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christylst's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
hlinsaga's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-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
3.5
iamcat's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
juliesie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
thebobsphere's review
5.0
Something I have maintained is that enjoyment of a book is mostly a matter of timing. I picked up Animalia when the Pandemic was spreading throughout Europe in 2020 and I just could not absorb it, so I put it aside and waited for another year to read it, incidentally I tried to read another Fitzcarraldo book, Hurricane Season , and I had to wait a few months before I could pick that up: Moral of the story; don’t read Fitcarraldo when a virus is spreading rapidly.
The book is about a farming family, which spans a near century (1890 – 1980). The reader witnesses the development of this simple farm into a big breeding empire. Throughout the book we do see the trials and tribulations of the family but to say that this is a bildungsroman is not entirely correct assumption either. After all the novel focuses on the late 1800’s, 1914 – 1918 and then jumps to 1981.
Animalia contains long descriptions of nature ; the constant life/death cycle, the savagery of some animals and the peacefulness of others. This is contrasted and compared to humankind’s behaviour. Like animals we kill, sometimes each other in the case of war and have rough sex. As the majority of the book is taken up by pig farming, we, as a race, breed to kill and eat,. We have our peaceful moments but most of the the time we are overcome by violent urges. I guess what Del Amo is saying in Animalia is that the human animal, despite the technological advances is no different than a pig.
The book’s strengths lie in the descriptions, I have already mentioned nature but I liked the way Del Amo portrays pig farms and the sheer brutality in choosing the best pigs for meat. The reading highlight is definitely the last part when the pigs are suffering from a disease and the whole farm descends into something resembling a scene from apocalypse now. As for the human characters, the small cast are all memorable, all with their animal tendencies of violence, open bodily functions and random acts of kindness.
Animalia is brilliant, there are no other words to describe it. Despite only focusing on a few years in a century, there is something epic about the novel. Del Amo has taken a simple farm and made it into a metaphor for humanity more evil tendencies. To use a cliché, Animalia is breath-taking in scope and intelligent at the same time.
As a trigger warning there is a lot of cruelty to animals and humans in the book so more sensitive readers do take a bit of caution.
The book is about a farming family, which spans a near century (1890 – 1980). The reader witnesses the development of this simple farm into a big breeding empire. Throughout the book we do see the trials and tribulations of the family but to say that this is a bildungsroman is not entirely correct assumption either. After all the novel focuses on the late 1800’s, 1914 – 1918 and then jumps to 1981.
Animalia contains long descriptions of nature ; the constant life/death cycle, the savagery of some animals and the peacefulness of others. This is contrasted and compared to humankind’s behaviour. Like animals we kill, sometimes each other in the case of war and have rough sex. As the majority of the book is taken up by pig farming, we, as a race, breed to kill and eat,. We have our peaceful moments but most of the the time we are overcome by violent urges. I guess what Del Amo is saying in Animalia is that the human animal, despite the technological advances is no different than a pig.
The book’s strengths lie in the descriptions, I have already mentioned nature but I liked the way Del Amo portrays pig farms and the sheer brutality in choosing the best pigs for meat. The reading highlight is definitely the last part when the pigs are suffering from a disease and the whole farm descends into something resembling a scene from apocalypse now. As for the human characters, the small cast are all memorable, all with their animal tendencies of violence, open bodily functions and random acts of kindness.
Animalia is brilliant, there are no other words to describe it. Despite only focusing on a few years in a century, there is something epic about the novel. Del Amo has taken a simple farm and made it into a metaphor for humanity more evil tendencies. To use a cliché, Animalia is breath-taking in scope and intelligent at the same time.
As a trigger warning there is a lot of cruelty to animals and humans in the book so more sensitive readers do take a bit of caution.
chillcox15's review against another edition
5.0
Animalia is an astounding book. It is a rebuke to the romantic pastoral mode you may associate with certain European novels of the 1800s, it is a ruinous depiction of capitalism's murderous hold on everyday life, and it is a disturbing, touching portrait of a family over the course of 100 years. The first two sections, especially, sing with a grotesque decrepitude. Perhaps my favorite discovery of 2019!
ainepalmtree's review against another edition
gorgeously written, disturbing in all of its meditations on the fleshy and fecal aspects of human and animal life, weirdly a page turner considering it has little to no plot - this is a stunning meditation on our relationship with the land we live on and work, human-animal codependence, and the violence found in both farming and families
booksnpunks's review against another edition
4.0
This one was deffo a grower not a shower but wow what an ending!
Animalia begins in 1898 on a pig farm in France where we follow the birth, childhood and adolescence of Éléonore, the future matriarch of the family, as she grieves the loss of her father, her ailing mother and must suppress her feelings for her cousin Marcel who goes off to war only to return with severe disabilities. After the birth of her child Henri, the book moves swiftly to 1981 where Henri is an old man in charge of the pig farm and it houses his two sons, and their families including a set of twins, a rebellious teenage girl and a strange mute boy named Jérôme.
The book took me a while to enjoy but by the second quarter of the book I was firmly into it. The writing is addictive and the way the family develops and ultimately comes crashing down is so violent and harrowing. There is a huge tension in the last two sections between almost every character and such a sense of violence and danger lurking on every page. I didn’t think I would come to enjoy it but by the end I was racing through. The final climax of the novel was so satisfyingly savage and brought the book to a powerful close.
I would definitely recommend this book if you are someone who enjoys reading about characters and fucked up families more than anything. The tone really shifts in the centre of the novel but I loved how the writing reflected the passage of time and how each male character became more a product of their own destruction. A real brilliant novel and I’m excited for more from Del Amo to come out next year.
Animalia begins in 1898 on a pig farm in France where we follow the birth, childhood and adolescence of Éléonore, the future matriarch of the family, as she grieves the loss of her father, her ailing mother and must suppress her feelings for her cousin Marcel who goes off to war only to return with severe disabilities. After the birth of her child Henri, the book moves swiftly to 1981 where Henri is an old man in charge of the pig farm and it houses his two sons, and their families including a set of twins, a rebellious teenage girl and a strange mute boy named Jérôme.
The book took me a while to enjoy but by the second quarter of the book I was firmly into it. The writing is addictive and the way the family develops and ultimately comes crashing down is so violent and harrowing. There is a huge tension in the last two sections between almost every character and such a sense of violence and danger lurking on every page. I didn’t think I would come to enjoy it but by the end I was racing through. The final climax of the novel was so satisfyingly savage and brought the book to a powerful close.
I would definitely recommend this book if you are someone who enjoys reading about characters and fucked up families more than anything. The tone really shifts in the centre of the novel but I loved how the writing reflected the passage of time and how each male character became more a product of their own destruction. A real brilliant novel and I’m excited for more from Del Amo to come out next year.