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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Unlike anything I've read before. Dark and unsettling, but somehow also very enriching and thought-provoking
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There's so much I didn't like about this book that I don't even know where to begin, so I think I'll start by listing the parts I liked:
The cover art
The blurb
The epigraph
After that it was pretty consistently dreadful. The concept could have worked very well in the hands of a more skillful writer; after getting sick with "ZooFlu", people begin to understand the signals animals use to communicate. We could have had a book that examines the relationship between humans and animals, a study of the alien psychology of our dogs, cats, and the wild animals around us. At least that is what I was expecting, but instead McKay gives us a lacklustre horror/thriller novel with very little depth or impact.
The most frustrating aspect of it for me was the sheer lack of logic in the developments of the book. So people can learn how animals communicate, I can buy that, but I can't buy that suddenly people develop an intricate understanding of all animal languages and oh yeah they can talk back, too, because that helps the plot move along. Then it starts to seem like the animals are telepathic and exert some kind of hypnotic control over humans. How we got from point a to point b is a bit of a mystery. It just happens, mostly because it helps the plot move forward.
The other thing that made the book really tiresome were the pages and pages of asinine and inscrutable animal dialogue that seemed like the author was pulling words and phrases at random. I'm not sure if we were meant to decode this language or what but frankly I was too uninterested to try. This device was pretty silly to begin with, since the conceit is that people can understand animal communication, but then the author has them "speak" in such an indecipherable manner leaving the characters themselves struggling to discern meaning. I suppose I could give it a pass if this was meant to be one listener's interpretation of speech based on animal signals, but the author pretty explicitly makes it clear that the characters hear these words exactly. This happens when a horse refers to "dead whale" and a minor character explains to the protagonist that "dead whale is what they call petrol". Which also raises the question: why on earth would a horse who lives in an inland desert have a word for whale??! I guess it's in keeping with the no-logic motif of the book.
Next, I'm all for unlikeable main characters, but you have to do something with them. At first I thought Jean's many flaws would serve some purpose or serve to develop her character in some interesting direction. I was mistaken. Besides occasional references to hangovers, the despicability of the protagonist was pretty much abandoned after the first act.
And lastly, it was somehow very boring, which is really something even a bad thriller has to work hard to accomplish.
All in all, I'd say this one gets the dubious honor of tying with The Midnight Library and It Ends with Us for Worst Book I've Read In Recent Memory
The cover art
The blurb
The epigraph
After that it was pretty consistently dreadful. The concept could have worked very well in the hands of a more skillful writer; after getting sick with "ZooFlu", people begin to understand the signals animals use to communicate. We could have had a book that examines the relationship between humans and animals, a study of the alien psychology of our dogs, cats, and the wild animals around us. At least that is what I was expecting, but instead McKay gives us a lacklustre horror/thriller novel with very little depth or impact.
The most frustrating aspect of it for me was the sheer lack of logic in the developments of the book. So people can learn how animals communicate, I can buy that, but I can't buy that suddenly people develop an intricate understanding of all animal languages and oh yeah they can talk back, too, because that helps the plot move along. Then it starts to seem like the animals are telepathic and exert some kind of hypnotic control over humans. How we got from point a to point b is a bit of a mystery. It just happens, mostly because it helps the plot move forward.
The other thing that made the book really tiresome were the pages and pages of asinine and inscrutable animal dialogue that seemed like the author was pulling words and phrases at random. I'm not sure if we were meant to decode this language or what but frankly I was too uninterested to try. This device was pretty silly to begin with, since the conceit is that people can understand animal communication, but then the author has them "speak" in such an indecipherable manner leaving the characters themselves struggling to discern meaning. I suppose I could give it a pass if this was meant to be one listener's interpretation of speech based on animal signals, but the author pretty explicitly makes it clear that the characters hear these words exactly. This happens when a horse refers to "dead whale" and a minor character explains to the protagonist that "dead whale is what they call petrol". Which also raises the question: why on earth would a horse who lives in an inland desert have a word for whale??! I guess it's in keeping with the no-logic motif of the book.
Next, I'm all for unlikeable main characters, but you have to do something with them. At first I thought Jean's many flaws would serve some purpose or serve to develop her character in some interesting direction. I was mistaken. Besides occasional references to hangovers, the despicability of the protagonist was pretty much abandoned after the first act.
And lastly, it was somehow very boring, which is really something even a bad thriller has to work hard to accomplish.
