A review by jem_of_the_brew
Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey
5.0
You can also read this review on my blog at: http://oddfeather.co/2017/01/01/review-ceridwen-doveys-only-the-animals/
The skill and the purpose to reading and writing fiction is the ability to empathise with the inner lives of creatures outside of ourselves. This collection of incredible short stories takes this premise and runs with it, guiding the reader on an extended journey through the inner lives, culture and nature of ten vastly different animals. From the matriarchal herd culture of elephants hunted in Mozambique, to the hundred-year introspection of a tortoise who began and ended its journey in Russia, to the strange case of the chimpanzee who has been taught to live as a human, these stories delve deep into the soul of the animal, and along the way reveal far more about the human species than we may care to know.
This book is for those who want to smile and cry as they take an extended tour of what it means not to be human in a world often wrought with human conflict. The characters and personalities of only the animals could reveal so much and take us so far.
The skill and the purpose to reading and writing fiction is the ability to empathise with the inner lives of creatures outside of ourselves. This collection of incredible short stories takes this premise and runs with it, guiding the reader on an extended journey through the inner lives, culture and nature of ten vastly different animals. From the matriarchal herd culture of elephants hunted in Mozambique, to the hundred-year introspection of a tortoise who began and ended its journey in Russia, to the strange case of the chimpanzee who has been taught to live as a human, these stories delve deep into the soul of the animal, and along the way reveal far more about the human species than we may care to know.
This book is for those who want to smile and cry as they take an extended tour of what it means not to be human in a world often wrought with human conflict. The characters and personalities of only the animals could reveal so much and take us so far.