Other People's Pets

 R.L. Maizes has written an extraordinary plot for her slim novel, Other People's Pets.  We all have parents and some of us also have raised children.  The novel explores the feelings a child has for their parents and how those relationships shape our lives.  Close or distant, loving or abusive, the interactions between parents and children are influential in the adults we become.  This novel explores how far a child will go to connect with a parent and how much the child will risk for the parent they love.

La La grew up with her father, after her mother abandoned them.  Her father, a locksmith by trade, to cover a more sinister career, raises La La and teaches her the tricks of the trade.  It was an unusual childhood.  She had no friends or social life outside her home.  

Now an adult on the verge of having it all, a degree in veterinary medicine, a fiancé and a job, it all is on the brink of collapse when her father gets into trouble.  La La has to decide should she risk all her independence and autonomy to help her father or stay the course and move on with her life.  This is the moment every parent awaits; is their child there for them or is the fissure too large to repair.  For La La helping her father means giving up finishing her degree program and trying to raise enough money to bail him out.  La La tests the family she has created, the support group around her to see if it is stronger than the family she was born into.  

There is also La La's connection to animals.  She is an animal empath, able to feel what an animal is feeling.  "She felt the aching belly of the dog who ate a sock and the broken leg of the cat that tumbled from a window, and a rabbit with a respiratory infection made her wheeze."  La La cannot help helping the animals she encounters.  Her pet dogs are a comfort to her as she struggles with how to balance the past and not destroy her future.

Maizes books are beautifully written and disturbing at times with incredible messages and insights.  But in the end, there is so much to think about it will still be with you long after you put them down.  The ideas and concepts will stay with you and keep you thinking and rethinking about them as you move through your day.