An ode to queer youth & the conservative small town experience.

While this book at face value is exceptionally dark, Emily Austin’s humor, wit, and quirky, reflective storytelling rounds this story out soooo perfectly!

Our plot centers around 2 sisters who could not be more different. We examine one’s attempt to take her own life while the other is left to grapple with the repercussions. Pretty bleak, I know.

Despite this being THE plot, this story is SO. MUCH. MORE. With our quirky cast of characters, this story is coming of age, an examination of complicated familial relations, and a surprisingly human reminder that even when living gets hard (and our own self destruction feels quite trivial) we deserve to live despite.

*TW/ Suicide Attempt*

first off, i cried... twice.

truthfully, i went into this book not expecting it to go the way it did at all, in fact, i was quite confused at first! nonetheless, i ended up resonating with it so intensely. you come across multiple examples of various relationships in this story and how they can alter your entire worldview as you grow and experience life, which i think was so admirable. there's the aspects of growing up in a toxic environment, feeling isolated because of your identity and the longing to remain young and carefree forever!

its also such a great depiction of how mental health and suicide can affect not only yourself, but those around you as well, and to have dived into that perspective made the story so much more delicate and heart wrenching. i am so thankful to have received this as my first ever arc and to have been able to enjoy it the way i did!

first: thank you SO much to netgalley , atria books and emily austin for this e arc.

as an older sister, this was so … tender. so much i’m still feeling and felt through out. this might be my favorite emily austin novel yet. i found myself relating so much to both sigrid and margit. the relationship with your sister is sooo complex (just like most relationships) so to capture the essence of sisterhood soooo beautifully, raw, and honest is * chef’s kiss * !!! i cried , i laughed , i resonated. navigating the relationship w your siblings in a toxic household is truly .. something. Sigrid is me in so many ways when it comes to how she views her familial relationships. plus the greta and Sigrid friendship … i can’t.. brb gonna go hug my sisters extra tight now.

We Could Be Rats opens with the many, many versions of
Sigrid's suicide letter. Sigrid is a young adult living in a town that
is too small and too closed-minded for her non-conforming
personality. Through her attempts to explain why she has ended
her life, we learn about Sigrid's childhood and adulthood, her
relationships with her family and friends, and what has spurred
her to her last actions. At the halfway mark, we hear from
Margit, Sigrid's sister, who takes over the narrative and gives us
a different perspective.


This book was such a disappointment after having completely
loved Austin's two previous novels. I barely made it through and
really only persevered because other reviews mentioned things
heating up with the twist. The first half of this novel was more
like a series of vignettes about Sigrid's life, and 1 just couldn't
get invested. I did love the third section of the novel, so l'm glad
I pushed through to get there. Overall, though, if you haven't read
Emily Austin yet, do NOT start with this one. Grab one of her
other two novels instead; they are both delightful.

4 stars!

Emily R. Austin never disappoints, her books are always funny and real, making me look up from time to time as I read, staring at the wall because what I feel so deeply is written on a page before me.

In this book we have sisters, Margit and Sigrid, two sisters who couldn’t be more opposites. We Could Be Rats is a story about family, and childhood magic, and the death of that magic as we grow up. The whole time I was reading this book, a quote from Adventure Time, a tv show, played on my head in a loop “But does growing up just change your body? Or does it change your soul?” And I feel like this book is 100+ pages of that quote.

This book will make you laugh, it will certainly make you cry, and probably both at the same time in a way only Emily R. Austin can do.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for an ARC of this book. I am not being paid to read this book or leave a review, I am doing both voluntarily.

I cried and literally laughed out loud many times during this book. I really appreciated the fresh format of this book. At first I wasn’t entirely sure what I was reading. The writing and prose is parsed down to feel like your inner monologue. I thought this book was a good exploration of sisterhood and mental illness. I think this book being so current is so significant. I thoroughly enjoyed its musings on confronting your feelings dealing with a conservative family when you are liberal. I thought the rat metaphor worked and had me crying a few times. Really fresh book and I would read another book by this author. Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC.

This book was absolutely fantastic! I felt so seen and understood by both Sigrid and Margit as their experiences are very relatable to my life. I love how Emily Austin is able to imbue humor into her stories even when so much of the story is focusing on grief and PTSD.

First I want to thank the publisher for the advance reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was heavy! I can't say I enjoyed it because the story is to heavy to enjoy, but I am glad I read it! I think the author did an amazing job developing the characters and giving them their own voice. But make sure you are in the right headspace before reading this book. It is an intense delve into some really heavy topics including suicide, depression, identity, family relationships, SA, and bigotry. If you can handle it, it's a wonderfully written story that really made me think.

Is Emily Austin going to show up in my favorite books list every single year? Looks like it!

She just has this way of writing totally fragile characters that are devastatingly relatable. There is always this feeling of treading water- of sinking lower and lower, but not wanting to inconvenience anyone by asking for a hand. But help is there- this book, like her others, is ultimately a cathartic journey for the characters AND the reader who is sharing the ride. The book is written with overwhelming anxiety and sadness... but you can trust Emily Austin to create a moment of connection and a network of healing.

