We Are Animals -Tim Ewins

 I truly believe that sometimes books choose us rather than the other way round. Maybe that’s a tad whimsical or maybe I’m just a victim of the subliminal, subversive nature of social media! But this book infiltrated its way into my consciousness. So strongly I had to buy a copy. I had that sense that this would be a book I’d love. I never know where that feeling comes from. But I get it from time to time. And it’s never let me down. No matter that I know nothing of the author, nothing of the publisher etc. It’s just such a strong impulsive instinct. 

And with We Are Animals it’s happened again. The impulse.  Has it let me down,  my instinct? No it damn well hasn’t!

Oh I loved this book. It’s just full of everything that makes reading such a pleasure. Wit, warmth, an eye for a good story, an understanding of plot construction, some delightful characterisations with mixed locations and varied chronologies. There is delightful use of what I’d called leitmotif if this was a musical composition but maybe quirky repetition is the literary term!   All these elements are mixed together with exactly the right balance. You’ll laugh, and you’ll cry too, and it’s not a book that’s afraid of emotion. It’s a clever book, subtly clever, unassumingly clever, not an in-your-face, look at me, I’m smart, kind of book. 

The premise is quirky. A boy and a girl both called Jan meet in unprecedented circumstances and I’m not going to be queen of the spoilers but that’s the catalyst really for all that follows. There are some coincidences that will make you chuckle and there is an element of fate intervening and interfering on certain occasions. Poxy fate! 😉 There is an observation of people and their idiosyncrasies. There is an understanding of peoples’ need to find themselves and follow intuitions no matter how off centre they may appear to be. The story just misses being completely surreal but there is sometimes that feeling to it. The characters are so well defined and so likeable. You’re rooting for them, you’re rooting for everything to work out. As a reader you find yourself irrevocably committed to everybody and you don’t want to stop reading until you know that every one is okay.

And of the title? How about a cow on the beach with a puppy for a friend, fishes in Fishton, cockroaches and horses…… not to mention the humans. In some ways it’s a Backpackers Guide to the Universe. But it’s exactly the kind of book that we need right now. Because it takes you inside yourself and outside yourself, it takes you all over the world to places you didn’t know you needed to be and there’s no green, amber or red light. And if you really want to pare it down to the bare, bare minimum. It’s about love.

I want to read it again. Now.

I bought it from Lightning Books online. But, cheapskate that I am, I did have a discount code. I regret that now. It is worth every penny of its full price.