The Skunks is a patient, precise debut about a young woman who has returned home for the summer after graduating college. Warnick beautifully evokes the feeling of being in limbo that comes with being on the cusp of adulthood, tangled up in nostalgia for past comforts while tentatively taking steps toward an uncertain future. Isabel, the main character, must come to terms with this tension, occasionally distracting herself from her angst with allusive, allegorical digressions focused on the imagined lives of her backyard wildlife. It's a small story, but full of well-wrought detail and humor, with a really charming voice that elevates it into something special. I'm looking forward to Warnick's future work!

The novel is well paced and I liked the way the perspective bounced between Isabel and the skunk. The two main side characters being named Eli and Ellie was confusing at times, but eventually I was able to keep them straight. Good book overall, but not something that will have a lot of staying power for me.

I really enjoyed this book! What a breathe of fresh air! We follow the thoughts and emotions of Isabel as she returns home the summer following her graduation from university. What's the next step in life after college: Where will she live? What will she do to earn money? Will anything happen between her and her crush (with whom she has a short history with back in high school)? Its a transition stage where one's whole life and the unknown lies still ahead. Isabel decides to earn some money by house sitting for some family friends, she babysits, and she covers the reception desk at a yoga studio. The story is quietly reflective, as Isabel, with her lack of self-confidence or assertiveness, weaves her way through the summer.
While housesitting, she notices this family of skunks wandering around the house, and she becomes deeply infatuated with the skunks; she seeks out all the information she can find about skunk behavior and at the same time, signs of the skunks show up in different areas in her life, as she seeks to make parallels between the skunks and human actions and behavior.
I really enjoyed this book. The writing style of the author was refreshing and new, innocent yet sharp. The feelings and insecurities of being a 21 year old out of college with the unknown ahead of you were so accurately reflected in this story, yet several passages relfecting on the passage of life were still very applicable and meaningful to me now, in my 40's. I loved how the author created a character like Isabel who was able to reflect on her past (memories with her father), communicate her insecurities of the present, but also make the connection between her life and that with the natural world around her, knowing the life will continue to move forward with the passage of time. It was a sweet and innocent story which many can relate to.
Thank you very much to the publisher and to netgalley for this advance copy read. One of the best books I've read in 2024 so far!

loved this one! I'm always happy to read about unwell women and animals. This book was the best of both.

I tried really hard to get into this one, but I just wasn't able to. I am still really thankful to the publisher, author, and netgalley for granting me advanced access to this digital collection before publication day.

I loved this book. Loved it.

After finishing the book, I went back through to highlight my favorite phrases and passages. I was a little worried that these sentences wouldn't resonate as much the second time through, but I actually found the opposite. Reading this book was like taking a bunch of tiny bites of something delicious. It wasn't some fast-paced, unputdownable meal, but it wasn't trying to be that. And at the end of it all, I was full and content.

I wish I had had a book like this when I was in my early twenties (the age of Isabel, the protagonist). The book is very much about that difficult transition phase when you're trying to figure out what you want to *do* with your life, who you want to be, who you want to be with. At the same time, though, there was something nostalgic being able to read about and reflect on that phase of life while not being in it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House for my advanced reader copy!

I thought the skunks was very charming. There were a handful of sentences that were so expertly crafted I had to pause and take a moment. What a delight.

The Skunks is an unconventional coming of age story about Isabel, a young woman who is house-sitting, baby-sitting, and working at a yoga studio in her home town the summer after her college graduation. It is a quick read that falls into the “no plot just vibes” category, and the vibes are certainly…quirky.

In this story, we see Isabel navigate friendship and other relationships while musing on her future life direction. However, there is no definitive “end” to the story and it honestly felt more like a short story to me than a novel. Just a little snippet of Isabel’s life that we get to witness.

We also get a lot of snippets about skunks. Isabel sees three skunks in the yard at the very beginning of the story and they become a prominent presence in the story—or rather, they become their own story told alongside Isabel’s. Honestly, the skunks lost me a little bit. It felt like they were meant to be a metaphor for something that I couldn’t quite grasp. Even though I didn’t find anything profound in the skunk stuff, it did add to the weird and fun vibes of the book and I did overall enjoy Warwick’s unique writing style.

This book did not speak to my soul, but it might speak to yours! Give it a try if you love peculiar prose, fever-dream-esque meandering novels, or just love skunks!

Thank you Tin House and NetGalley for the eARC.

UGH, fantastic. Were Fiona older than me, and had this book come out when I was in high school, I would have read this and dreamed big lil dreams of my near future. It would have meant so much to me. Instead, I'm reading it as I turn 30, on the other side of college, on the other side of my time in Western Massachusetts, and it means even more to me than it could have then. So sweet and cozy, so perfectly captures a slice of life. It made me cry for personal reasons, lol. Great work, loved it <3

This was such a short and cute read. My favorite part about it was the POV of the skunks. Honestly, if the animals weren't so dang stinky they'd be the cutest things ever!

