A middle-aged man faces grief and existential paralysis when he loses his mother and must partake in strained family gatherings in J.J. Pascal’s THE NIGHT OF THE ANIMALS.
René Navarro’s grief worsens when his estranged, more successful younger brother returns briefly for their mother’s funeral. As if his return isn’t unpleasant enough, he steals René’s eulogy. This theft unearths old wounds and buried memories of similar occasions. He recounts feelings of inadequacy, which results in missed opportunities and a constant state of restlessness—culminating in an irrational need to always seem more well-off than he is. This need causes him to cover the remaining expenses of his mother’s funeral without his brother, leaving him on the cusp of bankruptcy. Inevitably, when he is approached with a mysterious letter from his deceased mother, he sees it as a lifeline amid his mounting debt. Thus begins a peculiar and transformational adventure.
Pascal’s characters are nuanced. René is relatable and flawed: aspiring to be more, but too afraid to break out of his routines (even though they frustrate him). His feelings of isolation and abandonment are loud in statements such as, “Sometimes, he felt like the entire world around him was part of a massive soccer match—one that didn’t include him.” Meanwhile, his brother, Marcel, is portrayed as cunning and unafraid: a complete contrast that fuels the sibling rivalry. The unusual nature of their family is captured in a mischievous uncle who loves telling absurd stories and being married to their self-absorbed aunt who sees people as “either too fat or too thin” and declares her scathing opinions unabashedly. Their daughter, in a surreal moment, joins René in barking around the dinner table in response to her children. This scene highlights the metaphorical nature of the word “animals” in the title with both absurdity and emotional rawness in a strange, even jarring way that represents instinct, wildness, and what lies beneath the surface of civility.
Indeed, the prose is articulate and incisive, fluidly alternating between hallucinatory inner monologues and present-day conversations. However, René’s inner monologues occasionally revisit the same emotional ground without uncovering anything new. While thematically fitting, his obsession with the past may test some readers’ patience.
THE NIGHT OF THE ANIMALS is a poignant account of one man’s struggle to belong in a world that seems out of his reach. It is richly introspective and layered with an aching vulnerability that quietly demands to be seen.
J.J. Pascal’s literary novel THE NIGHT OF THE ANIMALS is an emotionally honest meditation on memory, masculinity, and familial inheritance, wielding rich prose and unforgettable imagery to create a rewarding and resonant experience.
~Gabriella Harrison for IndieReader