“They smelled my difference – my sharp, sad, pansy scent. They believed I would know a world larger than their own. They hated me for my good grades, for my white ways. All at once they were disgusted, and jealous, and deeply protective, and deeply proud.” (Pg 105) Suspenseful and dramatic, Torres beautifully describes a torturous childhood; combining words that mean love and hate, Torres creates a complex, yet identifiable swirl of words that narrate the essence of the novel, the coming of age story of a nameless narrator, a young boy yearning to fit into the dysfunctional , violent and yet loving warmth that is his family, yet having to break free from the bonds to face his truth;his sexuality. We do not even know the name of the main character, yet we somehow sympathize with him. It’s almost magic how as a reader we can become the nameless.
“God’s scattered all the clean among the dirty. You and me Joel, we’re nothing more than a fistful of seed that God tossed into the mud and horseshit. We’re on our own.” (Pg. 84)Based in Upstate New York, “We the Animals” is the story of three young boys learning to gear through life on their own. Though physically present, the boys find themselves spiritually abandoned by their parents, with an overworked mother living in a depressive state, and a manipulative father that is often times violent, something the boys learned to interpret as a sign of “love.” The three boys move as a pack, with their father being the alpha male. the boys eventually learn from their fathers ways, and start to become violent towards their mother, the Beta of the pack. the novel contains drama, violence, “romance”, and suspense, as Torres has mastered the art of imagery in his story telling.
Though it is classified as a fictional novel, “We the Animals” rings true and authentic to the reader, the novel has an ability to grab your attention and drown you within its tale, so much so that “Even a reader that does not have anything in common with the narrator ends up having a relationship with the book.” – Chan, Group member
this novel taps into the truths of life, the journey of self discovery, and the complexity of family, things that we can all relate to, so that even those who is perhaps not an avid reader, can identify and relate with the nameless.
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