Rough Animals

Thank you Net Galley for the preview of this upcoming novel. Rae DelBianco understands the power of words; I believe this young author will be a force. I don't normally stay up all night to finish a book, but I could not put Rough Animals down. There are comparisons being made to Cormac McCarthy; I'd say they are spot on. I also see parallels with Larry McMurtry, Steinbeck and Faulkner. For me, the story of Wyatt and Lucy evoked memories of George Eliot's Maggie & Tom Tulliver because of the unique and tender relationship between twins. The amazing development of the character we know only as "The girl" reminds me of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander -- she is that tough. The quality of the prose is remarkable . . .the narrative is full of organic descriptions of unique characters and their brutal struggle for survival in unforgiving western landscapes. DelBianco is masterful at building atmosphere; we taste, feel and smell the world of Box Elder. Rough Animals is raw -- this is not a warm and fuzzy read. And yet, the reader is given some resolve in the end. DelBianco wove an epic tale around a resilient and uncommon cast. What I found so compelling is that amidst the guns and drugs and death, there were loving moments of tenderness -- quite a tall order. Highly recommend.

How far are we willing to go to protect what is ours?

A 23 year old Wyatt of Box Elder County, Utah embarks on an ill-fated mission to save his ranch when some of his cattle - his only source of income - gets shot. He leaves his sister Lucy (with whom he's been sharing a rather dark secret... but not one of the incestous kind if that's where your mind goes after ASoIaF/GoT marathons, haha) at the ranch and starts pursuing the attacker, a girl whose name we don't know.

What we never learn is also her motive. There were times when she seemed to be an apparition, not a real, corporeal person who bleeds and dies if their time comes. It was as if she was sent to make Wyatt realize certain truths and face facts he had refused to acknowledge prior to her (overdue? sometimes it seems like it) coming. As if she was never there in the first place! Or maybe she was but fate made her a pawn and put her on Wyatt's path to self-discovery. Then again she comes across as simply TOO MUCH to be a mere puppet and deliver a message to the main character. She's a strong-willed wraith, one of flesh and blood.

Rae's prose was spectacular. Whereas I am not yet sure how to rate or judge or eloquently review this entire story, I am positive that her penmanship was beyond a simple label of 'well written'. It was simply incredible. Her descriptions of the vast, brutal, deep South will haunt me for a long, long time. Even the crude dialogues -- they will stay with me, too. I wouldn't want to meet any of the characters. They were all terrifying creatures, byproducts of hard times, impossible circumstances, wrong choices made over and over again. But a part of me, a curious, self-destructive part would love to hitch a ride with them and see for herself what it is really <i>like</i>. To observe, if only through a keyhole, a bunch of meth-heads get high and rough (that scene! oh my god!).

I should have hated that world but I guess I just ended up loving how ugly it was, how frightening and unlike anything I've ever known. There was beauty in that ugliness and all the more so thanks to Rae DelBianco's beautiful way with words. It wouldn't have been a great story if it hadn't been for the words that helped paint it (and that greatness also means it didn't deliver things on a silver platter, rather it demanded of a reader a certain amount of cunning and intelligence to figure things out on their own).

Raw, gripping and painfully realistic -- even for someone who can only rely on their imagination to conjure up that kind of broken down world as depicted in 'Rough Animals'. I don't know if my rating of 4 stars is accurate and corresponds with what I have written about the book. Perhaps it doesn't. I'm just still pondering. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it. It is possible it'll jump up to 5 stars, even if simply because it is absolutely unlike anything I have ever encountered.

**massive thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

A huge thank you to Bonnie Brody!!!! Her review gave me chills.
I don’t gravitate toward westerns...but I can’t endorse this book highly enough. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.

The writing is an sensational experience!
The characters with blood and death being a constant threat— death a personal memory- injuries- running - fiercely tearing of limbs - gutting with teeth- avoiding another man’s trigger- dying too much like cattle— battling the elements—
thunderstorms—
lightening—
are so deeply in your thoughts.... characters so real ... they are a part of you —best book friends forever.

Nothing I can write will do justice to this book. It’s an experience like no other... a journey that continues to explode page after page.

Wyatt and Lucy Smith - ( twins) - their father - and the mysterious wild child...
will support you through this journey. I didn’t even hesitate whether or not I could handle the fighting - the blood- the hell- because the characters
we’re so compelling and heartfelt- I wanted to be where they were. If they were facing danger - I was going with them.

“Out here the wind could come like something four-legged, like something plodding in drafted rhythm under an ox’s yoke, or it could come like an ocean, a body that, if it had still waters, they were beyond your reach and not what you were made to breathe. If it were like an ocean tonight perhaps the girl would be washed away come morning, washed away with the whole history of it all and his tracking out here and his forefathers footsteps across it years before alongside those of however many of the mules had made it this far into the journey. And if he woke early enough to still see the bloodstain in the sand where she’d lain, Then a few more rushes of wind would surely take that away as well, and then you could go home. You could go home, and it would not be like it had never happened, but in not being able to see it anymore it was still as if something had been undone”.

There were phenomenal sentences to highlight on every page that I finally just stopped trying to hold on too tightly- and just surrendered to the books flow. It was incredible to do that.
It’s very hard to believe that this is a debut..., ‘can’t possibly be’. This writer has skills and skills and skills!!!


I’ll be surprised if the film people aren’t coming after Rae DelBianco already.

It’s soooo visual.
Everything is ‘enhanced’ as if on steroids....
sights, smells, temperatures, inner grabbling with issues between right and wrong...moral choices...

It’s brutal - beautiful- with sweetly tender moments.

Thank You Skyhorse Publishing, Arcade Publishing, Netgalley,
and Rae DelBisnco