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emsemsems's review
4.0
‘The stakes of this moment in time, our contradictory attitudes about its moral dilemmas, and our always-intense curiosity about the lives of animals has made it an important period to re-narrate our relationship to the animal world. To strip this interaction from the fantasy of purity – as if it’s ever possible to truly know a wild living thing, or to observe it without altering its life – and to accept the messy, imperfect not-knowledge of at least some form of creative regard. Of acknowledgement by virtue of symbolic or actual engagement of shared stakes.’ – John Freeman.
Impressive collection (but that is to be expected when it comes to Freeman’s – at least in my experience) – mostly brilliant, but all of them uniquely interesting. The cover’s deceiving; definitely more ‘dog’ stories than ‘cat’. But I happen to like dogs a bit more (I think? I have more precious dog-related memories; probably just biased), so I really can’t/shouldn’t complain. It’s a diverse collection of stories by a bunch of very different writers; yet, it doesn’t feel like the diversity was forced upon. I have read a few Freeman’s and they were all very well-edited; and overall – great reading experiences. They usually contain a carefully curated list of work from writers I’ve already like and/or writers that I’m curious about, so it always makes me excited to receive/pick up a copy.
Instead of a full-blown rambling sesh about each and every writer/writing that I like, I’ve added below some excerpts from a certain few that resonated with me.
‘I find it easier to bear the suffering of human beings that the suffering of animals. The human being has its own extended ontological status, broadcast far and wide, which makes it a privileged species. It has culture and religion to support it in its suffering. It has its rationalisations and sublimations. It has God, who in the end will save it. Human suffering has meaning. For an animal there is neither consolation nor relief, because it has no salvation ahead of it. Nor does it have meaning. An animal’s body does not belong to it. It has no soul. An animal’s suffering is total and absolute. If we try to look into this condition with our human capacity for thought and with sympathy, the full horror of animal suffering is revealed, and but the same the unbearably shocking horror of this world.’ – from ‘The Masks of Animals’ by OLGA TOKARCZUK.
‘It is a rule of palaeontology that once an organism begins developing baroque adaptations to an increasingly narrow niche, or an increasingly vulnerable social network, it’s fast on its way to extinction. You can see it in the trilobites in the Wellsville Mountains in northern Utah; you can read in the layers of stone, the increasingly desperate, ostentatious, futile efforts to fit into a place that no longer wants them…Geology suggests that in hard times simplicity is pretty much the ticket to survival. The beast of time does not seem to pay as much predatory attention to the simple, but relishes the baroque. As do we. Time the destroyer; humankind the destroyer – of everything, and therefore our selves.’ – from ‘Baroque, Montana’ by RICK BASS.
‘I wandered out of our shared phantasmagoria to my room…But got lost due to fucking environmental agnosia, which I define as the opposite of synaesthesia, which I also happen to have, because the sensory pathways of my brain resemble summertime subway construction in New York City – all lines either mixed up or shut down. Everything delayed. Space and time have never been easy on me, is what I’m trying to say, so you can imagine my psychic bedlam in the fortress. Bedlam comes from Bethlehem Hospital, an asylum for the mentally ill in England, rebuilt in 1676 to resemble a castle. It was opulent on the outside, but abusive on the inside – the staff did things to the patients that made me tremble and commit when I first read about them. You have to be careful with facts; if they find you in the wrong state, they can make you puke. Where was I?’ – from ‘On Jawless Fish’ by TESS GUNTY.
And not to forget – ‘The Tongue’ by MIEKO KAWAKAMI. A short story (worthy of anyone’s time) with elements of surrealism – which opens with the protagonist, a teenage girl, out on a date (at a zoo) with a boy she isn't even really interested in. And then he very quickly makes a casual comment that triggers her personal/private anxieties. And then it transitions to her trying to basically trying to deal with her 'life' at 'home' where I suppose is also the root of all her emotional troubles – and/but portrayed in a very strange way, like an endless dream (more like a nightmare tbh) sequence. It definitely made me think that Kawakami may actually be a better short story writer than a novelist. And I would argue that more often than not, that is a more difficult thing to achieve/do, hence – truly impressive (in my opinion anyway). If you only have time for one, go for this.
crossinthepnw's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Animals...are they really so different from you or me? Of course not, but I think humans tend to forget that, and how every living creature on this planet is connected. Freeman's: Animals is a wonderful anthology of essays about the beings we share this planet with, including works from Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe and Kali Fajardo-Anstine (a couple of my favorite authors). These essays made me think, cry, and celebrate the existence of all of our companions on Earth.
