The Council of Animals, Nick McDonell
The Council of Animals, Nick McDonell
List: $15.99 | Sale: $11.20
Club: $7.99

The Council of Animals
A Novel

Author: Nick McDonell

Narrator: Nick McDonell

Unabridged: 3 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/20/2021

Synopsis

This program is read by the author.

From national bestselling author Nick McDonell, The Council of Animals is a captivating fable for humans of all ages—dreamers and cynics alike—who believe (if nothing else) in the power of timeless storytelling.

“‘Now,’ continued the cat, ‘there is nothing more difficult than changing an animal’s mind. But I will say, in case I can change yours: humans are more useful to us outside our bellies than in.’”

Perhaps.

After The Calamity, the animals thought the humans had managed to do themselves in. But, it turns out, a few are cowering in makeshift villages. So the animals—among them a cat, a dog, a crow, a baboon, a horse, and a bear—have convened to debate whether to help the last human stragglers . . . or to eat them.

Rest assured, there is a happy ending. Sort of.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company

About Nick McDonell

Nick McDonell, born in 1984, is a writer of novels, journalism, and political theory. He studied literature at Harvard and international relations at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford. His fiction has been published in twenty-two languages and appeared on bestseller lists around the world. A film adaptation of his first novel, Twelve, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His academic work on nomadism—The Civilization of Perpetual Movement—was published in 2016. As a reporter for the London Review of Books, Time, TheNewYorker.com, and Harper’s, Nick has embedded with the United States Army and Marines, the Afghan Special Forces, the African Union Mission to Darfur, and the Iraqi Special Forces. Nick’s book, The Bodies in Person: An Account of Civilian Casualties in American Wars, was published in 2018. Nick is a cofounder of the Zomia Center for the Study of Non-State Spaces, which supports scholarly and humanitarian projects around the world.

Reviews

Goodreads review by karen on July 20, 2021

NOW AVAILABLE!!! "It is better," said the cat, "to accept what cannot be changed, and pee on it." brief personal backstory: i slap every book i'm even casually interested in on my 'to-read' shelf here, so whenever there's a giveaway for one of them, i get that notification email, and i enter all of th......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on July 17, 2021

I won this book at LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review. I received an advance readers paperback copy a few days before the book’s publication date. I read it over 2 days in less than 24 hours, but I didn’t find it to be a page-turner. As a vegan and animal rights activist and environmentali......more

Goodreads review by David on July 28, 2021

The Short Version: Get ready for a modern day Jungle Book that examines the folly of human Politics with a good dash of humor and all of the absurdity that matches the current political landscape The Long Version: I got to listen to the audiobook ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Aud......more

Goodreads review by Sam on April 16, 2021

Nick McDonell’s The Council of Animals is likely to be the most unusual novel I will read in 2021. Publisher Henry Holt & Company calls this one “a captivating fable for humans of all ages,” and that’s not an overstatement. Comparisons to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, numerous as they are certain to......more

Goodreads review by Laur on July 16, 2021

The Council of Animals is a fable in which a group of animals - among them a cat, a dog, a crow, a baboon, a horse, and a bear—have convened to debate whether to help the last human stragglers on earth being attacked and eaten, or should the humans be helped. Comparisons to George Orwell’s Animal Fa......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List