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Zigman’s latest (Animal Husbandry, Her) features Judy, a 50-year-old mother going through some serious life changes. Her career as a successful children’s book writer has tanked, leaving her writing clickbait for a self-help website. Her parents have recently died, her best friend has terminal cancer, her 13-year-old son is growing up and away from her, and her anxiety-ridden husband has turned to cannabis to an extreme, all of which is debilitating to the marriage.
Judy has a two-fold approach to her problems; she tucks her Sheltie dog into an old baby carrier and wears the dog everywhere, all while she wallows in self-pity and whines about her life.
Anxiety is a serious issue, but here it is treated as comedic fodder, while the dog in the sling leaves the reader to ponder whether it is animal abuse or to just accept it as farce.
Verdict: Readers who enjoyed the far superior Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, or Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, may enjoy this, but it is not her best effort even though Zigman is a popular author.
©Library Journal, 2020
3/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
SEPARATION ANXIETY by Laura Zigman. Ecco (March 3, 2020). ISBN 978-0062909077. 288p.
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