Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - We the Animals

This book pulls at the threads of humanity, fraying the fabric until it's distilled to its purest parts. The narrator shows the core memories of childhood, building up into the moment of the fracturing of his family unit and the unit that was made up of his brothers. Their childlike, experimenting, queered, and crushed mother makes such a complex character, as does their father and the juxtaposition of his tenderness and machismo. This book is truly unsettling and full of life.

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sirenaluna's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This coming of age story is told in vignettes of different events in the childhood of the main character and his brothers. Torres’ writing is beautiful, lyrical and breathtaking in a way that had me pause to read certain lines over and over again. It is definitely a shorter book, and some of the vignettes are a little vague/sparse, but this little book really digs itself a place in your heart and takes root.

Only thing is that I wish the ending had a bit more subtle build up throughout. There were some hints sprinkled in certain parts if you read back but I definitely think there could’ve been more to really drive the ending home. It is still impactful, but could’ve been much more so.

But overall, it is a beautifully story about a complicated family and how the consequences of the parent’s behavior manifest in their children.

As a Puerto Rican myself, I related to and understood a lot of the cultural aspects the book touches on, and especially loved how it critiques the machismo that is so prevalent in minority communities.

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fructosebaby's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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bay22's review against another edition

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Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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bail33's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I just finished reading this and this is the kind of book that will take a day to finish but will stay with you the rest of your life. Nothing I can say will properly communicate how this book made me feel. Incredible writing, incredible composition, outstanding book.

Many are rating it lower because of how sad it is, or because they expected typical novel composition, or because of the abruptness of the last chapter. I’ll say that the last chapter doesn’t feel abrupt if you’re picking up on the breadcrumbs left by Torres throughout the latter half of the book; the composition is absolutely perfect for the content, in my opinion because it mirrors the disjointedness that was the life of these brothers; and the sadness makes sense, as the book is loosely based off of Torres’ life and the sadness seems appropriate for the content and the amount he is reflecting on his upbringing. Everything in this novel felt right to me, and all of the artistic choices felt like they fit perfectly.

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faythfarrar's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

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therainbowshelf's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

An interesting look at childhoods packed with trauma. Not a particularly uplifting read, but interesting (I think this is a novel in verse, but am not sure since I listened to the audio). Content warnings for domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, sexual acts performed in front of children, homophobia, and forced institutionalization.

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ssuummeerrn's review

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emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was really interesting and had a lot of meaning. This is definitely one of the better books that I’ve had to read for school, but it just wasn’t my favorite.

I learned something about myself as a reader; I need a concrete plot! This writing style just wasn’t it for me. Each chapter was like it’s own little story, which is fine, but it’s not my favorite format to read.

The characters did have development, but it felt spontaneous and I want to be able to read about the journey of development whereas in this book it happened behind the scenes.

This is a really great story, it’s just not the style or format that I want as a reader.

Shout out to Justin Torres who is a professor at my school!

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