Only the Animals Themes

Only the Animals consists of 10 short stories, each narrated by a different animal who is telling their story from beyond the grave. Each animal was killed as a result of human conflict, such as World War I, the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, or the 2006 Israeli bomb strikes on Beirut. Throughout the stories, the animals consider their relationships with the people around them—and the history of human-animal relationships more generally, going back millennia…

All of the stories in Only the Animals are set in the midst of violent human conflicts, such as World War I, World War II, the Gulf War, or the U.S. invasion of Iraq. As such, the stories’ animal narrators provide a unique perspective on these human conflicts and their effects on animals. Indeed, Only the Animals proposes that it’s actually not accurate to refer to wars as human conflicts, given that animals are so…

The 10 stories in Only the Animals are filled with anecdotes of times when animals experience cruelty at human hands—but amidst all this cruelty, the animal narrators also highlight the times when humans are surprisingly or unexpectedly kind to them. These moments of kindness shine through stories that are otherwise tragic, suggesting that acts of kindness have the power to improve even the worst situations. Indeed, Only the Animals suggests that kindness and compassion can…