Walkin' the Dog [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Mr. Mosley has written a brilliant book that explores the concept that freedom begins and ends in the mind. The physical world may put hand cuffs or handicaps on you, but you choose how you respond to those limitations. The roads you choose not to take limit your freedom far more than what anyone else will do to you. This is a timeless novel that will probably be considered a classic in the future. I encourage everyone to read it. You have much to gain.

Socrates Fortlow is an ex-con who is just trying to survive. His dreams are haunted by memories of his small cell and the murder he committed that placed him there. The book opens to find him operating like a future butterfly in its cocoon. He is constrained by his violent feelings, his distrust of progress and good fortune, and his discomfort with people. Like many who have sinned (all of us), he has many good qualities. He is mentoring a teenager he works with, will do more than his share of the work required, quietly endures mistreatment by white people, and cares for a badly handicapped dog who has only two legs. His great strengths are that he is interested in controlling his own actions (rather than just striking out in blind anger) and making the best moral choice (taking full responsibility for his actions).

Throughout the story, Socrates develops and finally emerges from his cocoon, and begins to seek out new opportunities and experiences. As a result, he grows as a person and as a moral force. Gradually, he begins to lose the mental bonds that hold him back from fulfilling his mighty potential.

The book is filled with much violence, hatred, and inhumanity. That backdrop will disturb many readers. Yet, for many people, life is like a battleground, and what is portrayed here is realistic in terms of inner city life for many black people.

On the other hand, the book is filled with much love, generosity, and caring. Seeing how these positive and negative forces confront and affect each other is extremely interesting in the plot that Mr. Mosley has developed. You will find it difficult to anticpate what will happen next, because of Mr. Mosley's inventiveness.

Like the Greek Socrates, Socrates Fortlow asks many questions and his questions help others to find their own solutions, as well. You will find yourself pondering the questions, long after you close the book.

The dog, Killer, is an astonishing metaphor for Socrates' life (and indeed our own), and will help every reader to appreciate the nuances in this story.

As much as I enjoyed the Easy Rawlins series, this book vastly transcends those fine books to move into the rarified air of great literature. Many will see the obvious similarities to Les Miserables, but I found Socrates Fortlow to be a greater creation than Jean Valjean was. Also, Mr. Mosley does a better job of character development with Socrates Fortlow than Victor Hugo did with Jean Valjean.

After you finish this story, think about where pessimism has stolen choices from you. What else can you choose to do that will set you free from the limitations of your mind? Like Killer, realize that you may need some help from others in order to accomplish everything you potentially can.

Choose to live free of your preconceptions!

Socrates Fortlow is one of the great creations in American fiction. A man still living out his sentence even though he's been out of prison nine years, he struggles to be a good man, a decent man, a man who makes a difference. He takes care of his two-legged dog, his adopted son Darryl, and tries to defend his neighborhood from the depredations of a bad cop; but Mosley, a writer whose prose is poetic, does not romanticize him. There is life in this collection of scenes set in LA's South Central.

I've read 2 other Walter Mosley's and that's it for me. He's too sloooow and most of all... empty. He's character are not very interesting and the stories always lag and peter away.

I don't see how the reviewers see Walter Mosley as a black writer with something powerful to say about the black condition/experience etc. He hasn't said anything, let alone anything profound. In fact he doesn't even scratch the service. He should be writing kids books because that is where his composing skills have remained.

Snails think faster than Walter Mosley.