The Animals in That Country

For other uses, see The Animals in That Country (disambiguation).

1st ed paperback

### Subjects

animal–human communication • epidemics • apocalyptic fiction • unexplained phenomenon • interspecies interaction • the constraints of language • human empathy • environmentalism • human use of animals • alcoholism • psychopathy • intergenerationality • abduction • road trips • zoos and animal parks

## Series

### Followed by

N/A

In ***The Animals in That Country***, a 2020 novel written by Australian author Laura Jean McKay, a pandemic "enables animals and humans to communicate," resulting "in a fierce and funny exploration of other consciousnesses and the limits of language."

## About

### Citation

—— (2020). *The Animals in That Country* (paperback 1st ed.). Scribe. ISBN 978-1925849530. OCLC 1276806803.

### The Author

Laura Jean McKay (born 1978) is an Australian author and creative writing lecturer. Having grown up on a farm in Sale, in the Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria, her adjacency to animals may have influenced her writing in *The Animals in That Country*. After the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, she worked at international aid organizations in Cambodia, and subsequently wrote *Holiday in Cambodia* (2013), published by Black Inc., while completing an MA in creative writing at the University of Melbourne. The short story collection examines the effects of expatriate life and foreign influence on Cambodian people.

Beginning in 2013, after her first work was published, and while working on a PhD at University of Melbourne, she began production on a début novel, a piece of speculative fiction in which a pandemic sparks interspecies communication. Inspired by her experiences with the chikungunya virus, which spread at a writer's festival in Bali in 2013, the release of *The Animals in That Country* at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 was a temporal coincidence. Describing the process of recording the audiobook, McKay said:

> "I had spent years concocting the most impossible virus, only to witness a disease beyond my imagination infecting, killing and driving the real world towards global isolation."
>
>

*Shelf Awareness* nonetheless noted how "in some cases [it was] unnervingly reminiscent of Covid's realities." The book features a world filled with conspiracy theories, and "people not only wear[ing] masks, but [also] sunglasses and earplugs, in a desperate attempt not to be overwhelmed by the signals washing over them."

The novel was well-received and nominated for several awards. In 2021, it notably won the Victorian Prize for Literature and the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Aside from her own writing, she is also a college speaker. Since June of 2019, McKay has been a lecturer in creative writing at Massey University in New Zealand.

### The Book

Written between 2013 and 2020, *The Animals in That Country* is a horrific science fiction novel about animals of different species being able to communicate with one another at a more profound level than ever before. A pandemic of a strange, outlandish virus enables people to speak with other non-human members of the animal kingdom, and this in turn provides the basis for a considerable exploration of the limits to human empathy, communication, and language. The "allure of talking with animals recurs throughout literature," and the novel is a sophisticated "attempt to inhabit other consciousnesses."

From the publisher:

> "*Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks.*
>
>
> *Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. She’s never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue.*
>
>
> *As disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean realises this is no ordinary flu: its chief symptom is that its victims begin to understand the language of animals—first mammals, then birds and insects, too. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean’s infected son, Lee. When he takes off with Kimberly, heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin.*
>
>
>
> *Setting off on their trail, with Sue the dingo riding shotgun, they find themselves in a stark, strange world in which the animal apocalypse has only further isolated people from other species. Bold, exhilarating, and wholly original, The Animals in That Country asks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.*"
>
>

## Release

The novel *The Animals in That Country* was first released in digital formats in mid-March, 2020, with a 1st ed. physical printing released in English later that month. The author recorded an audio version of it, which was published in April. The releases largely coincided with the beginning of lockdowns associated with COVID-19, and this was completely happenstance.

Later, 2nd ed. paperbacks were released in three English-speaking countries: Australia, United Kingdoms, and United States. They featured alternate covers and were all 304 pages long.

## Critical Response

### Reviews

*The Animals in That Country* received a starred review from *Shelf Awareness.* Describing the tone and overall quality, *Booklist* said the novel is "not just a horror story... but one filled with humor, optimism, and grace: a wild ride worth taking." *The Guardian* called it an "extraordinary debut", and "a wry demonstration of the limits of our own language and empathy." Ben Brooker of *Australian Book Review* said it is "an absorbing and affecting book, and one to which I’m able to pay the highest compliment," mentioning that the "world felt different" after reading it.

