A fantastic read from start to finish! Several trigger warnings regarding the read that should be seen in advance for particular readers, but was so beautifully written that it didn't take away from the story. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book as I typically dive into other genres, but happy I had a chance to read this.

Thank you to Atria Books & NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book has major content warnings so for those who need to check them, please do! This book is about grief and sisterhood, as well as familial trauma, friendship, and wrestling with the fact that things are not so black and white. That was vague but I think this book is so important! As I mentioned please check trigger warnings as this book deals with a suicide attempt.

I absolutely adored Margit & Sigrid’s relationship and it absolutely shattered me to read how they each contributed to each others trauma growing up without knowing it. Because of this, they grew up and grew apart. I can totally relate to that feeling and it’s a soul-crushing feeling. This book was both harrowing and heartwarming. Darkly funny, and immensely thought provoking. This is some of Emily Austin’s best work in my opinion.

I went into this not knowing the emotional journey I was about to go on, but I’m so glad I read this!!

Absolutely wonderful. Hopeful and sad and surprisingly funny, Emily Austin has quickly become one of my favourite authors. She writers real and gritty stories about difficult topics but you can’t help but leave them feeling hopeful and nostalgic and just moved in such a visceral way.
The story took a little bit of time to get into, the format/ narrative style being a bit confusing because it just dives right into letters right away. But once you get into it the story just flows so effortlessly.
Thank you to NetGalley for an e-arc of this book

95/100 or 4.75 stars

This is a stunning Teen/YA story. There is sensitive and difficult topics that are brought up and discussed within the novel, but it is done so incredibly well (with so much care and thought put into it) and makes sense with the purpose of this story.
The writing and the writing style was perfect for what she was trying to do and what she was trying to show the readers. I do own another book by Austin and I will absolutely check that out when I can get to it.

This will be an important book for so many teens and young adults; it makes me happy just knowing this is out there for them to discover, devour, and cherish.

“ I can’t imagine anyone has felt happiness more profoundly than me. I got to the peak. I don’t intend to kill myself because I’m unhappy. This has nothing to do with that.”

I am in awe of this book. It was chaotic and harsh, deep and intriguing, questioning and so very real. I loved the unreliability of the narrator, I loved the story telling and how it pulled back and forth like a game of tug of war. I loved both sisters and their different worldviews. I loved the darkness that surrounded these characters and my god did I love the last line.

I couldn’t put this down. I literally could not. Put it down. I kept telling myself one more chapter, one more chapter, until I got to the last page and felt a crushing sadness that I’d run out of pages to read and story to follow.

Emily Austin writes characters that felt just like me. Questioning the world, am I good or bad, why am I here, what’s the point? She beautifully portrayed what it’s like to be forced to grow up and want nothing more but to go back in time to being a child with no responsibilities - but knowing that child couldn’t survive in the adult world.

“I wish I could go back in time, reconnect with my genuine interests, let go of all social expectations, and feel happy as myself.”

Austin handled the topic of suicide and depression in such a loving yet realistic way. I truly cannot begin to explain how much I loved this book and a big thank you for the advanced copy, but I will be needing a physical copy as well to annotate because there were so many life lessons, breathtaking quotes, and simply amazing lines.

I went into this one blindly having loved Austin's last book and loved it. The turns this book kept taking kept surprising me each time (other than maybe the last one at the end).

If I was a rat I would devour this book and scramble over to all my rat friends and force them to eat this book up and then use our tiny rat hands to carry this book around to our rat relatives (ratatives if you will) and make them read it too. Unfortunately I’m not a rat yet so this review the best I can do. thank you so much to Emily Austin, Atria, and NetGalley for an ARC of a new favourite. 🐀🎡

No one can make me laugh, think about death, and analyze my childhood trauma all at once like Emily Austin can. I love how relatable her characters are and appreciated the unique format of this book.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Quirky lesbian lit fic at its finest! This really world well for me for a lot of reasons. It is really short but packs a punch in that short amount of time. It was a beautifully illustrated view of how trauma fundamentally fractures family, including how siblings can respond differently to trauma and have it significantly negatively impact their lives in different ways. This book touched on a lot of meaningful topics, including mental health, the opioid epidemic, sexual assault, and trauma in a way that was impactful without being overdone. I can really related to Sigrid’s hopelessness about all of the bad in the world, now more than ever. I also was extremely surprised by the twist at the halfway point In the story, which made it even more engaging to read. I think the book approached these topics in a very creative and interesting way, and I really have never read anything like it before. Really beautifully done!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review

5 🌟

How to describe this book? It was heavy and heartwrenching, but it was also beautiful and ultimately hopefully. Books about sisters always tug at my heartstrings, and I loved Margit and Sigrid. While this is a short read, it has a lot to say about the current political climate, mental health, and empathy. It was really lovely and I enjoyed it immensely.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This is a story of two sisters finding their way back to each other. Like Austin's previous novels, there is humor interspersed within the serious topics. Sigrid hates her job, misses her best friend, Greta, and struggles with living up to her family's and society's expectations. Her sister, Margit, is a high-achiever but is always worried about smoothing things over for everyone else. The sisters weren't particularly close. A tragic event brings them back together.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this digital e-arc.*

This was my first Emily Austin book and it was quite a whirlwind. The beginning part of this book, the first section where we see the “drafts” of Sigrid’s suicide note, I read through feeling disturbed, sad, and like I was listening to a child. patronized to a point of being just hard to read. But, the second and third sections of the book, where we meet Margit, learn more about Greta’s story, and learn the truth of Sigrid’s story underneath the veil of childhood naivety, I was so invested.

