22 February 2004

The Minuteman

My Dog, The Meat Eater Worth Sinking Teeth Into

by David Falvey, Minuteman Reviewer

I recently read the book My Dog, The Meat Eater by Umass student and Brockton resident Daniel Trask, and I was very pleasantly surprised. The book is centered on an old farm in a fictitious Massachusetts town called Benson. The first half of the book details the relationships and interactions between the boys who spend their summers working the fields at the Stanislaw farm, along with their old, Puerto Rican boss Louie. The boys are young, with their whole lives ahead of them, and this part of the book details their summers at the farm as if they might last forever.

The second half of the book is far more complex and full of symbolism compared to the first half. The story follows one of the boys, named Bear, who continues to spend his years working on the farm. As the years pass, the farm on which Bear works grows older and weaker. The book is divided into short sections, with sections symbolizing a life cycle that begins, and later dies. A few of the sections are essentially short stories that seem to have no relation to the story of the Stanislaw Farm at all, but are symbolic in showing the different ways time affects the world.

 Throughout the book, the detail and description of every scene and situation is very deep and colorful, which helps the reader paint a mental picture of each scene in their head. At first, the intense description seems too heavy and unnecessary, but soon you become engrossed in the imagery and realize it adds to the story. The book cleverly explores simple questions and matters that few often bother to think about. The story also does a wonderful job of detailing the depressing, unforgiving, and inevitable way in which all things have a beginning and an end.

In order to really develop a true understanding of the symbolic and unique manner in which this story is told and put together, you have to read it more than once. This book is certainly unlike most stories you are likely to read, and demands a reader with a certain sense of imagination and wonder. Trask has a very unique and effective writing style, which is what really makes My Dog, The Meat Eater such an enjoyable read.

Daniel Trask, who also published this book himself, has big plans for My Dog, The Meat Eater.  “I plan on marketing the book with book readings and signings in hopes of getting other aspiring writers excited about writing. There will also be a book reading in Goodell on a Tuesday in March sponsored by the Commonwealth College, who plan to have weekly events allowing aspiring authors and artists like me to show off their work,” says Trask.

Trask also hopes to create a documentary about the writing, publishing, and marketing processes he had to go through with My Dog, The Meat Eater, as well as filming actual scenes from the book. Once this is complete, he hopes to show the film to colleges across the country. Trask certainly has a lot of work ahead of him, but with the impressive story he’s written, it might just be worth it.

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