Carnivore Diet: A Novel [Hardcover]

Julia Slavin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 18, 2005

A wildly imaginative tragicomedy about a fantastical animal on the prowl and its affection for one troubled family.

Wendy Dunleavy is desperately trying to hold her family together. But with her politician husband in prison for corruption and her son, Dylan, the former child actor, running unsupervised through the orderly avenues of northwest Washington, she may not have enough muscle for the task. And that's before the first sighting of the mysterious Chagwa, a famished and unruly menace that not only breaks up the all-important Beltway soirees but also seems to have intentions toward Dylan. Life might be easier if she weren't addicted to sedatives like the rest of the frightened population. Life might be easier if it weren't always a diet of misery, hilarity, longing, and surprise in a nation of hucksters, self-deluding lobbyists, and pundits.

Known for her "haunting and inventive" storytelling (Harper's Bazaar), her laugh-out-loud repartee, and her surreal transfigurations of the commonplace, Julia Slavin has unleashed a hilarious and disturbing tale where the reach of fantasy is as long as the arm of the federal government.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

First-novelist Slavin depicts a chaotic future in which suburbanites are heavily addicted to soporifics and terrorized by a voracious, multi-eyed beast called a chagwa. At the center of the novel are the Dunleavys: 14-year-old Dylan has recently lost his TV role as a boy rodent because his voice changed, and his congressman father is serving time in jail for misconduct; meanwhile, the family's precarious financial situation has taken a toll on Dylan's mom, Wendy. When the roaring, voracious chagwa turns up in their backyard, Dylan is injured. One of the people Wendy turns to for help is charming politician Ben Sotterburg, who seems to know a lot about cooking (he gives Wendy much practical advice for feeding the hairy menace) and who is constantly trailed by hordes of weeping women because of his heartbreaking ways. Ultimately, the entire city goes into a complete panic, but by then, readers may well have lost interest. Slavin takes an interesting, imaginative premise and drives it straight into the ground, but her inventiveness marks her as a writer to watch. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (July 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393059987
• ISBN-13: 978-0393059984
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,345,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fiendish allegory, July 11, 2005

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carnivore Diet: A Novel (Hardcover)

I'm not usually a fan of humorous novels, but Slavin is inordinately clever, her skewed take on suburban Washington D.C. full of bind-boggling images and the tensions of today's reality. Wendy Dunleavy's husband, Matt, a former Congressman, is incarcerated; her son Dylan has just lost a lucrative job as the voice of a cartoon character, Harlan, puberty assailing his once high-pitched vocal chords. To add to the drama, the neighborhood is under attack by a mysterious animal, a chagwa, a sometimes-carnivorous mythological hermaphroditic beast.

The only way Wendy can cope with her out-of-control existence is on a diet of sleeping pills and mood enhancers, glued to the local TV station that reports sightings of the monster-at-large. With no husband to protect her, in a land of ubiquitous politicians and random social causes, Wendy is unmoored, beset with fears and insecurities, as fourteen-year old Dylan stands by helplessly. Washington D.C. is not a place for the faint-of-heart, Wendy and Dylan the objects of interest and curiosity in a city that knows virtually everything about everybody. D.C. is literally licking its chops, chasing the fearsome chagwa and dissecting those in the spotlight, where a woman alone is ripe fruit to be picked.

Fantasy abounds, beasts and monsters, not to mention nosy neighbors who feast on someone else's downfall. Wendy and Dylan are dragged into a changing future, kicking and screaming. Wendy has her own metamorphosis, while Dylan holds down the home fort with all of the other "Harlan's" who have played the voice of the cartoon character over the years. Only the chagwa is oblivious, attacking the Dunleavy's house, demanding meat. The citizens mobilize, cooperating in mutual need. Is Slavin's bizarre, dark vision a hallucination or another version of reality? Perhaps the beast is allegorical, usurping reason as families disintegrate. It's all in the eye (or mind) of the beholder: "If we feel more secure on the outside, we can begin to change on the inside." Luan Gaines/2005.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unlike any other book out there today, November 25, 2005

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carnivore Diet: A Novel (Hardcover)

There is no other book to compare Slavin to, no genre to toss Carnivore Diet in. It's a drama, for sure, with elements of fantasy thrown in, along with a healthy dose of political and social commentary. It has the bizarre-ness of a Vonnegut novel, complete with the commentary on modern society, yet her fantasy world seems real, seems believable. It's almost as if one might wake up in 15 years to a world exactly as bizarre as the one Slavin sets her novel in.

Carnivore Diet focuses on the Dunleavy family, torn apart by politics, crime, and drugs. Dad Matt is a former congressman incarcerated on scandalous charges. Mom Wendy is at home coping with some serious drugs that she has to cajole out of her doctors. Teenaged Dylan has lost most of his friends, not told his mom, and is about to lose his lucrative job voicing a character on the most popular cartoon on television. Oh, and by the way, a hermaphroditic carnivorous beast is stalking Washington DC and the Dunleavy house and trying to eat Dylan. America is bizarre, filled with strange politicians, mood altering and life-ruining prescription drugs, and a reality-to-the-max show in which contestants live and die in a Colonial world (no access to any anachronistic medicine or tools).

Slavin has created a surreal yet vividly real snapshot of America, and her book is recommended to anyone who wants a break from the "usual fare."

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WOW!, August 28, 2005

By 

Bilbo Baggins "Bilbo" (Timbuktu) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carnivore Diet: A Novel (Hardcover)

An itchy, goosepimply, weird, thought provoking kind of read. I think I dug it pretty much, and would recommend it for the sheer audacity and excitment. I would also recommend another author, only because I've been reading alot lately, the first book of a new series entitled "A Monumental Journey" by Richard L Cederberg. Very good, exciting, endearing characters. Excellent content . . . I would recommend both quite highly!