Mt. Holyoke Review

Writing novels and attending school are two things that do not often go together. One famous example to the contrary is S.E. Hinton, who wrote The Outsiders while still in high school. However, most students are far too swamped with schoolwork to find the time to write a novel. In addition, for those who do find the time to write, many publishers do not take student authors seriously.

Daniel Trask, whose book, MY DOG, THE MEAT EATER was published by Imprint Books in November of 2003, is attempting to enter the leterary world while studying for his B.A.

Trask, a senior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has always loved to write, but My Dog, The Meat Eater is his first published work. Trask wrote the novel over the course of nine months, but it was far from an easy task.

“It started with a 20 page short story that I went back to. I wrote draft after draft and when it reached 65 or 70 pages, I put it down for a while. My father, who teaches creative writing, had a different look on his face after reading it and suggested that I turn it into a novel,” Trask said.

A strong component of My Dog, The Meat Eater is the dream sequences. For these, Trask sought influence from his life. “I would wake up at night with ideas, dreams. These were my actual dreams and I put them into the text later.”

Along with the dreams, many aspects of Trask’s life found their way into the text. Trask is from Brockton, a town composed of a 50 percent minority population and a former industrial center. Brockton became the Benson of the novel.

My Dog, The Meat Eater is mainly set on a small farm. “My mother used to work on the farm and I started working there when I was in high school. It was just mindless tasks with time for talk. The farm is run by a small family. The upper-class whites in Brockton shop at the store. I still work there every summer,” Trask said. Animals are an important part of the novel--dogs in particlar. “My dog died a few weeks into the writing, which was a catalyst for a lot of themes. My dog was Bear’s dog in the novel.”

My Dog, The Meat Eater is the story of a few friends who work on a small Massachusetts farm in a former industrial center. Many different characters narrate the novel. Although the plot is straightforward, the novel’s unique structure consists of small snippets of action layered with dreams. The structure serves to draw the reader into the text, and highlights the abstract elements of the writing.

Trask is studying for a degree in biology. He is also involved with the track team. Trask is a senior, but has one more year at the University of Massachusetts.

My Dog, The Meat Eater is available for purchase at the Odyssey Bookstore, Food for Thought, Broadside Books and on Amazon.com. Trask hopes to go on the road and complete a book tour. For more information and upcoming events, visit Trask’s website, www.otppub.com.