quarterback, and Chester, the town sheriff, are at stake because of the mysterious disappearance of Ian Curtis. After a while, though, the book develops a different twist, where Neil starts asking questions about a past incident, something his father is determined to keep in the dark. One of Chester Garvin's more common sayings is, "Don't ask me questions, boy." Truth prevails in the end, though, for lies are a burden and eventually become our slavery. Diamond Dogs is an excellent book for those who love a good book that starts with death and ends with honesty.
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Summary: English Assignment
Review: The novel Diamond Dogs was written by Alan Watt. Diamond Dogs is a novel about the importance of telling the truth and what trouble will come if you decide to keep silent. Neil Garvin must learn the hard way about when to keep quiet and when to speak out. After a horrific change of events, everyone's lives suddenly revolve around one purpose: to determine what happened to Ian Curtis. Also this book focuses a lot on the reputation of the main characters. "How do you think it would make me look if my boy got picked up for drunk driving?" says Neil's father. The reputation of Neil, the star quarterback, and Chester, the town sheriff, are at stake because of the mysterious disappearance of Ian Curtis. After a while, though, the book develops a different twist, where Neil starts asking questions about a past incident, something his father is determined to keep in the dark. One of Chester Garvin's more common sayings is, "Don't ask me questions, boy." Truth prevails in the end, though, for lies are a burden and eventually become our slavery. Diamond Dogs is an excellent book for those who love a good book that starts with death and ends with honesty.
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Summary: Diamond Dogs: A Novel - not for the younger teens!
Review: This book contains perversion which should not be read by young teens.
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Summary: A quick and captivating read
Review: This book is by no means a classic piece of literature, or an epic novel, but it is a very entertaining and interesting read. I read it start to finish in about three hours. I found that I couldn't put it down once I started.
I would like to address all of the negative comments this book has received by overly concerned parents claiming that this book was too sexual for children to read. There are some pretty descriptive sexual interactions described in the book, but I don't think it is anything that a middle schooler and above shouldn't be reading. Granted, this material isn't appropriate for elementary school kids, but for kids in 7th grade and above, they see and hear much worse in their day to day lives anyway.
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