Reviews with content warning for Pandemic/Epidemic - The Memory of Animals

Given how this book begins, it was severely disappointing. “The Memory of Animals” tries very hard to get a point across; unfortunately, it takes on too many large tasks and achieves few. Memory is central to the story, as characters grapple with an unfamiliar world plagued by virus. However, it is not played out outside of the use of a “Revisitor,” which main character Neffy uses to relive memories. What frustrated me about this is that there was little to no tie in to what is happening in the main plot. The book feels disjointed with distinct and repetitive sections. It gets boring.

The writing is sporadic. There are beautiful environmental descriptions that serve as a love letter to life before the virus. The characters are very interesting to start, and I was excited as a reader for a good ensemble read. Sadly, when these characters fall into repetitive patterns, they lose their dynamic nature. The main character Neffy is most confusing. Her letters to H and memories clearly allude to poor mental wellbeing, yet she is the voice of reason among the pack. ~~She also wants to f*ck an octopus, but that is I guess besides the point.~~

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seawarrior's review

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5.0

The Memory of Animals is a novel both terrifying and serene. It is gripping as a character study and a horror story of apocalyptic proportions, one with a central argument that flows throughout the novel before its answer drowns with despair: is it greater to live in captivity, or to die in unlimited freedom? The novel is likely an indirect response to the pandemic we have all lived through, and its central themes are heightened by our knowledge of the doom promised by denial of the seriousness of disease, resistance to quarantine, vaccine hesitancy, and delayed government response. Yet these themes are never too overt, which allows us to get lost inside Neffy's memories, especially the fierce love and life-altering tragedy she endured in an idyllic place.

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morethanmylupus's review

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dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I loved the premise of this book, but in the end it didn't work for me. There was very little plot. We get a lot of background content that is maybe intended to serve as an ethical foil for some of the things the patients do to try and survive. The idea of revisiting memories was compelling, but overall it didn't add that much to the story.

I also want to add that this pandemic felt a lot like the covid-19 pandemic. The symptoms are only slightly changed but things like the lack of taste and smell were maintained. Certainly, the pandemic's impact on society was much more dramatic than covid-19. However, it's close enough that this may be traumatic for some readers.

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cc_shelflove's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

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

1.5

I hate when you finish a book and say, “Well that’s x amount of hours of my life that I won’t get back.” 😅 I really thought this would be interesting based on the first chapter. Neffy arrived to a medical laboratory, Vaccine Bio-Pharm, to partake in an experimental vaccine trial during a global pandemic. The rest of the book really went off the rails, though. Instead of just focusing on the present timeline and the strangers holed up in the lab, the author decided to include Neffy’s random ass letters addressed to an octopus. That’s not all! Neffy also used a device to “Revisit” her memories, and I unfortunately had to read through those, too. The book was two storylines too many, as Neffy’s letters and memories did not contribute to the overall plot at all. And the ending? So terrible it’s not even funny—entirely abrupt and rushed. I would like to know who reviewed this woman’s outline and thought it was cohesive? 😅

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jhansell's review

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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cryfest's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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rorikae's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.75

'The Memory of Animals' by Claire Fuller is a novel about a woman trying to survive during a pandemic while using her past memories as a buffer.
As a pandemic rages throughout the world, Neffy arrives at an undisclosed hospital in central London to undergo a vaccine trial. When the virus mutates while Neffy is sick and recovering from receiving the vaccine, she wakes up to a dystopia where she and a few of the other trial volunteers are the only ones left in the building. The world outside is in turmoil and their group has decided to stay indoors so as not to risk catching the virus. As the only person who received the vaccine, Neffy is the only one who has the potential to go outside to get more food but she is stuck in her past and scared of the world outside.
Claire Fuller always does an exceptional job at creating lived in characters. It's one of the reasons I come back to her books again and again. This works particularly well in an isolated setting where there are only so many characters interacting with one another. This book was a little hard to read given the pandemic aspects but definitely worth it. I really appreciated the speculative element in the story that allows Neffy to travel back through her memories. This, plus the mysterious H that Neffy is writing letters to throughout the story, added a sense of the wider world that we don't get from the isolated setting. Another exceptional character study. Claire Fuller does not disappoint.

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joannalouise's review

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dark emotional sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

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