A review by palomapepper
We the Animals by Justin Torres
2.0
A series of interconnected prose-poem-like chapters, each of which could well stand on its own. A boy (youngest of three brothers) grows up in upstate New York with his dysfunctional, working-class parents. Together - and, finally, separately - they deal with their mixed-race identity and sexualities.
I really liked the first 2-3 chapters. Then... I felt like it was all downhill. The writing was precise and evocative, and yet... overly so, slipping into excessive sentimentality. The other two brothers started to feel flat, like scenery or a Greek chorus. And I really didn't feel like the ending matched the beginning and middle - it felt like it came out of left field.
- Did his family have him institutionalized for having promiscuous gay sex? Is that... legally possible?
- His family is completely unrecognizable in the last few chapters. Am I to gather that the narrator's institutionalization has wiped away their personal characteristics and foibles?
- What on earth is the deal with the very last chapter (Zookeeping)? I hated it. It was suddenly and incongruously dream-like, in a way that might have been explained away earlier in the book by the fantasies of childhood, but that later in adulthood seemed to be... a signifier of insanity?
I really liked the first 2-3 chapters. Then... I felt like it was all downhill. The writing was precise and evocative, and yet... overly so, slipping into excessive sentimentality. The other two brothers started to feel flat, like scenery or a Greek chorus. And I really didn't feel like the ending matched the beginning and middle - it felt like it came out of left field.
Spoiler
- Did his family have him institutionalized for having promiscuous gay sex? Is that... legally possible?
- His family is completely unrecognizable in the last few chapters. Am I to gather that the narrator's institutionalization has wiped away their personal characteristics and foibles?
- What on earth is the deal with the very last chapter (Zookeeping)? I hated it. It was suddenly and incongruously dream-like, in a way that might have been explained away earlier in the book by the fantasies of childhood, but that later in adulthood seemed to be... a signifier of insanity?