Or I'm too cynical about myself to do otherwise. But if by sympathetic you mean you can emphasise with them, understand them, and by doing so come to care for them more than you'd initially thought, the central character of this book IS sympathetic. People who prefer sympathetic characters, and mean by that nice, or admirable ones might struggle. 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. 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. When he takes off with Kimberly, heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean’s infected son, Lee. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue.Īs 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. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. She’s never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks.
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