Stonedogs

Stonedogs is the first novel by

Montana New Zealand Book Award. The book has been described as "a kind of A Clockwork Orange-meets-Once Were Warriors as imagined by Irvine Welsh".^[1] In 2003, the film rights were sold to Australian production company Mushroom Pictures

, but no film has eventuated.

Stonedogs is structurally unusual; some text takes the form of a play with stage directions, and there are sudden shifts from narrator's voice to outside observer. Pages of inner narrative are italicised. For Marriner, "It was important to do something that would be seen as innovative in terms of structure and format, to come up with mediums which are slightly alternative to what's been done. I saw devices which hadn't been used and I couldn't see why they hadn't."[1] Stonedogs received critical acclaim, winning the Deutz Medal for Fiction in 2002^[2] in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.^[3]

Themes and plot

The novel deals with issues such as

left-wing political themes expressed; Marriner has cited leftists such as Noam Chomsky,^[3] Robert Fisk and Leon Trotsky as influences.^[4]

The story revolves around the protagonist, Gator, an unemployed young adult with

marijuana crop. They drive their Holden to Northland and after unplanned events take place attempt to sell their haul to a gang of Auckland skinheads

, later running into trouble with a corrupt police officer.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Hard lines of reality". The New Zealand Herald. 29 September 2001.
^ "New Zealand Books". NZS.com.
^ ^a ^b "Craig Marriner". Critic. 28 March 2006.
^ "Marriner returns". Rotorua Daily Post. 5 May 2006.

[herald-1] "Hard lines of reality". The New Zealand Herald. 29 September 2001.

[2] "New Zealand Books". NZS.com.

[critic-3] "Craig Marriner". Critic. 28 March 2006.

[dailypost-4] "Marriner returns". Rotorua Daily Post. 5 May 2006.

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