(3.5 Stars)

This one is kind of mixed bag and all over the place, but I enjoyed it when it got going! CHECK TWs!

Lots of stream of consciousness to get through, but I appreciated both characters as individuals and as sisters.
Author does a great job of tackling themes of grief, being queer in a small town, suicidal ideation, toxic family, coming of age,etc. Lots of great nuggets and moments. I laughed and teared up at times, but also wasn't sure where it was going for the first half of it, which made this one drag a bit.

Feel like a lot of people will see themselves in this read, which is great and sold me on finishing this one.

Thank you for the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a sucker for books that explore girlhood and sisterhood and this book did just that - uniquely teasing out the subject matter and examining it under the lens of greater society and circumstance. The book is somehow both very sad and even at times bleak, yet incredibly hopeful too. Overall no regrets, good read.

I read about half of this book before deciding to put it down. I may check it out of the library when it comes out and finish it, but for now, where I'm at with my reading, it's just not working for me. I've been looking for a good sister novel to rival All My Puny Sorrows - or it's not a competition so let's say to make me feel how Miriam Toews made me feel - which is why I requested this despite being meh on Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead (and I bet if you loved that, you'll love this!) but this is more of a fine sister novel. I find the format a bit uninteresting/uncompelling. It could be a good bit for me, but just maybe if it was more honestly realized. Like having each note be rougher and rawer (pardon my corny word choice) and more rough draft-y. Or more narrative drama or more well characterized thoughts and stories within the notes and better developed family members or clearly and unintentionally glossed over family. Or just even more beautiful writing where every line hits to your core or whatever. Maybe that could make it work for me, but for what it is it's not hitting any specific enough interest of mine in what I tend to enjoy reading about to compel me to finish.

But it's also entirely possible that some impressive, book altering play with form will occur in the next half of the work, which is why I may revisit this. For now though, I'm going to close the book. Sorry for this wordy, poorly composed review.

I'm grateful to have been allowed to read this book before it's publishing!!

Emily R. Austin does it again. This book was so beautiful and devastating at the same time. Emily R. Austin has such a unique ability to write about vulnerable, broken, yet relatable characters.

Emily Austin’s We Could Be Rats is a poignant exploration of sisterhood, childhood, and the struggles of growing up. Through the lens of Sigrid and Margit, two sisters with vastly different approaches to life, Austin delves into themes of identity, imagination, and the impact of trauma.

Sigrid’s aversion to adult responsibilities and her haunting memories of family turmoil paint a vivid picture of a young woman caught between innocence and harsh reality. Meanwhile, Margit’s frustration with Sigrid’s choices highlights the complexities of familial expectations and the longing for understanding. As they navigate their strained relationship, the sisters embark on a journey of rediscovery that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Austin masterfully captures the essence of childhood imagination as a refuge from life’s challenges, ultimately reminding us of the unbreakable bonds that can bring us back together. This beautifully written novel is a love letter to those formative years, and it resonates deeply with anyone who has grappled with the transition into adulthood. A must-read for fans of emotional storytelling!

Just like with her first two novels, Emily Austin has created characters that are relatable and unforgettable. We meet two sisters who responded to a troubled childhood in very different ways. Sigrid and Margit, though only a year apart, are not close and struggle to understand one another. Sigrid’s suicide attempt forces Margit to really see her sister, maybe for the first time.

Although the subject matter is dark, I really enjoyed this book. Austin uses a really unique structure to tell the sisters’ story. Its compulsively readable with short chapters and lots of page breaks. I finished it in three days. I’ll continue to read anything Austin writes.

This book has everything that I've come to love about Emily Austin's novels: humor, heart, and a reminder of all the reasons that life is worth living.

WE COULD BE RATS is for the townies, the freaks, the dykes, the dropouts—all of us who think the world would be better if we evaporated, if we traded working at the Dollar Pal and hating ourselves for living the good life as rodents at a carnival. Emily Austin’s signature dark humor and sharp observations into the human condition grip and entertain while a series of suicide notes unravel the truths behind addiction, bitter family fights, and anonymous bomb threats against a certain conservative politician in small town Canada. There are no caricatures here, just me, you, and everyone we know. It’s Alice Munro for depressed lesbians, and it made me weep before it gave me a hug.

