Ron Broglio and Marina Zurkow's Animal Revolution is a truly strange book. I went into it expecting something similar to Jason Hribal's Fear of the Animal Planet (which I adored,) but ended up with something more creative. The book sort of mixes poetic story telling with factual histories and philosophical analysis. I ended up rereading the back after a while to be reminded of what the blurb was. I had not heard of "speculative nonfiction" before this as I always assumed that the "speculative" in "speculative fiction" was part of what made it fiction. Apparently, there is a whole genre which takes information from real historical facts and imagines or predicts a story. I am still unsure where the line is between the nonfiction and fiction methods of writing (as they sound pretty similar to me.) A good speculative fiction story uses reality is a catalyst for creation. Either way, I understand what the book is going for.
I do wish that Broglio would have fleshed out his understanding of other animals' behavior, consciousness, experiences, and desires just a little bit more before writing this book. There were many times that I was left thinking, "you are almost there." That said, I am coming from a pretty radical place in terms of how I see other-than-human animals (as an ethical, collective liberation style, vegan who believes in reducing or eliminating my harm and exploitation of others as far as is possible and practicable in all areas of my life.) Many other readers may find themselves at a different place, which may make this book a good jumping off point if the writing style works for you.
I found some of the speculative nonfiction to feel more fictional than actual fiction- often to the point of anthropomorphism. I do not use that word the way many people intent on excusing harm towards other animals misuse it (such as claiming any assumption that another animal is anything other than a thoughtless meat machine is "anthropomorphism.") Real anthropomorphism for instance is a barbecue place with a sign depicting a pig in human clothes happily grilling her own dismembered body parts. But, I digress. What I mean is that the way he writes nonhuman animals' stories seems not to take their experiences that we are able to predict and understand into account enough. Along with the speculative nonfiction part, the book moves through different styles which at times are quite academic.
The reason I say that Broglio is "almost there" is that he is obviously excited and fascinated by various accounts of nonhuman animals resisting their exploitation by humans. But, the ideas and ways of expressing them feel unfinished at times. There is a lot of binary language and referring to other animals with objectifying or disparaging words such as "it" or "invasive." These are common mistakes made by people who have not fully integrated their understanding of other animals as more than objects. However, I was left wondering at times if this was intentional. Many of the sections in the book seem to take the reader on an adventure, ultimately having a better respect for or understanding of other animals in the end. We begin with a story about "vermin" and end with a declaration that there are these rad creatures just living life who deserve as much.
The philosophical musings are interesting at times and brought up important points often left out of discourse around the lives and cultures of other animals. Often, in order to persuade people to have respect for them, people will describe animals as "innocent" or "babies" or "just like us," none of which is inherently true. People who seek to exploit animals will use the opposite arguments as their reasoning- that nature is savage or that animals are inferior in x way. Broglio does neither. He acknowledges that there are differences between species that mean there are things that other animals experience that we will never truly understand as we are not them (and vice versa.) But, instead of using this as a way to reduce animals to the few things humans can wrap our heads around, he uses this reality to call attention to the countless things we never could imagine that will often exceed the abilities, sensations, etc that humans are limited to. He acknowledges animal revolution, language, and culture- as those are the best human words we have- and also acknowledges that humans' exploitation and oppression of other animals is a big part of what has prevented these things from being centered or even noticed in human fields of view. Nonetheless, other animals are integral parts of our cultures and story telling. Rather than telling the reader to see other animals differently, he urges us to integrate them and who they truly are (outside of what can be taken from them by us) more into our realities.
Marina Zurkow's illustrations throughout the book were also strange and interesting. Some of them can be seen on the cover above, but there are more inside. Combining her artistic talent with Broglio's creative writing styles makes the book an almost avant-garde art project and I mean that positively. Overall, I don't know if I "love" this book or not. I am still chewing on it. But, I am glad I read it, if only for the experience of something very different. I have read many books on human and other animal liberation and have never read one quite like this.
This was also posted to my goodreads.
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