The surreal invades the quotidian with results both horrific and hilarious in Slavin's first novel, after her well-received collection, The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club
. The Dunleavys have had it rough of late: congressman Matt is incarcerated; wife Wendy is addicted to sedatives; teenage son Dylan has just been fired as the voice of a cartoon rodent on a wildly popular TV show; and a chagwa, a terrifying beast long presumed merely mythical, is hanging around their lawn looking mighty hungry. This extravaganza of satire, razor-blade wit and wild imagination lambastes everything from the new über-reality TV shows (the folks on Colonial World
are dying of malaria and flu) to the prevalence of mood-altering prescription drugs (before being forced into rehab, Wendy joneses for Solisan, Nirvanidan and Oblivan) to the absurdity of the U.S. government (which shuts down for ridiculous holidays and boasts congressmen like a lady-killer senator and a malevolent old Republican who holds a funeral for his amputated leg). Amid all this, the chagwa terrorizes D.C. and its environs, killing people and pets—but always circling back for Dylan, whom it cornered once but didn't kill. Relentlessly weird but also surprisingly moving, Slavin's novel should please any reader ready for a break from the familiar. (July)
