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Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks. Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. She's never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue. As disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean realises this is no ordinary flu: its chief symptom is that its victims begin to understand the language of animals - first mammals, then birds and insects, too. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean's infected son, Lee. When he takes off with Kimberly, heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin. Setting off on their trail, with Sue the dingo riding shotgun, they find themselves in a stark, strange world in which the animal apocalypse has only further isolated people from other species. Bold, exhilarating, and wholly original, The Animals in That Country asks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.… (more)
This book began with promise as I sunk into a more familiar vernacular. However, although the human story was interesting, I struggled to interpret the animal comments and it became pretty weird. A bit too dystopian for my tastes. ( )
I picked [b:The Animals in That Country|52527550|The Animals in That Country|Laura Jean McKay|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574383210l/52527550._SX50_SY75_.jpg|72682832] off the library shelf because of the intriguing title and borrowed it as the looked promising. It's a fairly grim apocalyptic tale in which a pandemic of mild flu gives humans the ability to communicate with animals: first mammals, then birds, then insects. Events are narrated from the perspective of Jean, an alcoholic woman working at a wildlife park run by her daughter. Her narration is depressing, although it is at least novel to find a female protagonist with such a fucked up life. Usually only male protagonists get to be this sordid.
Once Jean and others catch Dr Dolittle disease, or zooflu as it is named in the book, there is animal dialogue. I found this suitably strange and other, but of mixed impact. With Sue the dingo it was not always effective. I think it worked best when kept simple as with the whales and the insects, for example fleas yelling 'BLOOD! BLOOD!' and a moth 'MOON. MOON.' The sense of disorientation caused by this pandemic is nonetheless conveyed well, particularly during the road trip sequence. I found Jean's limited point of view was more of a weakness than a strength and would have preferred multiple perspectives on events. I appreciated the ending, though. Jean is given the cure for zooflu, which is being forced upon everyone. Human civilisation as it currently stands is incompatible with an immediate awareness of the suffering we inflict on other living things. I did wonder if people who avoided getting the cure would end up able to communicate with plants and fungi. That would be incredible.( )
Crazy wierd. But not only does it all work, the protagonist, Jean, and her dingo Sue come through clear as a bell. You can feel the heat, smell the smells, hear the chatter of the animals. An incredible feat. Weird and wonderful. Sad and human, oh so human.
Beautiful, strange, and painful. I cried at the end. Animals strange as animals, and humans fucking up in both intimate and national scales. Again, what an ending. ( )
Could’ve done without the casual fatphobia. Interesting until it wasn’t, and the animals read like the worst parts of Australian literature. Two stars for the concept. ( )
Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks. Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. She's never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue. As disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean realises this is no ordinary flu: its chief symptom is that its victims begin to understand the language of animals - first mammals, then birds and insects, too. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean's infected son, Lee. When he takes off with Kimberly, heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin. Setting off on their trail, with Sue the dingo riding shotgun, they find themselves in a stark, strange world in which the animal apocalypse has only further isolated people from other species. Bold, exhilarating, and wholly original, The Animals in That Country asks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.
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WINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PRIZE FOR LITERATUREWINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTIONA SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARSHORTLISTED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARDOut on the road, no one speaks, everything talks.Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. She's never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue.As disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean realises this is no ordinary flu- its chief symptom is that its victims begin to understand the language of animals - first mammals, then birds and insects, too. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean's infected son, Lee. When he takes off with Kimberly, heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin.Setting off on their trail, with Sue the dingo riding shotgun, they find themselves in a stark, strange world in which the animal apocalypse has only further isolated people from other species. Bold, exhilarating, and wholly original, The Animals in That Country asks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.'This is a game-changing, life-changing novel, the kind that comes along right when you need it, and compels you to listen to its terrifying poetry. Compulsively readable and yet also pushing the boundaries of what is possible in terms of language and narrative, this is a brilliant and disturbing book that will make you rethink everything you thought you understood about non-human animal sentience and agency. I don't think any reader can ever forget a voice like Sue the dingo's - wise and obscene in equal measure. A triumph.'-Ceridwen Dovey, author of Only The Animals'A timely dystopian novel in which a dangerous flu sweeps across Australia, giving those infected the power to speak with animals, with dark, disturbing results.'-Maxine Beneba Clarke'A wildly inventive dystopian adventure ... Both a hell of a ride and a revealing thought experiment about our place in the natural world.'-Dan Kois, Slate
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