Book Review: The Other Animals

I love short stories, so I was really excited when one of the Audible Originals a while back was a set of eight short stories. The Other Animals is a compilation of short stories by a variety of authors (Daniel Mallory Ortberg, Ken Liu, R. Eric Thomas, Lulu Miller, Shruti Swamy, Max McClure, Kaeli Swift, and Kelly Weinersmith).

I really didn’t know what to expect with this book. The ratings from other listeners are high. Audible describe it as being “written by a crew of scientists, literary writers, and comics, and informed by animal behavioral science - explores what animal perspectives can show humans about the world we all share.”

All the stories are tales told from the perspective of animals.

I have to admit that I did find some of it cute, but I really struggled to persevere with it. There’s a story where a vulture contemplates his role in killing; a story where a worm breaks up with a snail; another story where a whale falls in love with a song.

Some listeners really, really liked it. For the life of me, I couldn’t find it “gripping” as others did.

Even though I like a lot of “off the wall” things, I’m clearly not the target audience for this book. I just couldn’t bring myself to finish it. Life is too short.

The Verdict

There are obviously people that love this book but clearly I’m not the target audience. 3 out of 10 for me.

2021-03-31