### Award Statements

The director of the Arthur C. Clarke Award said, "The novel speaks for the silent victims of our real-world climate crises, but while the environmental and social themes are deeply serious, our judges also praised the book's dark humour, sense of character and place, and its active opposition to easy genre tropes."

As a Stella nominee, the novel was adjudged by representatives who found the animal dialogue "poetic yet also visceral, disturbing, challenging and often funny." This made the book accessible even when it "explores our – often fraught – relationships with family, animals, environment... and how we commodify and abuse each and all of these."

### Year-End Lists

*Slate* named *The Animals in That Country* one of the top ten books of 2020*.* *The Sunday Times* selected it as one of the five best science-fiction books of the year.

## Gallery

Early EditionsAudiobook
Apr 1, 2020
(978-1004000432)2nd Ed. UK
Jul 8, 2021
(978-1913348854)2nd Ed.
Apr 12, 2022
(978-1922585134)2nd Ed. US
Sep 13, 2022
(978-1957363165)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay review – An Extraordinary Debut*. (2020, October 7). The Guardian. <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/07/the-animals-in-that-country-by-laura-jean-mckay-review-an-extraordinary-debut>
2. ↑ Laidlaw, E. (2020, February 10). *The 'Real' Cambodia: An interview with Laura Jean McKay — Kill Your Darlings*. Kill Your Darlings. <https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/2013/09/the-real-cambodia-an-interview-with-laura-jean-mckay/>
3. ↑ Bishop, A. (2013, September 27). *Alice bishop reviews 'Holiday in Cambodia' by Laura Jean McKay*. Australian Book Review. <https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2013/107-october-2013-no-355/1661-holiday-in-cambodia>
4. ↑ *Turning into a Mosquito: An interview with Laura Jean McKay*. (n.d.). Headland | Literary Frontiers & Emerging Voices. <https://headland.org.nz/issues/issue-15/interview-laura-jean-mckay/>
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *Laura Jean McKay Wins $100,000 Victorian Literature Prize for The Animals in That Country*. (2021, February 1). The Guardian. <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/feb/01/laura-jean-mckay-wins-100000-victorian-literature-prize-for-the-animals-in-that-country>
6. ↑ McKay, L. J. (2020, April 6). *The Novel Coronavirus: On Writing a Pandemic, Then Watching It Play Out*. The Spinoff. <https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/06-04-2020/the-novel-coronavirus-on-writing-a-pandemic-then-watching-it-play-out/>
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lombardi, Linda (2020-12-11). The Animals in that Country.
8. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Animals-That-Country-Laura-McKay/dp/1913348857
9. ↑ https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/the-animals-in-that-country-9781922585134
10. ↑ https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-animals-in-that-country-laura-jean-mckay/book/9781922585134.html
11. ↑ https://xdepository.com/animals-that-country-laura-mckay/
12. ↑ Gladstein, Carol (2020-07-20). The Animals In That Country.
13. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Jordan, Justine (7 October 2020). "The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay review – an extraordinary debut". *The Guardian*. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
14. ↑ https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2020/may-2020-no-421/789-fiction/6450-ben-brooker-reviews-the-animals-in-that-country-by-laura-jean-mckay
15. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Flood, Alison (27 September 2021). "Laura Jean McKay wins the Arthur C Clarke award". *The Guardian*. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
16. ↑ https://stella.org.au/prize/2021-prize/the-animals-in-that-country/
17. ↑ Kois, Dan (2020-12-09). The Best Books of 2020 (en).
18. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Ings, Simon (29 November 2020). "Best sci-fi books of the year 2020". *The Sunday Times*. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
19. ↑ *Aurealis awards 2020 winners announced*. (2021, July 9). Books+Publishing | Book news, publishing news, library news, book reviews, author interviews, publishing jobs, bookseller jobs, book awards, ebooks, Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific. https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/07/09/189384/aurealis-awards-2020-winners-announced/
20. ↑ *The animals in that country wins ABIA’s small publishers’ adult book of the year | the-animals-in-that-country-wins-an-abia | Scribe publications*. (n.d.). Scribe Publications. https://scribepublications.com.au/blog/the-animals-in-that-country-wins-an-abia