Despite being generally favored, some critics have called the novel fragmented, eclectic, chaotic, abrasive, and controversial. It is a mélange of stories and themes, a kaleidoscope of motifs and a collage of characters combined to create what the author calls a “crazy-quilt atmosphere.” It is a story that cannot be told in a traditional narrative, according to the author, so despite the complaints of some critics that the novel’s multiple plot lines weaken the narrative structure, the author justifies her chaotic mix of narrators, memories, dreams, news clippings, movies, radio programs, news stories, and television programs as being necessary to her purpose.
Dogeaters can be a confusing novel to read. Truth and fiction are interspersed and the reader does not know what to believe. By their own admission, the narrators cannot be trusted to tell the truth. The news articles and historical excerpts that the author tosses in lend an element of realism to the narrative, but they too are only partially true. The history presented is revisionist: part history, part memory, and part creative license. The events alluded to are based on actual historical events, but they are modified. Martial