Sunday, June 8, 2014

The Dog Year



Beneath the surface of Luscious "Lucy" Peterman's life as a well-respected Elmwood, Wisconsin breast surgeon is a woman with a shattered psyche. Eight months before, Lucy lost her loving husband and her unborn child in a single afternoon. Ever since, Lucy has tried to bury herself in work. But there's a problem. Lucy has developed an inexplicable urge to pilfer hospital supplies such as bandages, tape, IV tubing and stockpile them in the bedroom she once shared with her husband. When the powers-that-be at the hospital catch Lucy in the act of stealing, she is given an ultimatum: go for psychological counseling or forfeit her medical license. Under protest, she chooses the former, soon understanding that the root of her addiction stems from the realization that if she had such provisions with her on the day her life forever changed, Lucy might've been able to alter her fate.


The bond Lucy shares with her brother deepens as she undergoes treatment for her kleptomania and is propelled on a journey that connects her with a concerned psychoanalyst; an anorexic stranger with deep-seated emotional issues of her own, who might have friend potential; quirky attendees at a local 12-Step, AA meeting; and a snarky cop who once knew Lucy in high school. Along the way, a stray dog unexpectedly wins Lucy's affections and helps soothe her languishing grief.

Engrossing characterizations and unexpected complications permeate The Dog Year by Ann Garvin (On Maggie's Watch), a novel that addresses serious issues of loss and self-actualization in a very entertaining way.

Berkley Trade,  $15.00 paper, 9780425269251 , 336 pp
Publication Date: June 3, 2014
To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (6/6/14), click HERE