All in all, I'd say this one gets the dubious honor of tying with The Midnight Library and It Ends with Us for Worst Book I've Read In Recent Memory
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book could have been a lot of things, but ultimately it was just kind of pointless. Reading it wasn’t fun and there was no discernible message. Also, I am a little afraid of my cats now.
I liked this book, but I can understand why many others didn't.
Imagine a virus that enables humans to hear/understand the animals around us. It starts small, maybe, domesticated animals. Then reptiles, birds, whales, and even insects. We'd all go mad. And that's what happened in this book, pretty much.
The protagonist, Jean, is really pretty unlikeable. She's an alcoholic. Thinks nothing of casual sex or groping strangers while drinking. She does love her granddaughter Kimberly. When Kimberly is taken off by Jean's son Lee, Jean feels like she has to go after them. She's aided in her quest by Sue, a dingo/kelpie mix. They have an uneasy like/hate relationship. (I don't think it ever gets as close as love.)
But the central thing here is the animal communication. It's not speech. Jean talks about Sue "speaking" through ear tilt, tail position, anal scents, and the position of her fur, as well as by sound. Sue isn't a Disney talking animal here. What she "says" is often obscure and allusive. It's challenging to try to understand what's going on.
Long years ago, I read a book by Vicki Hearne ([b:Adam's Task: Calling Animals by Name|345438|Adam's Task Calling Animals by Name|Vicki Hearne|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347225219l/345438._SX50_.jpg|335748]). In it, she quoted Wittgenstein, who said "if a lion could speak, we could not understand him." I thought about that a lot while reading this book. I also thought about Kij Johnson's story "The evolution of trickster stories among the dogs of North Park after the Change.*" In that story, domesticated animals suddenly gain intelligence AND speech. And most people are totally freaked out. We've edited our views of animals so they're what WE want them to be. Which is not necessarily what they actually are. In the story Kij Johnson writes:
We like our Disney-fied animals. REAL animals are much different. I agree with some reviewers that this almost verges into horror at times. It's a thought-provoking work, and I liked it, even though the protagonist was not likeable.
*Text of that story available on the Way-Back Archive here: https://web.archive.org/web/20080302000729/http://www.kijjohnson.com/evolution.html
You should read it.
Imagine a virus that enables humans to hear/understand the animals around us. It starts small, maybe, domesticated animals. Then reptiles, birds, whales, and even insects. We'd all go mad. And that's what happened in this book, pretty much.
The protagonist, Jean, is really pretty unlikeable. She's an alcoholic. Thinks nothing of casual sex or groping strangers while drinking. She does love her granddaughter Kimberly. When Kimberly is taken off by Jean's son Lee, Jean feels like she has to go after them. She's aided in her quest by Sue, a dingo/kelpie mix. They have an uneasy like/hate relationship. (I don't think it ever gets as close as love.)
But the central thing here is the animal communication. It's not speech. Jean talks about Sue "speaking" through ear tilt, tail position, anal scents, and the position of her fur, as well as by sound. Sue isn't a Disney talking animal here. What she "says" is often obscure and allusive. It's challenging to try to understand what's going on.
Long years ago, I read a book by Vicki Hearne ([b:Adam's Task: Calling Animals by Name|345438|Adam's Task Calling Animals by Name|Vicki Hearne|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347225219l/345438._SX50_.jpg|335748]). In it, she quoted Wittgenstein, who said "if a lion could speak, we could not understand him." I thought about that a lot while reading this book. I also thought about Kij Johnson's story "The evolution of trickster stories among the dogs of North Park after the Change.*" In that story, domesticated animals suddenly gain intelligence AND speech. And most people are totally freaked out. We've edited our views of animals so they're what WE want them to be. Which is not necessarily what they actually are. In the story Kij Johnson writes:
"Sometimes we think we want to know what our dogs think. We don't, not really. Someone who watches us with unclouded eyes and sees who we really are is more frightening than a man with a gun. We can fight or flee or avoid the man, but the truth sticks like pine sap. After the Change, some dog owners feel a cold place in the pit of their stomachs when they meet their pets' eyes. Sooner or later, they ask their dogs to find new homes, or they forget to latch the gate, or they force the dogs out with curses and the ends of brooms. Or the dogs leave, unable to bear the look in their masters' eyes."
We like our Disney-fied animals. REAL animals are much different. I agree with some reviewers that this almost verges into horror at times. It's a thought-provoking work, and I liked it, even though the protagonist was not likeable.
*Text of that story available on the Way-Back Archive here: https://web.archive.org/web/20080302000729/http://www.kijjohnson.com/evolution.html
You should read it.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Clever and very different to anything I’ve read before.
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No