Elen’s marriage has dissolved, her husband has disappeared in the night and she is left homeless. Preparing to leave the town of Bend, Oregon, she makes a stop in a brewery nestled in the shadow of the mountain. This is where she meets the four affluent young British travellers, in their early 20s but referred to throughout as ‘the teenagers’; perhaps a nod to their carefree and reckless travels, void of any responsibility, hitting remote resorts and abandoned/unoccupied chalets off season, availing of the ‘free’ accommodation from which to enjoy their perpetual ski trip. Before she knows it, Elen, who is 15 years their senior, is dazzled by these bright young things, swept along for the ride and caught up in their ideals of a nomadic existence, a communal way of living and a ‘return to the land’; but things are never as ideal as they might seem. Moving back and forth in time, contrasting her time with the teenagers to her early happier marriage, her marriage as it began to crumble, and the new insights gained as we learn about her life before her marriage, this is a slow burning book exploring themes including privilege, youthful idealism, class, convention in life and relationships, and what happens when we don’t have or want it, and the lines between friendship and desire. There were standalone elements to this book that I enjoyed but somehow it didn’t quite tie together overall. In some ways it read more like an extended short story, with some strong passages and vignettes. The first half seemed to be building up some tension towards the question of why exactly they might want her on this trip with them, while the second half diverted towards more in-depth character studies, and passages on the philosophy at the heart of their quest; probably in a bid to better understand each of the characters’ motivations, but it somehow lost momentum through this. The writing is at times sharp and atmospheric, and I enjoyed the way Lewis captured the sense of place in the isolated, mountainous settings, and the effect this could have on people who are already struggling in some way. Ultimately, there was some great writing in here and interesting themes broached so, while this book didn’t quite work for me, I would still be interested in reading future books by this author.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC.

A beautiful cover and endorsements comparing this book to The Secret History is what led me to request this book of Netgalley. I was sold a pup. Despite some occasional flashes of brilliant writing, this was for the most part, a poorly executed, pretentious novel that believes itself to be saying something profound when really it’s just a bunch of one-dimensional privileged kids on an ill-conceived gap year.

Elen is a 38 year old woman from Oregon whose marriage has ended. Drinking herself into a spiral, she is picked up by some posh English teens/ski bums. She decides to accompany them on their trip north towards Canada, where they opt to crash in deserted/unoccupied ski resorts and chalets, spending their days skiing and their nights ruminating on their own self-importance.

One of the group Luka is obsessed with an 18th Century French philosopher Fourier whose idea of a utopian community with relaxed sexual mores and a health dose of misogyny can only augur badly for the group.

Despite an interesting premise, nothing much happens, characters aren’t well fleshed out (Clover and her endlessly mentioned beautiful hair doesn’t count) and there is little to like beyond some eerie descriptions of abandoned hotels and snow-capped mountains. This was a slog. All vibes, no plot. A disappointing 2/5⭐️

*Many thanks to Dialogue Books for the arc via Netgalley. As always, this is an honest review.

Winter Animals by Ashani Lewis feels like a non-book. Lewis can definitely write well but the story here feels empty, shallow, and ultimately bathetic.

I felt personally victimized by the misleading comparison made between Winter Animals and Donna Tartt's The Secret History, which massively skewed my expectations for this book…

Winter Animals is a "no plot just vibes", character-driven story, so if that is not your cup of tea, this one may not be for you. The concept had such potential, but the execution was completely fumbled. Every aspect of this book fell flat – the writing style, the abrupt, disappointing ending, the two-dimensional, archetypal characters, the numerous questions posed and then left unanswered and undeveloped. These undeveloped ideas particularly irked me – why did Elen keep having visions of murdering her friends and violent hallucinations that were never explained? Why did the author spend so much time centralising Elen's queer desire only to discard it, leaving readers to question its relevance? The cultish aspect of the narrative was probably the most intriguing thing about the book, and could have been the focal point for unfolding drama, but this too, fails to deliver on its potential.

Ultimately, the writing style, dialogue, characters, and themes collectively create the uncomfortable impression that this is evidently a novel that is trying really hard to appear clever and profound.
The characters come off as contrived, overly familiar to the literary fiction/dark academia genre – the privileged intellectual teens who are obsessed with themselves and their mission are too two-dimensional to deliver.
Dropping in philosophical discussions uttered by pretentious characters does not equate to a clever novel that is on par with The Secret History, whose erudite characters, while unlikeable and definitely pretentious, display a depth, a complexity, an insight into the human psyche that the flimsy characters of Winter Animals lack.

