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keepreadingbooks's review
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really like Abby Geni’s writing. Her nature descriptions especially are gorgeous, and the writing just generally feels very considered and skilled. And considering the through line of human-animal connections, I fully expected to love this one. Mainly, though, it was just okay.
All the stories have a sense of tension, of a dam waiting to break. Sometimes it does break, but other times the tension disappears and a drama-free resolution develops. I enjoy both, when done well, so I didn’t mind that I couldn’t count on getting one or the other, but perhaps some of the stories ended up feeling slightly too anti-climactic.
The collection as a whole feels very cohesive, which is generally good, but perhaps veering into too similar? Or too distanced? Not entirely sure if that’s what it is, but for some reason, though all of the stories were really well-written and spoke to many of the things I like, I had no true favourites. They were all good, and almost equally good, but not spectacular. There were a few that perhaps stood out a bit more for me; Terror Birds, Dharma at the Gate, The Girls of Apache Bryn Mawr, and particularly Landscaping, for its complete break with the style of the other stories – but I have a feeling I could forget them in just a few months’ time.
I am keen to read more by Geni, though, just because her themes are so up my alley.
kymme's review against another edition
4.0
I lately seem to find books of short stories rather more annoying than enjoyable, but this book was a pleasant departure from that experience. Several of the stories were so compelling that I almost felt like I was reading a horror story in the sense of must-stay-up-to-know-what-happens: while they weren't scary or upsetting in those ways, they're oddly haunting while being "about" such seemingly prosaic issues as cheating spouses and controlling boyfriends.
Abby Geni takes a variety of voices and genders, most of which work well. As a native Arizonan I quibbled with a detail or two of the first story in the collection, set in the desert near Phoenix, but she gets the storms right, which is the most important thing. My favorite story in the collection was "Dharma at the Gate," which has a thing or two to teach readers about love, sacrifice, and self-protection. Lucy, whom Geni describes at one point as "a barely-there person, sketched lightly on the air" is for me by far the most interesting character in this book. I want to take her to therapy right.now.
This book isn't humorous, being focused as it is on the ends of things--lives, relationships, hopes--but there is a moment that any person transplanted to New England from elsewhere is likely to find cackle-worthy. It's a moment in "Silence" when Jesse, a boy who has been living in the south for five years, is suddenly returned to his native Maine, which he's mostly forgotten. He wonders why, if his father knows all the people they're passing in the car, they're not waving to one another. The father says they are waving: "And then Jesse noticed it. The next car approached, and he saw the flat, bearded face, both hands on the steering wheel. The man recognized his father and lifted one forefinger slightly. Toby did the same." This one scene makes up for two of the stories I didn't much care for, and the fact that more than one story contains a loner working at a museum of sorts.
Abby Geni takes a variety of voices and genders, most of which work well. As a native Arizonan I quibbled with a detail or two of the first story in the collection, set in the desert near Phoenix, but she gets the storms right, which is the most important thing. My favorite story in the collection was "Dharma at the Gate," which has a thing or two to teach readers about love, sacrifice, and self-protection. Lucy, whom Geni describes at one point as "a barely-there person, sketched lightly on the air" is for me by far the most interesting character in this book. I want to take her to therapy right.now.
This book isn't humorous, being focused as it is on the ends of things--lives, relationships, hopes--but there is a moment that any person transplanted to New England from elsewhere is likely to find cackle-worthy. It's a moment in "Silence" when Jesse, a boy who has been living in the south for five years, is suddenly returned to his native Maine, which he's mostly forgotten. He wonders why, if his father knows all the people they're passing in the car, they're not waving to one another. The father says they are waving: "And then Jesse noticed it. The next car approached, and he saw the flat, bearded face, both hands on the steering wheel. The man recognized his father and lifted one forefinger slightly. Toby did the same." This one scene makes up for two of the stories I didn't much care for, and the fact that more than one story contains a loner working at a museum of sorts.
letsreadmorebooks's review against another edition
5.0
i loved every single one of these short stories. each one is centered on a pivotal moment in time for the main character. they're varied and satisfying and i find that a month later, the characters still linger in my mind.
daytonm's review against another edition
4.0
As in her novel The Wildlands, Geni here is at her best when things get a bit weird and the lines between human society and the nonhuman world begin to blur. None of the stories are bad, but only in flashes are they truly great. Still, flashes better than nothing, and I would still like to read her other novel.
natashamontgomery's review against another edition
3.0
Like many short story collections some were incredibly entertaining while others had me regrettably bored. The Last Animal is a collection that I have owned for over a year now and have been desperately wanting to read (enamoured by the excellent cover and rave reviews) and have never gotten around to (I partly blame George R.R. Martin). I liked it. I don't think I would recommend it until I have read more short story collections in which to compare The Last Animal. This is my second short story collection, my first being Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer-prize winning Interpreter of Maladies. I do prefer The Last Animal for Abby Geni's writing style I find more eloquent in that it flows and certain words have been chosen specifically for this effect. Although I was a big fan of her writing style while reading, I am not quite sure whether I will read her latest work (which is a novel) The Lightkeepers. But besides, The Last Animal was a short read that I felt dragged in some stories and had me wanting more for others but I feel that this is the general consensus with short story collections. I am officially beginning my hunt for a masterpiece collection where I enjoy all the stories, if such a collection exists.
lamusadelils's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
Pensé que habría más énfasis en la parte animal de los cuentos, o más protagonismo de animales, pero se enfoca más en la naturaleza humana, si bien hay un tenue vínculo con los animales como hilo conductor del libro.
Casi todas las historias son de personas que pasan por una pérdida y los sentimientos asociados. Es muy interesante como Abby logra que conectes con los personajes cuando están pasando por momentos de intensa soledad.
Aunque aprecio las situaciones inusuales, las hermosas descripciones y la profundidad de los personajes en varias de las historias, otras me parecieron demasiado simples, con finales que parecen casi descuidados.
Pensé que habría más énfasis en la parte animal de los cuentos, o más protagonismo de animales, pero se enfoca más en la naturaleza humana, si bien hay un tenue vínculo con los animales como hilo conductor del libro.
Casi todas las historias son de personas que pasan por una pérdida y los sentimientos asociados. Es muy interesante como Abby logra que conectes con los personajes cuando están pasando por momentos de intensa soledad.
Aunque aprecio las situaciones inusuales, las hermosas descripciones y la profundidad de los personajes en varias de las historias, otras me parecieron demasiado simples, con finales que parecen casi descuidados.
sarahjjs's review against another edition
5.0
Yeh, this is why I love short stories - when they are done well, they can be better than novels.