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Book Review: Justin Torres's We the Animals
Justin Torres is an American novelist. We the Animals has been translated into fifteen languages, and is said to premiere on screen in 2017. Justin Torres has published short-stories in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Tin House, and other publications. He has published nonfiction pieces for The Guardian and The Advocate.
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Review
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A Review of Justin Torres's We the Animals by Miguel Soto
We the Animals is about “three little kings locked in a feud for more,” a “confused goose woman,” and a Paps “on his way to becoming indestructible.” The familial structure in this novel is broken down into progressive vignettes—memories illustrate the dynamics between brothers, mother and sons, and father and sons. Torres explores these relationships simultaneously, but one of the many impacting moments is when the narrator’s mother refuses to accept her son is growing up. She says, “You’re not seven; you’re six plus one. And next year you’ll be six plus two.” The scene is reminiscent of Sandra Cisnero’s “Eleven,” whether the allusion is purposely inserted in the text, or the very moment is just that universal, we know exactly what it means to come to terms with our age and growing up. The mother observes, even though she believes, “loving big boys is different from loving little boys,” bringing the perspective of the story back to the boy’s interactions, and how they perceive their “masculinity.” Torres also draws in the allusion of Christ’s disciples washing his feet to show the reversal of humility between father and son, which shifts how the reader usually understands the allusion. Each chapter is a short, childhood memory, up until the last section of the novel, where Torres fast-forwards us into his young adulthood. Each memory is a story of its own, full of complex metaphors, giving each chapter the feel of a short-story. This style gives accessibility to readers who are not disciplined to read for long periods of time. A reader can complete a short chapter, and pick-up the novel at any point, and still make sense of the overall themes. Each chapter connects the other in familial structures, and illustrates the psychology of our narrator to show his overall collapse. We the Animals is the perfect novel for readers interested in character psychology, familial structure, the learned behavior of masculinity, and how masculinity interacts internally with the realization of being gay. I highly recommend this unique and mature novel, especially for readers who have experienced the beautifully-composed vignettes of Sandra Cisneros; especially, since Justin Torres uses a similar style, in a progressive stance, to highlight an alternative of the human experience. |
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Miguel is the Asst. Managing Editor and Book Review Editor for Jet Fuel Review. As an editor, one of his main concerns is giving a space to marginalized voices, centralizing on narratives often ignored. He loves reading radical, unapologetic writers, who explore the emotional and intellectual stresses within political identities and systemic realities. His own writings can be found in OUT / CAST: A Journal of Queer Midwestern Writing and Art, The Rising Phoenix Review, and Rogue Agent. He writes for the Jet Fuel Review blog in Not Your Binary: A QTPOC Reading Column.
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