On Animals

By: Susan Orlean

Narrated by: Susan Orlean

National Best Seller

“Magnificent.” (The New York Times)

“Beguiling, observant, and howlingly funny.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“Spectacular.” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis)

“Full of astonishments.” (The Boston Globe)

Susan Orlean - the beloved New Yorker staff writer hailed as “a national treasure” by The Washington Post and the author of the New York Times best seller The Library Book - gathers a lifetime of musings, meditations, and in-depth profiles about animals.

“How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages,” writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called Herbert the Near-Sighted Pigeon, she’s been drawn to stories about how we live with animals, and how they abide by us. Now, in On Animals, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career.

These stories consider a range of creatures - the household pets we dote on, the animals we raise to end up as meat on our plates, the creatures who could eat us for dinner, the various tamed and untamed animals we share our planet with who are central to human life. In her own backyard, Orlean discovers the delights of keeping chickens. In a different backyard, in New Jersey, she meets a woman who has 23 pet tigers - something none of her neighbors knew about until one of the tigers escapes. In Iceland, the world’s most famous whale resists the efforts to set him free; in Morocco, the world’s hardest-working donkeys find respite at a special clinic. We meet a show dog and a lost dog and a pigeon who knows exactly how to get home.

Equal parts delightful and profound, enriched by Orlean’s stylish prose and precise research, these stories celebrate the meaningful cross-species connections that grace our collective existence.

©2021 Susan Orlean. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Love Susan Orlean Writing

I am a super fan of Ms. Orlean. I love the way she tells a story. Although I didn’t find this book as compelling as The Library Book or The Orchid Thief, I still loved it. I would read anything she writes! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys her writing style.

The author has a real Heart felt dedication to all animals everywhere

Susan loves all animals that much comes through in her writings. But she fell down sadly in her story of Free Willy, Keiko. This adorable loving creature is a clear victim of misguided sentimentally. He should never have been captured, he never should have been released into the wild without the skills to survive. Condemned to a a lonely death without the milk of human contact that he clearly had been trained to prefer and needed.

Susan took a rather cowardly exit from keiko’s story and left the reader “shrouded” in confusion. Susan’s loyalty to the misguided sentimentalist verses the needed care of the animal itself is baffling and troubling. Her soft handling of the ending effectively illustrates the desire to help animals so we feel better about ourselves, and makes for cocktail party “do gooder” pable. Real hard decisions be damned.

Unchecked Well intentioned animal lovers can do as much harm as anyone to the object of their affection. We should love and help others where they are, not where we want them to be.

A disappointing no accountability ending to a sweet gentile giant who deserved more mature truly loving handling, versus silly harmful publicity seeking “isn’t life just a fairytale” sentimental motivation.

Sometimes truths are harsh

Probably most readers will be people who love animals. For the most part, you will hear interesting and educational information about how different species have been incorporated into human life. Some warm stories, as well as tragic ones which unfortunately go hand in hand with humans and animals. Overall, the good things outweigh the bad in most cases and her presentation is balanced. I had to FF through some information. But the research, story and Narration are excellent!

I rarely write reviews, but

I have listened to about 800 Audible books (yes, I am Audicted). Reviewing books is not something i normally take the time to do. However, this book is special. The stories were captivating, the author’s writing style was amusing and the narration was just so good. A gem of a book.

Good writing. Reading meh.

I appreciate the humour and storytelling. Her view on animals-- she professes to love them-- is debatable and hypocritical in many ways. Like many, she expects them to entertain, provide comfort or eye-pleasing attributes or...serve he as food.

No point

Well, the stories are interesting. They frequently have no reason for their beginning, no solid ending, and they certainly do not tie together in any way shape or form. Her “stories “simply begin and ending. if you’re someone who reads for a story, pass this one up. Disappointing, lack of plot or purpose.

Great listen

I did speed it up to 1.35x I truly enjoyed hearing about all the animals. I'm glad she called the big game creeps out. And the lion chapter was sad but a very good listen

What a delightful book!

Susan Orleans writes beautifully, with elegance, lightness and wit. She pairs great empathy and understanding towards animals and human nature with a quirky and good natured outlook. Her humor is subtle and intelligent.
I savored and enjoyed every word, often laughing out loud.
I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

On Animals by Susan Orlean

A complete delight, exploring many of our animals and the often fraught relationships with their humans

Didn’t expect a memoir

I love almost everything Orlean has written. She’s a nonfiction writer I deeply admire, and have admired for a very long time. However, here, she reads her own pieces, which seem to have been collected from previous articles over time. She is not the best voice for her own material. Its serviceable but flat. I typically enjoy authors who read their own memoirs; but I did not expect this book to be as personal as it was. It felt more like a series of blog posts than anything fresh or original, Maybe that was the point, but I was really hoping for more. A couple of the essays were wonderful, but that highlighted that the others were unexceptional. And her voice failed to convey the strength and romance in her writing. Don’t get me wrong - I still adore her storytelling. But this is not her best, and I will stick to actually reading her words for the next book.