The Council of Animals

A Novel

By: Nick McDonell, Steven Tabbutt

Narrated by: Nick McDonell

This program is read by the author.

From national bestselling author Nick McDonell, The Council of Animals is a captivating fable for humans of all ages—dreamers and cynics alike—who believe (if nothing else) in the power of timeless storytelling.

“‘Now,’ continued the cat, ‘there is nothing more difficult than changing an animal’s mind. But I will say, in case I can change yours: humans are more useful to us outside our bellies than in.’”

Perhaps.

After The Calamity, the animals thought the humans had managed to do themselves in. But, it turns out, a few are cowering in makeshift villages. So the animals—among them a cat, a dog, a crow, a baboon, a horse, and a bear—have convened to debate whether to help the last human stragglers . . . or to eat them.

Rest assured, there is a happy ending. Sort of.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company

Very poor narration

I listened to about the first 20 minutes, then gave up. Mr McDonell... you may be an excellent author, but please don't narrate your books! It's like listening to someone read a newspaper article to you. I gave up and am returning the book.

Humanity's fate is in its victim's paws...

This book is fine for the most part. I liked it well enough, it just wasn't what I thought it would be. The description makes it seem like the animals are going to spend the entire story debating whether they should kill the remaining humans or not, but in reality they only debate for roughly a third of the book's runtime. Also, I thought the story was going to be mostly philosophical and stoic in nature. It goes in that direction to a degree, but not as much as I'd hoped it would. In addition, the story was more fantastical in nature than I expected it to be, having the animals do certain things they shouldn't be able to. And the ending seemed more like it should belong to a Twilight Zone episode. That said, I did like the characterization of the animals and how they interacted with each other. This isn't a bad story, it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Still, I plan to keep my copy.

Aesop’s mimic

I enjoyed this tale and the colloquial meanings and warnings behind it. The characters were just enough to flesh them out without too much narration.

I would recommend this; however, it is for the educated. Others may not understand the depth of this post-calamity fable.

Wow

Holy crud. That came out of nowhere. Recommend this book to pretty much anyone.

Odd, just odd….

Thoughts: + Why such an add variety of animals? Domestic, exotic, and phantasmagorical?
+ Why are the baboons so bent on destroying humans?
+ Why are the mice not invited? They comprise a significant portion of the globe’s bio load.
+ Interesting that every character talks audibly but the moles…
+ The horse is very present but then just disappears…,
+ Crows are super smart; this one doesn’t show much evidence if that intelligence.
+ Interesting that he brought the Guinea fowl in at the very very end. They are quite verbal and would have made everyone nuts with their yammering, I guess.

Just random thoughts as I wander off into my own little zoological garden of dogs, cats, chickens, Guinea fowl, and horses. Hmmm I wonder what they’re talking about.