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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'"He could not find one single more word to say. I just want to be free. He could not say those words. They had already withered in his mind, turned to dust. He did not even know, he marvelled now, what the hell those words had meant."
'Acclaimed novelist Charlotte Wood takes a character from her bestselling book The Children and turns her unflinching gaze on him and his world in her extraordinary novel, Animal People. Set in Sydney over a single day, Animal People traces a watershed day in the life of Stephen, aimless, unhappy, unfulfilled - and without a clue as to how to make his life better.
'His dead-end job, his demanding family, his oppressive feelings for Fiona and the pitiless city itself ... the great weight of it all threatens to come crashing down on him. The day will bring untold surprises and disasters, but will also show him - perhaps too late - that only love can set him free.
'Sharply observed, hilarious, tender and heartbreaking, Animal People is a portrait of urban life, a meditation on the conflicted nature of human-animal relationships, and a masterpiece of storytelling. Filled with shocks of recognition and revelation, it shows a writer of great depth and compassion at work. (From the publisher's website.)
'Acclaimed novelist Charlotte Wood takes a character from her bestselling book The Children and turns her unflinching gaze on him and his world in her extraordinary novel, Animal People. Set in Sydney over a single day, Animal People traces a watershed day in the life of Stephen, aimless, unhappy, unfulfilled - and without a clue as to how to make his life better.
'His dead-end job, his demanding family, his oppressive feelings for Fiona and the pitiless city itself ... the great weight of it all threatens to come crashing down on him. The day will bring untold surprises and disasters, but will also show him - perhaps too late - that only love can set him free.
'Sharply observed, hilarious, tender and heartbreaking, Animal People is a portrait of urban life, a meditation on the conflicted nature of human-animal relationships, and a masterpiece of storytelling. Filled with shocks of recognition and revelation, it shows a writer of great depth and compassion at work. (From the publisher's website.)
Notes
-
Stephen, one of the siblings from Wood's novel The Children, is the main character in Animal People.
-
Dedication: for Sean
-
Epigraph:
And I must borrow every changing shape
To find expression...dance, dance
Like a dancing bear,
Cry like a parrot, chatter like an ape.
-TS Eliot, 'Portrait of a Lady'
Whereas in animals fear is a response to signal,
in men it is endemic.
-John Berger, Why Look at Animals?
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille and sound recording, large print
Works about this Work
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[Untitled]
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 73 no. 2 2013; (p. 230-235)
— Review of Animal People 2011 single work novel ; Foal's Bread 2011 single work novel -
Now, Read This
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 December 2012; (p. 22-23) The Weekend Australian , 5-6 January 2013; (p. 14-25) -
Women of Words
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 20 May 2012; (p. 19) -
Miles Franklin Longlist Has Room for Both Genders
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29 March 2012; (p. 5) -
Everyperson on a Bus
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December 2011-January 2012 no. 337 2011; (p. 34)
— Review of Animal People 2011 single work novel
-
[Review] Animal People
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , September vol. 91 no. 3 2011; (p. 25)
— Review of Animal People 2011 single work novel -
Aboard the Human Ark
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 8 October 2011; (p. 33)
— Review of Animal People 2011 single work novel -
Profound Scope in Zoo of Humanity
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 8-9 October 2011; (p. 19)
— Review of Animal People 2011 single work novel -
Caged in the Human Zoo
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 15 October 2011; (p. 24)
— Review of Animal People 2011 single work novel -
Immune to Animal Attraction and Firmly in Control
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 15 - 16 October 2011; (p. 21)
— Review of Animal People 2011 single work novel -
The Children (Continued)
Heather Dyer
(interviewer),
2011
single work
interview
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , September vol. 91 no. 3 2011; (p. 29) -
Miles Franklin Longlist Has Room for Both Genders
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29 March 2012; (p. 5) -
Women of Words
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 20 May 2012; (p. 19) -
Now, Read This
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 December 2012; (p. 22-23) The Weekend Australian , 5-6 January 2013; (p. 14-25) -
All About Charlotte Wood
2011
single work
interview
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , October 2011;
Awards
- 2013 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — People's Choice Award
- 2013 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
- 2012 shortlisted Kibble Literary Awards — Nita Kibble Literary Award
- 2012 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
Last amended 11 Nov 2019 15:53:17
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