The Dog Meows, the Cat Barks

A swift, intense novel about a teen rebelling against forced religious conformity in a small Javanese town, The Dog Meows, the Cat Barks ponders that perpetual human question, can we ever really be free?

Sato Reang enjoys an idyllic childhood of soccer, fighting crickets, and mischief in his Indonesian village—until the day he must be circumcised, and his observant father forces him into a life of Islamic piety. For years, Sato outwardly obeys his father, but all the while the boy chafes at ...