Another absolute hit from Emily Austin. I absolutely devoured this, Austin’s ability to make the most relatable queer, awkward, and neurodiverse characters should be studied. Austin just knows how to depict the human condition, in its beauty and its ugly.

I laughed and I contemplated my own life and my humanity and it’s everything I could have wanted.

While a tough subject matter I think the way it was handled and integrated into the narrative fit so well.

We Could Be Rats is so real, so jarringly and vulnerably real. A must-read not only for fans of Austin’s previous works or sapphic literature in general, but overall fans of litfic and discussions on what it means to be a person.

This book is so beautiful, so sad, and so hopeful. Sigurd is such a wonderfully realized character, and her sister later becomes just as interesting of a character. It is written in such an interesting way, and it is honestly just a perfect book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and the author, Emily Austin, for the opportunity to read We Could Be Rats. Honestly, I picked this book because I loved the title—and I’m so glad I did.

We Could Be Rats is a tender, poignant exploration of sisterhood, growing up, and the painful complexities that come with navigating life’s rough edges. Emily Austin brings her signature blend of humor, heart, and deep emotional insight to the story of two sisters who couldn’t be more different—yet whose bond, though strained, proves to be unshakable.

Sigrid, the younger of the two, is the kind of character who lingers in your mind long after you’ve finished reading. She hates her job at Dollar Pal, didn’t finish high school, and prefers wandering the streets with her best friend Greta over any notion of responsibility. On the surface, she’s the "lost" one—the sister who can’t or won’t conform to society’s expectations. But underneath her detachment is a vulnerable soul still grappling with the traumas of her past, from pretending her parents were swamp monsters during their violent arguments to losing Greta to the opioid crisis that has ravaged her small town. Austin writes Sigrid with such sensitivity and depth that her pain, though masked in sarcasm and nonchalance, cuts deeply.

On the other hand, Margit, Sigrid’s older sister, has seemingly followed the expected path. She’s frustrated by Sigrid’s refusal to grow up and settle into society’s mold. But as Margit begins to unravel the secrets of her sister’s past and confronts her own assumptions, she slowly realizes that perhaps neither of them truly left their shared childhood behind—and maybe that’s where they need to look to move forward.

What’s really beautiful about this book is how it celebrates the power of imagination and the shared stories that siblings create. Their childhood games, from pretending their parents were monsters to crafting entire worlds together, become a key to rediscovering each other. It’s a love letter to childhood and the way imagination can be both a refuge and a bridge between people who’ve lost their way.

The opioid epidemic and its impact on their town is a heavy backdrop to the story, but it’s handled with grace. Austin doesn’t shy away from the raw, painful reality of addiction, but she also weaves in moments of humor and lightness, balancing the dark with the hopeful.

While We Could Be Rats is moving and emotional, I found the pacing a bit slow in the middle. There are moments where it felt like the narrative could have pushed a little further or dug a bit deeper into the complexities of the sisters’ relationship. Still, this doesn’t take away from the power of the book’s core themes—love, loss, and the enduring strength of sisterhood.

In the end, We Could Be Rats is an unforgettable story about finding your way back to the people who knew you before the world left its scars. It’s a testament to the bonds of family and the magic of shared memories, written with warmth, wit, and plenty of heart. If you’re a fan of character-driven stories that explore the messiness of life with both humor and compassion, this one’s for you.

This story was a trip. Austin’s storytelling was powerful, hard-hitting, and thought-provoking. It really immersed me and went in so many directions that I wasn’t expecting. The narrative style very non-traditional and I love the focus on the relationship of the two sisters and coping from the childhood trauma they faced. So relatable and hit close to home as well. Highly recommend—tears will be shed, jaws dropped, and hearts pulled.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Another Emily Austin banger! Austin is a new to me author this year but I devoured her backlist in a few days and was so excited to get an ARC for this one. As usual, we follow a queer, anxious protagonist afraid of disappointing the people in her life as she navigates her own mental health. I thought the exploration Sigrid's hometown through the lens of her sister was fascinating and the contrast of the two girls really highlighted the different responses that come from dealing with a volatile family.

