The autobiography of a fictional character, this novel charts the significant periods in the life of one Daisy Goodwill, born in 1905 in rural Manitoba. The novel dedicates one chapter apiece to birth, childhood, marriage, motherhood, etc, right up to (and including) death, which you have to admit is an unorthodox choice for a novel purportedly narrated by the protagonist (though often not in the first person).
Satire can, without doubt, be the most effective style of writing for drawing attention to political problems that are, objectively, absurd. Of course, the problem is in treading that fine line between taking your satire a step too far, thus allowing your true subject to distance himself* from it, and making it too subtle, thus risking your audience missing the point altogether. It’s not an easy balance to find; for an example of this difficulty, one need look no further than the most famous satire in history, Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal”, following the publication of which many a rich plutocrat expressed unironic moral outrage at the very idea of eating babies.
Macon Leary* is a man who craves order, but suddenly his life is spinning out of control. His son has been killed; his wife has left him; he’s broken his leg; even his dog has developed alarming behavioural problems. On top of all this, a stranger has entered his life in the person of a dog trainer who seems determined to involve herself in his life, a life which he strives to keep unattached to strangers.