This was a short, concise read. "The Skunks" looks at a thin slice of the life of Isabel, a young adult in the space between college and the first "adult" milestone after it. This period of time is such a strong liminal space for many young people, and the author did a great job capturing the very real feelings of being between two different but equally important life phases. The book is conversational and the plot is straightforward. The characters are memorable and authentic. The author's inclusion and sometimes centering of the neighborhood skunks and their own lives added interest and unique detail in what is essentially a universal story.

This book is more of a meditation than a story, which feels entirely right for Warnick’s style of writing and, I think, what she’s attempting to say with it.

In some respects this has the bones of a typical “young adult adrift after college” novel, but it’s more than that, albeit with less plot. Warnick is at her best when her protagonist is simply musing, be it about her own life or something broader, and the prose feels both relatable and aspirational.

It’s not uncommon to feel lost at this stage of life (indeed, I expect most of us felt that way), but the thoughtfulness put into this particular portrayal of it is both comforting and thought provoking.

Be prepared for an unnecessary animal death toward the end of the novel. It’s predictable but not pleasant if, like me, this kind of thing bothers you. Fortunately it doesn’t detract from the quality of the book, or from the lovely relationship the protagonist imagines between herself and the titular skunks.

I felt all of the main characters feelings - it was so real which I feel like I wasn't expecting. Skunk perspectives were good but a little weird.

How could my little animal-loving heart not be excited about a book called "The Skunks"? Even better, skunks weren't exclusively used as some big metaphor; there were actual skunks in this novel. This pleased me more than one would expect.

Skunks aside, I enjoyed following Isabel as she wove through life, facing challenges and questions in a post-college world. I appreciated the small moments and clever observations that made this story such a breeze to read through. I'm a sucker for a more character-driven book, and The Skunks delivered.

This book felt so underdeveloped to me. I wish I would've counted how many times the author said the word, 'skunk'. It was a lot. Yikes. Fiona Warnick is a very young author, I'm sure her writing style will continue to improve as she ages. She has potential but she's not a strong storyteller yet. I usually enjoy cute and quirky/slice-of-life novels, but this one felt flat and underwhelming. I think I would've enjoyed this more if the story had a bigger plot or more interesting protagonist. In the end, I just didn't care, and I was mostly bored.

Thank you, Netgalley and Tin House for the digital ARC.

Isabel is at a weird spot in her life. She’s graduated college and is back in her hometown babysitting, housesitting, hanging with her childhood friends, and working at a Pilates studio. Then she spots three skunks crossing the backyard and can’t stop thinking about them.

This book is hard to describe - not a lot happens in the storyline, but the prose reflecting on the time, place, and mood of Isabel at this crossroads point of figuring out what to do in life is so relatable. My favourite chapters were those from the Skunk’s point of view, interacting with the grass and the compost pile, learning how to count from the birds in the trees. This skunk perspective was so fresh and charming, and I honestly would have loved even more.

I look forward to seeing future work from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House Books for providing this ARC!

I'm afraid I don't find this book to be fully formed, and perhaps, that may be the point. However, the overwhelming sense that the plot or thematic elements were not completely fleshed out led to overall confusion and a listless reading experience for me. I didn't find the style to be particularly evocative, though I understood there was an attempt at parallel perspectives of Isabel and "the skunks." The mudanity of the plot was not striking in its simplicity, despite all supposed attempts at such. The fact that we as readers were meant to find Isabel's internal monologue to be thought-provoking or groundbreaking in some way felt misplaced. It wasn't until about halfway through that I found anything remotely moving within the quasi-stream-of-consciousness musings. Equally, the general choppiness of the syntax and diction, especially in portions of dialogue, seemed to me to be both devoid of enough detail to convey deeper meaning, as well as not succinct enough to be snappy and forthcoming with successful metaphor.

A gentle, poignant coming-of-age story full of delightful surprises. I came for the skunks (which are an excellent part of the narrative!) but there's so much more to discover in Fiona Warnick's prose and layered characters. I flipped to the first chapter to get a general vibe and accidentally read the whole thing in one sitting!

A lot can change that first summer you’re home from college. Whether it be the town you grew up in or the person you were when you grew up there, the world is ever changing. The skunks addresses that in a very slice of life way, reminding me a lot of “are you there god? It’s me, Margret”. Overall a cute cozy read when you want a book about growing up without falling in love.

many thanks to netgalley and tin house for the ARC!

what a wonderfully quiet yet profound little book about skunks and coming into adulthood and love and friendship and questions without answers and knowing too much but also nothing at all! warnick's writing lolls, meanders, and meditates in a way that is propulsive without any gimmicks or twists. SKUNKS is made up of so many opposing things, folding unto one another until everything that was once black and white becomes grey-- and these grey areas are explored boundlessly. while i loved living in isabel's mind, i could read an entire book from the skunk's perspective alone. cannot wait to read more from fiona warnick