I brought my rating up to two stars because I will concede this book had moments of great writing, and as mentioned previously, it had so much potential, but the execution left much to be desired. Winter Animals struggles to live up to its own aspirations.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I always try to give a fair review and being totally honest this was just not my cup of tea and a bit of a slog to read.
Nothing much seemed to happen at all, the story seemed to centre around Elen who has been left by her husband Robert.
She is drifting and rootless and picks up with four hedonistic teens squatting aimlessly wandering between ski resorts to break into.
So starts a seemingly endless round of bed hopping, drinking and drugs.
It all just seemed rather pointless, random and I think I may have missed something in the meaning that maybe other readers will pick up on with this.
I truly did find it rather boring and I couldn't engage with ANY of the characters as I didn't like or empathise with them.
The graphic scenes of animal cruelty I just glossed off as it revolted me and is a personal trigger.
This purely wasn't my kind of read so fell flat for me.
Thank you for the chance to read this but sadly not for me on this occasion.

Winter Animals is the story of Elen. Her marriage has ended and she is about to leave the town of Bend when she meets four young British skiers who are travelling around squatting in empty ski resorts and she ends up joining them on their journey. This is definitely a leisurely read with beautiful prose and interesting commentary on relationships, ownership and wealth. I, however, have to be in the right mood for a story without a compulsive plot to drive it forward and I don’t think I was in the right frame of mind for this type of read…so while I can appreciate the quality of the writing and premise, this did not hit the mark for me.

The premise of this book sounded so so good but ultimately, I think it fell flat. I did appreciate the flow of the book and how it coasted along, like Elen.

The NetGalley email said that this was for fans of The White Lotus and The Secret History which is a big claim but for me it felt more Ottessa Moshfegh-esque in particular I thought it was very like Eileen.

Elen‘s husband has left her, she‘s drinking heavily and she‘s just been kicked out of her house when she meets 4 wealthy English teenagers who spend their lives skiing whilst squatting in empty Air BnBs.

Apparently early blurbs over-hyped this to be a mix of Secret History and White Lotus but, fortunately they‘ve dialled back from that, as it‘s nothing of the sort.

For the most part I found it quite interesting, hence the 3 stars ,but, once again, we get a ‘nothing‘ ending that just fizzles out. It reminded me quite a lot of Cline‘s The Guest. With unlikeable characters, they either need their comeuppance or they need to turn REALLY bad at the end, not just fade away. Both books *almost* had really interesting commentary on wealth and class, but neither followed it through to a satisfactory conclusion. I did prefer this one to The Guest though.

When we meet Elen, her husband has left her, their house has been repossessed, she has no job and her drinking has been out of control for a while. Ready to leave town with the only option to drive to her parents two thousand miles away, she’s in a bar having a few for the road when four English kids walk in and adopt her. In the following weeks, she stays with them in vacant holiday lets and they ski to their hearts’ content.
I get why PR teams want to mention Donna Tartt’s The Secret History when promoting a new book set on campus or featuring a close-knit group of young adults. Rarely, though, does the comparison stand up. Perhaps because Winter Animals has been likened to that classic, I anticipated death, murder even. There’s definitely an air of tension throughout. I really enjoyed it but wonder whether I would have done so more if I hadn’t had expectations of where it might head; Ashani Lewis’s writing is good enough to stand on its own merits without flip comparisons.

I really liked the idea of this book, especially after seeing it described as a mix of The White Lotus and The Secret History (although I think the only common factor was that both centre around rich, white people). But for me, it just wasn't as gripping as I would have hoped.. I also just don't think the author's writing style is for me, especially the present tense, and this is a book that (intentionally) relies mostly on the writing rather than plot.

I did however really enjoy the wintery and isolated atmosphere and setting, which I think suited the story very well. I also preferred the final third of the book when most of the events took place, although I do think throughout the book, certain things would happen or characters would make certain decisions without no real explanation, which may have been intentional but I would have preferred some detail.

Winter Animals is a very well-written debut novel by Ashani Lewis. It is full of so many well observed details on the beauty and carefree attitude that come with being young, versus the struggle life can become as we get older.

Lewis's debut is a thoughtful, intelligent – and beautifully written – exploration of a search for home, community and connection for fractured, dislocated souls. As such, it was a misstep, I think, for the publishers to use The Secret History and White Lotus as comp titles - doing so sets up wildly different expectations for what is essentially a character and ideas driven novel in which 'plot' - while very much carefully placed and delivered - is secondary. Read it with this in mind and there's an awful lot to enjoy and recommend.