Another home run by Austin. I love a flawed, queer, neuro divergent leaning main character.
I found the premise of the attempt notes very readable and they carried the story to the second portion quite well. I really appreciated the perspective that essentially the fleeting nature of joy rather than the presence of despair can be at the crux of suicidal ideation. So many of the quips regarding the impracticalaties of death were relatable.
The second half plot twist (from my perspective at least) had me shocked. Also a little bummed because I really preferred (what I perceived to be) Sigrid's voice. Margit did however grow on me, and in the end I wanted more from each sister.

Recently read Interesting Facts About Space and loved it, Emily Austin is now an auto-read author for me so I was excited to get this one. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Without spoiling anything, this book is pretty heavy - take heed of the author's note and content warnings before reading. I really love Emily Austin's writing and her characters are so relatable. Highlighted a bunch of lines that express feelings I've never been able to describe.

4 stars because: I thought the narrative structure was creative but got fatigued of the note format in the first half, and I wanted more of Margit's perspective. This was fully character-driven, but with less plot I hoped for a bit more character growth and satisfying resolution.

I loved Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead, so I was really excited for this. I found Sigrid and Margit both really relatable. I appreciated the deeper topics explored here. However it was pretty repetitive, therefore it dragged a bit. It was a bit all over the place. I wish we’d gotten more from Margit, I was really enjoying her perspective. I feel like we didn’t really get a proper ending.

I also didn’t love all one-sided politics talk towards the end.

In Emily Austin’s new novel, we follow Sigrid and Margit. The two are sisters and seem to have led very different lives. The novel tackles growing up, interpersonal relationships and family, and mental health.

Austin does it once again — she has crafted a gorgeously and devastatingly relatable novel that genuinely brought me to tears multiple times. The topics of suicide and sisterhood are so vulnerable and relatable. Austin always does a wonderful job of pointing to the mundane parts of life (like googly eyes going missing or playing dolls with your sister or listening for people’s footfalls) — and We Could Be Rats is no exception. I kept thinking of the saying about how everything someone lets go has claw marks on it, and Sigrid absolutely does this, especially with her childhood experiences and Greta (and more).

With an incredibly succinct and sarcastic narrative style, Austin creates characters that feel very real and their experiences and thought processes feel so real. Vulnerable and raw, Austin’s newest novel is quickly one of my favorite books. I’d recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys Austin’s other works or enjoys fiction that tackles topics such as mental health and personal growth.

This was good.. but also made me sob for about two days straight. I would advise people to only read this if you are in a good headspace because it will send you spiraling. The ending was a little bit of a non ending which I dont love but it was so good!

Emily Austin is one of my favorite authors of all time, so of course I had to get the ARC for her latest addition. This book was another pitch-perfect commentary on the human condition, something Austin is truly gifted at writing. It was a wild ride, with probably the most unreliable narrator I’ve ever encountered in literature. But once again Austin puts to words all the nuance of human beings and makes even the ugliest situations and feelings feel seen and safe. Once again Austin has reminded me that I am not as alone in the world as I tend to feel, and that individual pain is not as unique to us as we think. My only issue with it was the structure, as it got a bit confusing in regards to the unreliable narrator aspects, but by the end I found it to serve the story well. Beautifully executed and well done.

Traditional format 📕 (digital). Release date January 28,2025.

I read and really enjoyed Emily’s last book Interesting Facts About Space and I was looking forward to this read.

Sadly this one disappointment me. It had the same vibe as the last book (random tidbits of stories that were all over the place) but lacked the quirkiness and did not draw me in at all. I was about to call it quits about half way through but when the story switched from diary format to “real life” format it picked up for the. The second half of the book was more what I was expecting but it still wasn’t enough to salvage this one for me.

Because I enjoyed the second half I bumped up my rating a little but over I wouldn’t really recommend this one and give it the middle of the road score of 2.5/5.

Thank you Atria books and Net Galley for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for a review.