I read The Study of Animal Languages by Lindsay Stern in one day. I couldn’t put it down, and that alone made me so happy. Lately, I am so easily distracted that I can’t read more than a few pages without picking up my phone. Any book that can keep me away from the warden of my choosing earns five stars.
Ivan is a detached philosophy professor famous for solving a problem no one knows exists. Prue is a well-regarded professor of biolinguistics who studies the language of finches. The Study of Animal Languages tells the story of two gifted academics of knowledge and communication who fail to understand each other. Their marriage reaches a fork in the road when Frank, Prue’s father, who lives with bipolar disorder, arrives during one of his manic episodes.
The book received a good deal of press upon publication and made it to several most-anticipated lists in 2019. After that, nothing much happened with it. Whether that is due to lack of interest or the pandemic, I don’t know, but I loved it! There is a compelling conversation on bioethics by Frank, the autodidact who is wiser than the academics who humor him. After reading The Story of More and another book on the environment, this smart delight reminded me of my love for literary fiction.
You can read an excerpt from The Study of Animal Languages on LitHub.
I would love to credit the book designer since the cover is so lovely. Unfortunately, I can’t find any information on the designer since I read it as a library ebook. I’ll keep looking!
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