Best books…chosen by Claire Oshetsky
In Claire Oshetsky’s new novel, Poor Deer, a teenager is prodded into confessing her role in a childhood friend’s death by the deer she imagines has been watching her. Below, the author of 2021’s Chouette spotlights other marvelous beasts in literature.
Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia (2013). You never know what you’re going to get when it comes to fictional critters. I spent the first third of this recently translated novel feeling sorry for the cows making their docile way to the slaughter. Then I realized: Those cows know everything. Those cows are so far ahead of us humans it isn’t even funny. I think maybe those cows are God.
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (2020). Sometimes in life a wild thing locks eyes with you and you think: Whoa, this animal knows something I don’t know—something beyond human understanding—something beyond language itself. In Alam’s literary thriller, since adapted as a Netflix movie, the deer are the first to know that the world is about to end. Which is as it should be—because deer are, at all times, understatedly scary and portentous.
Grimmish by Michael Winkler (2021). For a novel that’s about a boxer and his pain, Grimmish is a joyous read, especially after a wisecracking goat shows up halfway through— for no reason at all except that it feels perfect.
The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie (2016). The wise squirrel who plays a key role in McKenzie’s literary romantic comedy has all the answers—if only the humans would listen. When the book’s heroine does, her life miraculously transforms. I love that about squirrels.
Timothy, or, Notes of an Abject Reptile by Verlyn Klinkenborg (2006). Reading this novel, which is narrated by the world’s oldest tortoise, is like sitting by yourself on a covered porch on a hot summer’s day. You’re drinking lemonade. A tortoise is watching you. Nothing happens.
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury (1951). The lions in Bradbury’s short story “The Veldt,” like many other memorable animals in short fiction, are memorable because they want to eat you. You may wonder at this point: How could I possibly not have included the birds in The Birds, Daphne du Maurier’s short masterpiece about the ruthless wisdom of the animal kingdom? And what about the dog in Jack London’s story “To Build a Fire?” You’re right. And I’ve fixed that.