A review by libraryoflanelle
Fragile Animals by Genevieve Jagger

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I was very much anticipating ‘Fragile Animals’ and was very grateful to receive an e-arc, especially after hearing fellow bookstagrammers rave about it!

‘Fragile Animals’ is equally witty and emotional, with incredibly atmospheric writing. We follow Noelle as she leaves everything she knows behind to go stay in a small B&B in rural Scotland, where she encounters an older male guest who claims to be a vampire.

The story explores themes of trauma related to family issues and religion, with a sprinkling of explorations of repressed sexuality. While these themes are usually a massive win for me, they didn’t quite make up for what I disliked about this book.

I'll firstly say that if you enjoy a more literary stream-of-consciousness type book with a focus on unlikeable characters, you will likely enjoy this. However, that's not what I personally expected going into this book, and I might not have picked it up if it had been pitched in this way.

I absolutely loved Genevieve’s writing and found myself wanting to annotate and underline on multiple occasions. I'll definitely be reading any future work from Genevieve, but sadly, this one wasn’t quite for me.

While I had fun with the premise and the explored themes, I really disliked and was a little disgusted by the male ‘vampire’ character, and also found that many of the plot points didn’t work for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and 404 Ink for the e-arc. All opinions are my own.