A review by michaeljohnhalseartistry
We the Animals by Justin Torres
5.0
“God's scattered all the clean among the dirty. You and me Joel, we're nothing more than a fistful of seed that God tossed into the mud and horseshit. We're on our own.”
You know those kind of books that linger with you once you finish it, hanging on to your thoughts, gently haunting you with it’s memory? Yeah, this book did that to me. It’s been over a month since I’ve finished We The Animals and it’s been with me every since. I’ve never read something so poetic, so beautiful, and so plain at the same time.
We The Animals is a story about brothers growing up in poverty and in a dysfunctional family setting, but the bond that held them together… until the very end, that is. It’s a story about identity, manhood, masculinity, and fragility tethered together with dream-like stories written almost like hazy memories resurfacing with heavy stings of melancholy, nostalgia, and dipped in sorrow and happiness. I found myself weeping to this book on more than one occasion… and for me, that’s a marker that it’s a good novel. I know it sounds strange, but if your writing can evoke such feelings in me, you get the top reviews!
This book is riddled with beautiful quotes. Along with the opening quote, here are some other gems:
“We hit and we kept on hitting; we were allowed to be what we were, frightened and vengeful — little animals, clawing at what we needed.”
“The water was tripping over itself, splashing and hypnotizing, and I tried to fix my mind on a chunk of it, like each little ripple was a life that began far away in a high mountain source and had traveled miles pushing forward until it arrived at this spot before my eyes, and now without hesitation that water-life was hurling itself over the cliff. I wanted my body in all that swiftness; I wanted to feel the slip and pull of the currents and be dashed and pummeled on the rocks below . . .”
This book is one I highly recommend, and one I’ll be reading again and again. This little gem will fill you with sadness and joy, and ruin you altogether.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, MY OWN NOVELS, AND PHOTOGRAPHY, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE:
michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
You know those kind of books that linger with you once you finish it, hanging on to your thoughts, gently haunting you with it’s memory? Yeah, this book did that to me. It’s been over a month since I’ve finished We The Animals and it’s been with me every since. I’ve never read something so poetic, so beautiful, and so plain at the same time.
We The Animals is a story about brothers growing up in poverty and in a dysfunctional family setting, but the bond that held them together… until the very end, that is. It’s a story about identity, manhood, masculinity, and fragility tethered together with dream-like stories written almost like hazy memories resurfacing with heavy stings of melancholy, nostalgia, and dipped in sorrow and happiness. I found myself weeping to this book on more than one occasion… and for me, that’s a marker that it’s a good novel. I know it sounds strange, but if your writing can evoke such feelings in me, you get the top reviews!
This book is riddled with beautiful quotes. Along with the opening quote, here are some other gems:
“We hit and we kept on hitting; we were allowed to be what we were, frightened and vengeful — little animals, clawing at what we needed.”
“The water was tripping over itself, splashing and hypnotizing, and I tried to fix my mind on a chunk of it, like each little ripple was a life that began far away in a high mountain source and had traveled miles pushing forward until it arrived at this spot before my eyes, and now without hesitation that water-life was hurling itself over the cliff. I wanted my body in all that swiftness; I wanted to feel the slip and pull of the currents and be dashed and pummeled on the rocks below . . .”
This book is one I highly recommend, and one I’ll be reading again and again. This little gem will fill you with sadness and joy, and ruin you altogether.
-----
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, MY OWN NOVELS, AND PHOTOGRAPHY, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE:
michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse