Rating: 3 stars

Justin Torres’ debut, We the Animals , is garnering quite a bit of attention. A newcomer into the world of publishing, Torres has been steadily working towards this goal for some time.

Half Puerto Rican and half Caucasian, Torres is the youngest of three boys in a family rife with tough times, sprinkled with the occasional light-hearted moment as a reminder that life isn’t all bad, all of the time.

Loosely structured, We the Animals is semi-autobiographical, offering abbreviated glimpses into the life of a family very much like the author’s own.

With no real thread of story to follow, the spotlight is turned towards Justin Torres’ poetic prose and his penchant for getting his thoughts and feelings down on paper, and providing just the right impact in all the right places.

Currently estranged from his family, We the Animals reads like the flashes of childhood memories of a young boy now grown. Flipping through moments in time, mostly in an effort to remember the good times, but perhaps to pinpoint the spot where the path divided; and, to determine whether current circumstances are in fact a culmination of so many moments.

A solid first effort. It will be quite interesting to see where Justin Torres goes from here.
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Hardcover: 144 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1 edition (August 30, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0547576725