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  • Raw Dog

  • The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs
  • By: Jamie Loftus
  • Narrated by: Jamie Loftus
  • Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (12 ratings)

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Raw Dog

By: Jamie Loftus
Narrated by: Jamie Loftus
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Publisher's Summary

Long-listed, Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year 2023

Long-listed, New York Magazine Best Books of the Year 2023

One of BookPage's Best Audiobooks of 2023

"Loftus is a charming narrator...goofy, engaging, and always game to do a silly voice."The New York Times

"There’s something terribly irresistible about her narration, which is often incredibly funny."BookPage

Part travelogue, part culinary history, all capitalist critique—comedian Jamie Loftus's debut, Raw Dog, will take you on a cross-country road trip in the summer of 2021, and reveal what the creation, culture, and class influence of hot dogs says about America now.

“Wise and funny”—ANDY RICHTER • “Gonzo yet vulnerable”—GABE DUNN • “Hot dog Moby-Dick—BRANSON REESE • “Revealing, funny, sad, horny, and insatiably curious”—SARAH MARSHALL • “A wild ride”—ROBERT EVANS • “Deeply incisive and hilariously honest”—JACK O’BRIEN

Hot dogs. Poor people created them. Rich people found a way to charge fifteen dollars for them. They’re high culture, they’re low culture, they’re sports food, they’re kids' food, they’re hangover food, and they’re deeply American, despite having no basis whatsoever in America's Indigenous traditions. You can love them, you can hate them, but you can’t avoid the great American hot dog.

Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs is part investigation into the cultural and culinary significance of hot dogs and part travelogue documenting a cross-country road trip researching them as they’re served today. From avocado and spice in the West to ass-shattering chili in the East to an entire salad on a slice of meat in Chicago, Loftus, her pets, and her ex eat their way across the country during the strange summer of 2021. It’s a brief window into the year between waves of a plague that the American government has the resources to temper, but not the interest.

So grab a dog, lay out your picnic blanket, and dig into the delicious and inevitable product of centuries of violence, poverty, and ambition, now rolling around at your local 7-Eleven.

“One of the freshest and most insightful new comedic voices of this decade.”—LINDSAY ELLIS

A Macmillan Audio production from Forge Books.

©2023 Jamie Loftus (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic Reviews

"Raw Dog will leave you nourished."—BuzzFeed

“Jamie Loftus is a wise and funny storyteller, and her enthusiasm is inspiring. There’s so much about hot dogs that you need to know, and Jamie is here to teach you!”—ANDY RICHTER, actor and writer

“A moving, gorgeously written and lovingly researched dive into the world of hot dogs, American nationalism, in-group scandal, and delicate human relationships. This gonzo yet vulnerable trek is meaty, fun, critical, and evocative all at once. Jamie Loftus is the hot dog generation's Joan Didion.”—GABE DUNN, New York Times bestselling coauthor of I Hate Everyone But You

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Sad it is over...glad it happened to me

Medium: audio book

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As an Autistic person it should come as no surprise that I have many, rotating special interests. Are they often macabre and do I bring them up and explain them in-depth at inappropriate times? Yes.

Hot dogs are not one of my interests. Hell, I'm not even from the United States.

Thankfully, this book is not a beat by beat Wikipedia article about the meal in a bun that does or does not secrete all over one's fingers, nor does it take itself too seriously. It doesn't matter that I don't know the places or the players. I buy all of it, anyway.

No, this hot dog tale fits firmly into a genre I have grown to love. It's what I would call autobiographical special interest lit. It's not just about hog dogs, and nor should it be. It's taking a niche topic and adding a personal narrative to it. Robert Ballard did it when looking for the Titanic on the ocean floor. Grey whales has a similar treatment with @doreenwriting

Loftus adds a passionate, dark, funny and oversharing narrative to this feast ...and I love it. Every vulnerable and sometimes stomach churning admission. Every. Single. One. Especially the comparisons of red hot dog topping slop to menstrual blood.

Politely, the parts that could be upsetting have a lovely little content warning, and are sandwiched by lighter fare. A kind gesture.

Let's expand on the humour for a second. I cannot speak to the paper form and how well the jokes land in text. I got to hear it all from the author, which I have grown to prefer in this genre. The subtleties and beats in often dry and sarcastic monologues were immensely enjoyable and immersive. Plus, even when Loftus is telling us how sausage is made (ew) or about the drama surrounding hot dog eating contests (also ew, but kinda ha ha), she does so in the most hypnotic, soothing voice. One cannot help but feel relaxed amidst the carnage that continues to unfold.

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  • Overall
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  • Jon
  • 08-06-2023

Hotdog travelogue

A distinctive voice shares her introspection and reflections on society gained from a cross country pursuit of fulfilling contractual obligations to deliver a book about hotdogs.

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