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51
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
28/100Critics
74/100Scholars
Author:
Susan Orlean
Publisher:
Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Date:
October 12, 2021
Susan Orleans examines animal-human relationships through the pieces she has written over the course of her journalistic career.
What The Reviewers Say
Three reasons you should read Susan Orlean’s On Animals even if, like me, you are a faithful subscriber to The New Yorker and eagerly consumed nearly all of the essays when they first appeared during the more than 25 years this collection spans: (1) Every essay in the book is magnificent. (2) Every essay in the book is magnificent. (3) Every essay in the book is magnificent.
I very much enjoyed Orlean’s perspective in these original, perceptive, and clever essays showcasing the sometimes strange, sometimes sick, sometimes tender relationships between people and animals.
Orlean didn't set out to write an animal-rights treatise and it's not a critic's job to foist her own sensibilities on to an author. It is appropriate, though, to point out that Orlean's way of being 'animalish' does not always go hand in hand with a heightened sensitivity to animals' life experiences.
Orlean’s deft handling of facts and her lived experience as an animal softy create a pleasing friction. It turns out that Orlean the pet owner is sentimental — supposedly a reporter’s bane — until reality intervenes.