CW: suicide (ideation, attempt)

I initially thought this subject matter would be too hard to read, but I ultimately found it so I trifling and different. There was such a unique voice in this story and I found myself so compelled to understand these characters in a deeper way.

This story begins with entries from one sister, Sigrid, as she prepares her suicide note. She is critiquing her writing and you can’t tell if what she is sharing is truth or if it’s an exaggeration to appear more interesting. It’s a combination of humor and extremely depressing thoughts that make you question whether Sigrid is going to actually kill herself or if she regrets her past decisions and just wants to restart. The older sister, Margit, has a vastly different view of the world and how one should act in social situations. Both sisters recount their childhood memories and share their disturbing thoughts about the point of their life. It’s tragically relatable.

We Could be Rats follows Sigrid, a young woman who has struggled her whole life with feeling like she doesn’t fit with her family and doesn’t fit with society. As her life spirals, she takes drastic measures that force her and her sister, Margit, back into each others lives, and they must confront the ways their turbulent childhood impacted them and their relationship. At its heart this is a story of two sisters who love each other very much and have never been good at showing it but ultimately are trying to be better. This is beautiful and heartfelt and showcase just how good Emily Austin is at balancing humour and darkness in her work. Her characters are strange and quirky, and yet have depth and feel real. Margit and Sigrid are flawed, but sympathetic. The format of this is different to her other books, but it serves the story so well. Basically, I hope Emily Austin keeps writing books about weird, depressed lesbians, because I eat them up every time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the e-arc!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc. I enjoyed it and I would recommend reading it. I would rate this book a 4 stars.

A perfect story about breaking and healing in that quirky writing style we’ve grown to love from Emily Austin. I did not really know what to expect going into this book but I was very moved by Sigrid and Margit’s story.

The thing I really like about Austin’s books is that they are always very unique, and this one is no exception. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in based on the description and I was not prepared for what the story ended up being. I was also very surprised by the first big twist. It took the plot in an unexpected direction that I found fresh and fun.

I loved the tone of the writing as well. It was quirky and conversational and made it highly enjoyable to read. I flew through this not just because it’s a fairly short book, but also because it was written in such a friendly way. Definitely check it out!

Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for this ARC. We Could Be Rats is out 1/28

Another book hit out of the park by Emily Austin. This one was definitely a little darker than her other two books I’ve read but still was an amazing read! She is truly a great writer who knows how to impart some wisdom along with little pockets of humor. Her books make me feel like I’m not alone!

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin
✨ Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
💃🏼 Vibes: Melancholic stream of consciousness.
📕 If you like ______, you’ll like this: Blue Sisters; unreliable narrators
📖/🎧 Read Type: ARC (thank you @netgalley, Atria Books, and Emily Austin!)

“I used to joke, ‘I wish we were rats’ because, if I could choose how the world worked, we would all be rats at a fair. We would all live well, sampling every possible ounce of happiness.” This novel begins with several drafts of Sigrid’s suicide notes, all addressing issues with her family and estranged childhood friend, Greta. Within those, it tells the story of Sigrid, who is imaginative and rebellious, and her more conventional sister, Margit. The rest of Sigrid’s story explores her issues with growing up and fractured familial relationships, examining childhood trauma and mental health struggles.

Emily Austin has become an auto-buy author for me. I requested this ARC because I loved Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead. In the same way that story explores the inevitability of death, this novel explores the inevitability of growing up. This reads like a love letter to the innocence of childhood. The prose is raw and lyrical in a completely relatable way. (I.e., “It's not that I was desperate to be someone else. It's not that I hated myself. It's just that when you get older, you are suddenly required to be the person you are. I felt like I was cast as a character I wasn't able to play.”) It’s a book that will stay with me for a long time!

This novel will be published on January 28! 📆

I was wholly drawn into Sigrid and Margit’s heartbreaking (yet healing!) story. The pacing was perfect, and their lived experiences felt rooted in reality. I will be reading more by Austin.

I want to start by thanking Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! Emily Austin’s writing is truly one of a kind. I have had countless “oh, so that wasn’t a unique experience?” moments when reading her work, and We Could Be Rats was no exception. I (oddly enough, as they are intentionally so very different) saw myself in both Margit and Sigrid. Their shared experience in childhood is something that was so valuable for me to read, as someone who also grew up in a tumultuous home, in a town that was predominantly white and conservative. I feel especially comforted by the way she touches on religious trauma, and the way that continues to affect you into adulthood. The way Emily Austin can put you in a character’s mind is what makes her characters feel so raw and relatable. I could go on and on, but the moral of the story for me is that no matter work of hers you read, you’ll come away feeling like someone sees you, and understands you.

Austin never fails me. This is another perfect brain candy book that approaches heavy topics in a lighthearted manner. The epistolary format was very easy to follow and engaging. This was a tender examination of sisterhood dynamics as well as how it feels to grow up and losing the magical lens of your childhood through negative experiences. This book called to mind how as children we are just simply ourselves and don’t even consider the way others may expect us to be. As we grow, we learn to change aspects of ourselves to make ourselves “fit” and we forget how to be ourselves until adulthood when many ultimately learn rediscover our authentic selves. It also demonstrated how we chip away at ourselves every time we aren’t authentic and the toll that takes on a person. This bittersweet story pulled at my heartstrings. I will always recommend Austin!