We The Animals
By Justin Toures
This is a heartbreaking coming of age novel without you realising that that is what it is – at first you are just surviving with the brothers, who seem indistinguishable as they grow in the harsh reality of poverty as a mixed race family of young and inexperienced parents.
I loved this. The opening chapter had me, it was so well crafted and captured the closeness of the brothers surviving in a hostile environment that should be their sanctuary. You teetered on the edge of something that could turn dangerous, constantly.
The whole novel is structured as snippets of childhood memories that seem unrelated but monumental, as childhood memories are. And these are what shape us. At times it is hard to read, something which went against it for some readers but ultimately, it felt as though it had to be read.
There was a lot of discussion about the ending and the revelations surrounding the protagonist. No spoilers – I will let you make up your own mind, but some felt it came too quickly.
