Unlikely Animals

Unlikely Animals Book Review by Annie Hartnett

This book was so magically cozy. 

Set in a small New Hampshire town where everyone knows everyone (relatable) and ghosts narrate throughout the whole story (less relatable), this book was the pure piece of comfort that I needed in my life. 

A murmuring (gathering) of Starlings is the main focus of Unlikely Animals. Emma, the prodigal daughter, finally returns to the East Coast after years of being in California and avoiding her family.

Clive Starling, Emma’s dad, is dying of an unnamed disease that makes him constantly forget what he is doing and allows him to see ghosts, specifically the ghost of Ernest Harold Baynes, history’s real life Dr. Doolittle. 

Emma’s mother is struggling with her husband's degeneration as well as still coming to terms with the affair he had a few years ago. In the meantime, she’s trying to look after her other child, Emma’s brother who is also a recovering addict, working at the university, and running the historical society. 

While the book sounds simple—and to some degree, it is—it is also profound and beautiful. The Starling family, cracked and fissured, still obviously love each other despite their differences and conflicts of interest.

I didn’t expect much from this book, a book club pick from my high school, but found myself loving it.

While the beginning was slow, the novel stole my heart as the pages continued, bringing me further and further into the lives of this town and the people inhabiting it. 

I adored the small-town feel, how every time Emma left her house she would run into this neighbor or that neighbor, something I’ve experienced a lot living near where I grew up.

I also cherished all the characters. While none of them were perfect—far from it—they all felt distinctly human. They all struggled, loved, and hoped for various things. Nothing about their lives was fantastical, but that’s what it made it so heart-warming to read about. 

Last, the book was hilarious, so much funnier than I expected from a novel where the dad is dying, the brother is an addict, and the mother is absent. Every other scene had me laughing out loud at the absurdity of the situations that the characters got themselves in. 

Recommendation: If you’re looking for a cozy, technically magical realism story, then this book has something for everyone. Cute animals? Check. A loving, albeit dysfunctional family? Check. A Stars-Hollow-esque setting? Check and Check. Read Unlikely Animals and with a nice cup of tea and laugh your worries away. 

Score: 8/10