Dogs at the Perimeter

August 21, 2017
When Janie’s friend and colleague Hiroji disappears from Montreal, Janie’s memories catapult her back to her youth in Cambodia just after the Khmer Rouge revolution. In a long flashback told in the uncertain and terrified voice of a child, she remembers in gruesome but increasingly detached detail her family’s forced relocation from Phnom Penh, the slave labor conditions they endured, and her eventual escape as a refugee. Back in the present day, Janie travels to Laos certain that Hiroji is not dead but rather has gone in search of his lost brother, a Japanese-born Red Cross doctor not heard from since his assignment during the Cambodian Civil War. Her story recedes as Thien fills in the painful story of Hiroji’s brother, whose survival under the brutal regime required him to entirely forget his past. The fragmented focus on two families broken by the revolution leaves both stories hauntingly unfinished, an effective narrative decision. Thien (Do Not Say We Have Nothing) narrates events to effectively mimic the mental breakdown of her characters under duress. This lyrical exploration of the weight war places on its survivors will linger with readers as it sheds light on the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge.

Thien's novel explores the trauma of war through the experiences of some who survived the murderous Cambodian Khmer Rouge regime, and some who did not. Janie, now an adult living in Montreal, struggles with memories of her shattered Cambodian childhood. When a friend disappears to find his brother in Cambodia, Janie feels she must follow. There are some books that are better in the printed form, and this is one. The story is told in fragments and travels back and forth between times and places. It's extremely difficult to follow in the audiobook format. In addition, narrator Michi Barall's performance is, alas, underwhelming. She speaks maddeningly slowly and inserts odd pauses, distracting the listener from the complicated story. G.S.D. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine