A review by cupidcove
The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller

dark emotional fast-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

3.5

I'm really conflicted on my opinions on this book. It was very readable and I found myself compelled by many of the ideas within but I almost think there were too many things going on. Between the pandemic, octopi, revisiting, and unraveling the mystery of why everyone is was acting so weird, I think we lost some of the complexity that each of those plot points deserved. Still, I did find many elements of the story intriguing and I could see the potential of the good book within. My biggest issue, though, was the portrayal of the virus and its impact on society. I think that if you are going to write a story like this in a post-Covid world you need to clearly justify why society collapsed if it didn't during Covid. I understand that our protagonist wouldn't neceessarily have that information but the author could have figured something out. As it is, it just felt a bit unrealitic when compared to the effects of Covid which continuously took me out of the story. Overall, I think this is worth a read if the concept is interesting to you, but I'm not sure if I will remember it down the line.