This is the story of Elen, a 38 year old whose husband, Robert, has recently left her and also taken everything including her home. She is left with nowhere to live and a few personal items she has in her car. While drowning her sorrows in a bar in Bend, central Oregon, she meets Luca, George, Clover and Lyn who are rich British teenagers travelling around the world and squatting in unused ski resorts, Airbnbs and similar. The young foursome are a phalanstery dedicated to the idea of following the beliefs of Charles Fourier, a French philosopher who was an influential early socialist thinker and one of the founders of utopian socialism. If you don’t know what the word phalanstery means then this is maybe not the book for you. It’s used nine times in this novel along with many similar obscure words which I just found irritating.

The foursome persuade Elen to join then and things just get weirder and weirder with lots of skiing, hedonism and drugs but no plot. There are huge passages of philosophical rambling which bored me silly and a whole section written when the group are on an acid trip. Elen ponders on her previous serious relationship with a woman but this then comes to nothing in relation to the story and the reader is left wondering of its relevance.

I regret wasting my time getting to the end of this book as it just fizzled out with no ending.

With thanks to NetGalley and Dialogue Books for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review but not a book I enjoyed at all.

✨ ARC Review ✨

Winter Animals by Ashani Lewis

Publication date: 15 February 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Winter Animals is an intricate and intriguing novel that follows Elena,a 38 woman,who has been recently left by her husband and she turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism.She befriends 4 young,rich British kids and joins them on their journey of squatting and skying on different beautiful sky locations.

It gives a cultish vibe through and although the story building is quite promising,I found myself a bit confused in the end and felt like something was missing.It does have a great concept and it is written beautifully,but I think it just wasn’t the book for me.

If you are someone who enjoys insular character driven narratives, explorations of social philosophies and atmospheric winter settings then this may be the book for you.

This novel follows 38 year old Elen who finds herself falling in with a group of four wealthy twenty-somethings. Together the five of them ski, navigate communal living and get up to all sorts of shenanigans, whilst squatting from building to building.

Based on the synopsis, I had high hoped for this book and really wanted to love it. For the first third or so I was hooked by the premise and intrigued at what was to come. Sadly, the remainder of the book didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I can however acknowledge that I a fair few people will love this book. I will say that the writing was beautiful and I will be keeping an eye out for more from this author.

This book is very orientated around the relationships between the characters and their world views, with very minimal plot points. Whilst some readers love this, I personally had a hard time with it and if you also require more plot based stories you may struggle too.

I also had a hard time with the book continuously referring to the twenty-somethings as teenagers whilst simultaneously exploring some narratives that would be inappropriate if they were in fact teenagers, this left me a little confused at times.

I was also disappointed by a brief step into some queer themes that very abruptly just disappeared from the narrative. Whilst I am an advocate for queer characters having experiences and story lines outside of their queer identities (which we do not see often enough), the way in which queerness was approached here felt like it would become more relevant to the character development than it ultimately did. I was left disappointed with a lack of follow through.

I have bumped up my rating a little on public platforms because although it wasn’t for me, I do appreciate what this author set out to do and can see that there will definitely be an audience for this story. I can see this book being a very divisive book in the book community, which is often the best way for a new release to be!

Winter animals is set for publication on February 1st 2024.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dialogue Books for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

I loved everything about this novel. The narrative was so well written and immersive. The prose was beautiful.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I’m really not sure what to think about this book. The depiction of a woman obsessing over the end of her marriage, the claustrophobic intensity of the found community/cult that she ends up living with, the sinister setting of the empty ski resorts - all really well written and compelling. Unfortunately the story just doesn’t go anywhere and the lengthy discussions of Charles Fourier’s utopian philosophy took up far too much of the book - like the author had researched him and felt the need to info dump as much as possible. It felt like the book needed reworking and editing to tighten the whole thing up.

I read this over the Christmas break and I think it needs the seasonal setting to be appreciated. It's an interesting concept - a 38 year old woman reeling from the end of her marriage who falls in with some wealthy and adventurous twentysomethings - but ultimately the plot was fairly underbaked and I found the story lacking in emotional resonance. An enjoyable enough read but not one that will stay with you. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A great book, privilege and someone down on her luck. A well plotted story that kept me turning pages.
Loved the style of writing and the storytelling.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Fabulous loved every minute of it, can’t wait to recommend it. Stories like this are truly remarkable and debuts like this are ones to treasure. Definitely an author to watch for, and follow.