I feel like with the subject matter covered in this book (suicide, sexual assault, domestic violence, drug abuse, homophobia, racism, etc.) it was obvious that this would feel like a sucker punch, but I didn’t expect how much it would hurt. The feeling of loneliness, detachment, and resentment for the world around you that can come from growing up in a violent and toxic family environment, and also having no escape from it because you live in a small, mostly white town filled with ignorant people, felt so real. I felt so deeply for Margit and Sigrid who clearly learned no coping skills. I think this is a book that shows how difficult it can be to deal with grief and coming to terms with the reality you live in. I also think this book eloquently shows the intricate relationship between siblings who grew up equally disturbed by their environment, but how it can manifest differently.

I can’t wait to read the rest of Emily Austin’s work! Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the early copy of this book.

Wow I really loved this book. It was dark, but still hopeful and witty at the same time. I found myself really rooting for the characters. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
Wow this was such an interesting read. It was really beautifully composed. I loved stylistically how this book was written with its dual povs and how part of it was written like letters. It is definitely a heavy read and really makes you think.

I’m not sure what to rate this. I think I loved it?! it was simultaneously about nothing and everything at the same time. The characters will absolutely stay with me for a while. The writing feels like a true of consciousness and a diary entry, but it makes the book fly by. But the writing is about very sensitive material so you want to really save it and take your time reading this.

Emily Austin's We Could Be Rats is a poignant and unflinching exploration of mental health, queer identity, and the suffocating weight of societal expectations. The raw honesty of her writing is both unsettling and incredibly cathartic. Austin delves into the darkest recesses of the human mind, capturing the debilitating grip of depression and the insidious nature of suicidal ideation with a brutal and unflinching honesty that is both terrifying and strangely comforting.

The novel masterfully intertwines themes of childhood innocence, the struggle for self-acceptance in a homophobic environment, and the suffocating pressures of growing up. Austin's characters feel deeply real, their struggles resonating with a raw vulnerability that is both heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful.

While the subject matter is heavy, there's a glimmer of hope that permeates the narrative. As her characters navigate their inner demons and find solace in unexpected places, a sense of possibility emerges, offering a glimmer of hope to readers grappling with similar struggles.

We Could Be Rats is a powerful and unforgettable read. It's a must-read for anyone who has ever grappled with mental illness, felt stifled by societal expectations, or simply yearned for a deeper understanding of the human condition.

Oof. I didn’t like this.

Pub date January 27, 2025

Austin’s Interesting Facts about Space made my top 10 of 2023, so I was of course overjoyed that I got to read an eARC of We could be Rats. That same character that you read about in Interesting Facts is seen here as well: that anxious, funny, vulnerable, lovable, queer girl. I love that character and want to read her again ( I still need to read Everyone in this Room will someday be Dead), but besides that the story was a flop.

Maybe I wasn’t the target audience. It read almost YA and the characters are in fact in their early 20’s. It felt like a contemporary Catcher in the Rye with its coming of age angst.

Structurally, it was also too much. I love novels that try something different with structure, but without giving anything away, I’ll just say that this story, with its epistolary structure, pov switches, and unnecessary plot devices, made the novel feel overpacked. Lastly, the writing was repetitive. Some of the repetition served a purpose, but it didn’t make it less annoying to read.

I respect Austin taking on such difficult topics, but I think she did too much. let me know if you’ve read this and what you think!

We Could Be Rats is the story of two sisters, Sigrid and Margit, who lead very different lives but have more in common than they realize. Through these relatable and memorable characters, we explore the hard truths that come with growing older, creating safety through imagination, and what it’s like when you don’t fit neatly into your family or society’s expectations. With humor and care, Austin has crafted a deeply moving portrayal of mental illness, suicide, addiction, and complex family dynamics. A must-read for 2025 that is poignant, funny, and insightful.

...I wasn't really sure what to expect of this book. It felt a little all over the place and was giving me Euphoria vibes at first, I mean, it really covers the topics in that show a bit!

Then, we get to Marg's side and I felt so bad.. What a wild ride for a novel. I am glad it ended the way it did, but it was interesting seeing things within the story from both sides that felt so every day. It was more interesting to see Marg in a worse "bad place" vs Sigird's "bad place". It didn't really conclude why Sigird felt the way she did..

But also, doesn't Marg have her phone?! lol

Painful. Like a tumblr post droning on and on. No like a livejournal post maybe. Just not for me I guess.