I will say, I definitely judged the book by its cover because the cat is out of focus, but after reading all of the works it makes sense to me now; animals are so seemingly ordinary and can be easy to overlook, even though we are so intimately connected to them. To paraphrase from the Introduction, we shouldn't be so scared of what animals can do to us, but rather what we have done to them.
Even if you don't consider yourself an "animal" person, give this one a read. There is enough philosophy, history, poetry, and story-telling that everyone will find something they enjoy, and something that will make them think.
I will say, I definitely judged the book by its cover because the cat is out of focus, but after reading all of the works it makes sense to me now; animals are so seemingly ordinary and can be easy to overlook, even though we are so intimately connected to them. To paraphrase from the Introduction, we shouldn't be so scared of what animals can do to us, but rather what we have done to them.
Even if you don't consider yourself an "animal" person, give this one a read. There is enough philosophy, history, poetry, and story-telling that everyone will find something they enjoy, and something that will make them think.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexism, Body shaming, Infidelity, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Body horror
ssatrawada's review
4.0
It was hard to rate this one since it’s a collection of short stories BUT there were stories I really liked and this book can really change ur perspective on animal & human interactions
tourmaline_and_tomes's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
Freeman's Animals, the latest installment in the Freeman's literary anthology series, is an incredible collection of modern stories, essays, poems, and musings on the intersection of humans and the animals that exist in the peripheries of our lives.
The collection spans topics, countries, and perspectives. The authors take us from the starving dogs of covid-affected India (About the Dogs by Anuradha Roy), to a difficult calving on a storm-drenched Welsh farm (Cow by Cynan Jones), a philosophical history of humanity's approach to animals (The Masks of Animals by Olga Tokarczuk), to a man musing on his resemblence to an extinct bird (Love Song of the Moa by Martín Espada), to a American expat experiencing (and taking part in) consumption and environmental destruction at its most horrifying and lavish in a French castle (On Jawless Fish by Tess Gunty). I have only barely scratched the surface of the 23 pieces contained in this anthology.
Each piece has something to tell us about the animals which are inextricably intertwined in our lives: whether it is how we horribly mistreat and exploit them; how we rely on them for protection and companionship; how we mourn the loss of so much biodiversity in the last few years alone; or how we tend to forget that we are animals ourselves and, when the veil is pulled back, we are confronted with the very base nature of our animal selves even though we try so hard to separate ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom.
While not something I would have naturally picked up in the bookstore, I'm glad I gavea chance to this paradigm shifting collection. It should be required reading.
I appreciate greatly the opportunity to read this and to be provided a copy by participating in a read along thanks to the publisher, Grove Atlantic, and Tandem Global Collective, in exchange for my participation and review.
The collection spans topics, countries, and perspectives. The authors take us from the starving dogs of covid-affected India (About the Dogs by Anuradha Roy), to a difficult calving on a storm-drenched Welsh farm (Cow by Cynan Jones), a philosophical history of humanity's approach to animals (The Masks of Animals by Olga Tokarczuk), to a man musing on his resemblence to an extinct bird (Love Song of the Moa by Martín Espada), to a American expat experiencing (and taking part in) consumption and environmental destruction at its most horrifying and lavish in a French castle (On Jawless Fish by Tess Gunty). I have only barely scratched the surface of the 23 pieces contained in this anthology.
Each piece has something to tell us about the animals which are inextricably intertwined in our lives: whether it is how we horribly mistreat and exploit them; how we rely on them for protection and companionship; how we mourn the loss of so much biodiversity in the last few years alone; or how we tend to forget that we are animals ourselves and, when the veil is pulled back, we are confronted with the very base nature of our animal selves even though we try so hard to separate ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom.
While not something I would have naturally picked up in the bookstore, I'm glad I gavea chance to this paradigm shifting collection. It should be required reading.
I appreciate greatly the opportunity to read this and to be provided a copy by participating in a read along thanks to the publisher, Grove Atlantic, and Tandem Global Collective, in exchange for my participation and review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Moderate: Sexual content and Violence
libraryofretellingsandstars's review
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
"Freeman's Animals" by John Freeman is, a collection of anthologies of how the lives of humans and animals are connected.
I would give"Freeman's Animals" by John Freeman a 4-star review because, 1; the cover was, really intriguing and was what drew me in 2; all of the tales were different from the other 3; the collection of anthologies were intriguing 4; I love the idea of the novel but 5; while there was diversity it's not really shown.
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