In all honesty, this book, We the Animals caught my attention for two reasons. The first is that it was relatively short. The second was that a handful of years ago it got adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Looking’s Raul Castillo. Since my time with that show, I’ve been seeking those actors out, so it’s no wonder this work came back into my orbit. Instead of just jumping straight into the film first, I decided I wanted to give the book a go.
I was interested to learn that the book was a little autobiographical for author Justin Torres. In the novel, he depicts fictional characters, but their experiences apparently parallel certain aspects of his life growing up. The story is told from the perspective of the youngest of three brothers, who remains nameless throughout the book, but we see how he grows throughout the events of the novel. Growing up, he is very close to his older brothers, Joel and Manny, and holds complicated relationships with his parents. It’s clear he loves them, but also respectfully fears them. Part of the problem is that his parents are so young. His mother is distraught and depressed a lot of the time, while his father is sometimes abusive to their mother or sometimes abandons the family for stretches of time.
While his parents presence ebb and flow out of his life, his brothers are always there for him. While they share a close bond as young children though, he starts to see himself grow distant from them as they grow up. He is interested in different things, and his older brothers have also started to become slightly abusive to their mother. Another stark difference is that he is gay, which is not alright in his household on both sides of his heritage. It’s clear his Puerto Rican heritage plays a vital part in his life, but the revelation of his homosexuality is what unites the rest of his family against him. In an effort to break away, he attacks them, and ends up institutionalized for it.
I’m not quite sure what time period this novel takes place, but sadly, I don’t really think it matters. What our narrator experiences is something that I’m sure a lot of people are still dealing with in the present day. It was an interesting style of writing, and while it wasn’t necessarily my favorite, I was still able to vividly see the story as it was being described. After reading Torres’ novel, I can’t wait to see how faithfully it was adapted to the screen. Be on the lookout for it in one of my upcoming weekly movie reviews!