Dog Days

Emily LaBarge's Dog Days is a nonfiction account that opens with a harrowing hostage situation her family endured while on vacation in 2009 and examines the long shadow such trauma casts.

As an arts critic, LaBarge brings analytic rigor to how traumatic experiences are narrated and understood, resisting sensationalism while probing memory and public storytelling.

The book reflects on the ethics of retelling trauma, the desire to craft a 'good' story, and how art can help make sense of painful episodes.

LaBarge's measured voice avoids maudlin or exploitative tropes, instead offering nuanced insights into recovery, identity, and the limits of language.

Dog Days melds personal memoir with cultural reflection, making it both intimate and intellectually engaged.