The Heaven of Animals - Stories by David James Poissant: book review

The Heaven of Animal (2014) was named one of Amazon’s best short story collections in 2014. The stories are set in America.

The collection includes 17 short stories, with themes such as happiness, friendship, adolescence, family, children, ethics, depression, empathy, and mostly hope. There are a lot of baby and children stories.

In each story, there is a choice to make: ‘to face the people we are when we’re alone in the dark.’

The stories are NOT about animals, except some animals seem to accidentally appear in a few stories, such as an alligator, a gecko, a cat, insects, a wolf, bison, fish, snakes, and some dogs. A film that a man and his biologist wife watches is set in the Serengeti Plains in Kenya and mentions lions, cheetahs, crocodiles, gazelles, antelopes, zebras, hippopotamuses, and water buffaloes.

In one story, Aaron’s therapist calls him a ‘wounded bird’ and there is a park with monkey bars and someone eats turkey. And there is this sentence: ‘Suddenly, meaning attached itself, leechlike, to every facet of her life’ and this sentence: ‘The phone shook in Dan’s hand like a live fish.’

The story of the title, ‘The Heaven of Animals’ is about Dan and his son Jack. Jack has a degree in marine biology and is researching ocean life on the Pacific coast. This is about a father-son relationship and the acceptance of living with an illness, bonding, and forgiveness.

I liked the story ‘Refund’ in which first-grader Luke fights to avoid eating vegetables, and is considered ‘special’ at school. So, what is best for Luke? It seems that he likes Marcy Jenkins. I also liked ‘What the Wolf Wants.’

Unfortunately, most of the short stories ramble on a bit, instead of getting straight to the point. There are some witty and comic stories, as well as some sad and poignant ones. Overall, though, I thought the collection was mediocre.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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