Wearing the Dog: Sunday Salon

 An older book found in my TBR list, whose title stood out to me

Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman

Published March 3, 2020; Ecco, NetGalley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Judy deals with years of loss and resulting anxiety by carrying around her dog, Charlotte, not in a handbag or on a leash, but in a baby sling around her neck. She seems not to mind the stares of incomprehension from friends and strangers.

I found everything strange about the character and her situation, her living in different rooms in the same house with her husband Gary, from whom she is unofficially separated, and dealing with her young son as well as his school, teachers, other mothers, etc. while always "wearing the dog."

I guess the novel shows how people cope in different ways with their lives and its complications. An intriguing novel with some good insights by the book's unusual narrator Judy. The ending, however, seemed to add to the oddness of the book, when wearing the dog seems to become an acceptable, spreading concept in Judy's world.

In the mail 

Exposure by Ramona Emerson

October 1, 2024; Soho Crime

Genre: thriller

Description

In the follow-up to the National Book Award–longlisted Shutter, Navajo forensic photographer Rita Todacheene grapples with a fanatical serial killer—and the ghosts he leaves behind.

A dual-voice cat-and-mouse thriller, told from the points of view of a killer who has created his own deadly religion and the only person who can stop him, an embattled young detective who sees the ghosts of his Native victims.

ARCs

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

Published January 2, 2024; S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books, NetGalley

Genre: historical fiction, Malaya

Description

Malaya, 1945

A novel about a Malayan mother who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during WWII—and the shocking consequences that rain upon her community and family.

Told from the perspectives of four unforgettable characters, The Storm We Made is a dazzling saga about the horrors of war; the fraught relationships between the colonized and their oppressors, and the ambiguity of right and wrong when survival is at stake.

Elephant Herd by Zhanh Guixing, in translation

January 14, 2025; Columbia University Press, NetGalley

Genre: historical novel, Sarawak, Malaysia

The cover and title grabbed my attention and the book covers a period of time in Malaysia that was always interesting to me.

Description

Elephant Herd is a vivid and captivating novel by the Taiwan-based Malaysian Chinese (Mahua) writer Zhang Guixing, whose distinctive style evokes the jungles of Southeast Asia. It is an atmospheric account of a Malaysian Chinese young man’s journey upriver deep into the Sarawak rainforest of northwest Borneo in search of his uncle, the leader of a Communist guerilla group. Venturing through the jungle, the protagonist—largely referred to only as “the boy”—enters a verdant and vertiginous world of wild creatures and political peril.

Its main narrative begins in the 1970s and proceeds to explore the repercussions of Sarawak’s midcentury Communist insurgency. Focusing on the boy, his extended family, and his Indigenous classmate and travel companion, Zhang examines the complex relations among ethnic Chinese, local Malays, and Indigenous peoples. 

Hotel Lucky Seven by Kotaro Isaka, in translation

Publication: November 19, 2024; Overlook Press. NetGalley

Genre: thriller

Description: 

Bullet Train’s hapless underworld operative and his handler are back in this thrilling, "outrageously entertaining" new novel from internationally bestselling author Kotaro Isaka.

Will the unluckiest assassin in the world find things easier this time around? All he has to do is deliver a painting to a hotel guest, a portrait made by his daughter. Easy enough, except when Ladybug makes the delivery, he realizes that the guest is clearly not the guy in the painting. Then he attacks Ladybug, they fight, and the guest ends up dead. How can such simple jobs always go wrong?

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves