''Stonedogs'' is the first novel by

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

writer

Craig Marriner Craig Marriner (born 1974) is a novelist from Rotorua, New Zealand. He is best known for his award-winning first novel ''Stonedogs'' (2001). Early life Marriner was born in Rotorua and had what he describes as a "strictly working-class backgrou ...

. It was published in 2001 and has won a

Montana New Zealand Book Award The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

. The book has been described as "a kind of ''

A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...

''-meets-''

Once Were Warriors ''Once Were Warriors'' is New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling first novel, published in 1990. It tells the story of an urban Māori family, the Hekes, and portrays the reality of domestic violence in New Zealand. It was the basis of a 199 ...

'' as imagined by Irvine Welsh". In 2003, the film rights were sold to

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n production company

Mushroom Pictures Mushroom Pictures is an Australian film production and distribution company which is part of the Mushroom Records group. It was formed in 1993 in association with Regular Records to produce music related documentaries. In 1995 they announced they ...

, 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." ''Stonedogs'' received critical acclaim, winning the Deutz Medal for Fiction in 2002 in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

Themes and plot

The novel deals with issues such as alienation, social decay, drug use and New Zealand gang culture, as well as political and environmental issues. Speaking of the novel, Marriner told an interviewer, "I've been pretty disillusioned with mainstream society for a while, I just don't see a future in it. And I've been moving in working-class circles and watching the quiet desperation everyone lives their lives through. So the novel comes from there, and questions where we're going environmentally and politically." There are strong

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political themes expressed; Marriner has cited leftists such as

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

, Robert Fisk and

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

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

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...

and neo- Nietzschean philosophies, and his friends in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

. All are involved in

recreational drug use Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...

. After they try to purchase LSD from members of the fictional gang "The Rabble", Gator causes an incident and makes an enemy in the leader of the gang chapter. After a tip-off from his friend Steve, whose cousin is a gang prospect, Gator and the others plan to steal the harvest of the gang's

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

crop. They drive their

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...

to Northland and after unplanned events take place attempt to sell their haul to a gang of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

skinheads, later running into trouble with a corrupt police officer.

References

{{reflist 21st-century New Zealand novels 2001 novels Novels set in New Zealand Rotorua in fiction 2001 debut novels