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On Animals

On Animals

by Susan Orlean

Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster ·2021 ·256 pages
Near the Top
Near the Top
I Index
55/99
Top of the Pile

82/99

Critics' Rating Index

Maybe Someday

28/99

Readers' Rating Index

n/a

Scholars' Citation Index

96/99

Volume of Reviews

81/99

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About This Book

Susan Orlean—the beloved New Yorker staff writer and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Library Book—gathers a lifetime of musings, meditations, and in-depth profiles about animals. "How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages," writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called Herbert the Near-Sighted Pigeon, she's been drawn to stories about how we live with animals, and how they abide by us. Now, in On Animals, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career. These stories consider a range of creatures—the household pets we dote on, the animals we raise to end up as meat on our plates, the creatures who could eat us for dinner, the various tamed and untamed animals we share our planet with who are central to human life. In her own backyard, Orlean discovers the delights of keeping chickens. In a different backyard, in New Jersey, she meets a woman who has twenty-three pet tigers—something none of her neighbors knew about until one of the tigers escapes. In Iceland, the world's most famous whale resists the efforts to set him free; in Morocco, the world's hardest-working donkeys find respite at a special clinic. We meet a show dog and a lost dog and a pigeon who knows exactly how to get home. Equal parts delightful and profound, enriched by Orlean's stylish prose and precise research, these stories celebrate the meaningful cross-species connections that grace our collective existence.


Reviews

"That's not only because of the collision between memory and time."

Margaret Renkl· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Orlean doesn't pontificate, though; as always, her tone is conversational and self-questioning."

Matt Damsker· USA Today Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Or spark a hyena-level laugh, as she seemingly effortlessly does when writing about topics that are typically not a laughing matter."

Rachel Levin· San Francisco Chronicle Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"A revelry for readers wild for animals and/or enamored of vibrant essays."

Donna Seaman· Booklist Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Regardless of whether you're an animal lover, On Animals is a fabulously fun collection of essays ..."

Alice Cary· BookPage Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"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 ..."

BARBARA J. KING· NPR Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"Readers will continue to think about these dogs and donkeys, tigers and lions, chickens and pigeons long after we close the book's covers."

Sy Montgomery· The Boston Globe Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"The mix is remarkably eclectic, though with Ms."

Jeremy McCarter· The Wall Street Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Another winner featuring the author's trademark blend of meticulous research and scintillating writing."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"especially good when Orlean investigates the consequences of humans taking from other species what they are not prepared to give."

Jake Cline· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Near the Top

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