Rendered in forty pages of rich but effortless prose, the first chapter...is about as shocking and vivid as they come, setting an energetic pace for the novel that Atwood largely sustains throughout. But perhaps even more impressive than Atwood’s ability to hook readers is how clearly the beginning of A Real Animal outlines the novel’s scope and focus on love and violence, nature and instinct, selfhood and family ... A sprawling character study and psychological portrait of a young woman searching for her sense of self ... It is Lucy’s consistently recognizable voice that seems to bring all of the story’s threads together. Sharp, memorable, and wrought with a kind of stark honesty that makes for an instantly compelling character, the novel’s subsequent chapters grant readers the time and space to witness the ways in which Lucy’s experiences, desires, and choices impact and shape her worldview over the long term.
With haltingly realistic depictions, rebuking magical realism or the over-romanticization of human-animal connection, Atwood explores the instinctual drives of human nature ... As Atwood leaps from one moment in Lucy’s life to another, she captures painfully relatable snippets of experience and frustrating disconnects candidly ... With the peculiar grace given to wild creatures, Atwood allows Lucy’s motives to remain muddled and unresolved, understandable yet inexplicable.
Lucy’s human life is painted in exquisite detail, relatable for all, which grounds the magical realism without missing a beat, making for a cathartic and innovative construction.
