Laura Jean McKay

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 Countryasks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.

The Animals in That Country

kristie alexis

WINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PRIZE FOR LITERATURE WINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTION A SLATEAND SUNDAY TIMESBOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD 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 Countryasks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.

Janice Hopper

I liked this book, but I can understand why many others didn't.

Imagine a virus that enables humans to hear/understand the animals around us. It starts small, maybe, domesticated animals. Then reptiles, birds, whales, and even insects. We'd all go mad. And that's what happened in this book, pretty much.

The protagonist, Jean, is really pretty unlikeable. She's an alcoholic. Thinks nothing of casual sex or groping strangers while drinking. She does love her granddaughter Kimberly. When Kimberly is taken off by Jean's son Lee, Jean feels like she has to go after them. She's aided in her quest by Sue, a dingo/kelpie mix. They have an uneasy like/hate relationship. (I don't think it ever gets as close as love.)

But the central thing here is the animal communication. It's not speech. Jean talks about Sue "speaking" through ear tilt, tail position, anal scents, and the position of her fur, as well as by sound. Sue isn't a Disney talking animal here. What she "says" is often obscure and allusive. It's challenging to try to understand what's going on.

Long years ago, I read a book by Vicki Hearne (Adam's Task: Calling Animals by Name). In it, she quoted Wittgenstein, who said "if a lion could speak, we could not understand him." I thought about that a lot while reading this book. I also thought about Kij Johnson's story "The evolution of trickster stories among the dogs of North Park after the Change.*" In that story, domesticated animals suddenly gain intelligence AND speech. And most people are totally freaked out. We've edited our views of animals so they're what WE want them to be. Which is not necessarily what they actually are. In the story Kij Johnson writes:

"Sometimes we think we want to know what our dogs think. We don't, not really. Someone who watches us with unclouded eyes and sees who we really are is more frightening than a man with a gun. We can fight or flee or avoid the man, but the truth sticks like pine sap. After the Change, some dog owners feel a cold place in the pit of their stomachs when they meet their pets' eyes. Sooner or later, they ask their dogs to find new homes, or they forget to latch the gate, or they force the dogs out with curses and the ends of brooms. Or the dogs leave, unable to bear the look in their masters' eyes."

We like our Disney-fied animals. REAL animals are much different. I agree with some reviewers that this almost verges into horror at times. It's a thought-provoking work, and I liked it, even though the protagonist was not likeable.

*Text of that story available on the Way-Back Archive here: https://web.archive.org/web/200803020... 

You should read it.

WINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PRIZE FOR LITERATURE WINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTION A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 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.

Lucy Newlinds

A SUNDAY TIMESBOOK OF THE YEAR 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 Countryasks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.

Emma 

Drew Timms

Cassie B

Daniel Kilby

David Pascuzzo

Mike Little

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.

The Animals in That Country

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