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Fauna

3.61 of 5 stars 3.61 · rating details · 249 ratings · 75 reviews

In her highly anticipated new novel, Scotiabank Giller Prize-nominated author Alissa York creates a contemporary human fable that taps into the great tenderness and drama at the heart of the animal world.

The wide ravine that bisects the city is home to countless species of urban wildlife, including human waifs and strays. When Edal Jones can't cope with the casual cruelty...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published July 26th 2011 by Vintage Canada (first published July 9th 2010)

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Sep 28, 2011 Ruth Seeley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel finally made it onto my radar after reading this review on the Toronto WOTS blog http://ow.ly/6Hr0X (celebrating the book's nomination for a 2011 City of Toronto Book Award).

York is an accomplished author, who, as Vicki Ziegler points out in her review (well worth reading: http://ow.ly/6HreJ), handles multiple narrators and multiple POVs deftly.

The Toronto she creates is one that teems with all kinds of life - vegetable, animal and human. Her focus on humans with particularly strong c...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian

In this novel we see things from a variety of points of view. The characters lives intersect and their different views give us a bigger picture of things.
Edal Jones is a federal wildlife officer who is on stress leave. She often gets called in on animal smuggling cases at the airport and through the book we see some of those. She is also coming from an unhappy childhood, and is one of two characters whose story we see from that earlier time period as well as from the present.
When she is out on h...more In this novel we see things from a variety of points of view. The characters lives intersect and their different views give us a bigger picture of things.
Edal Jones is a federal wildlife officer who is on stress leave. She often gets called in on animal smuggling cases at the airport and through the book we see some of those. She is also coming from an unhappy childhood, and is one of two characters whose story we see from that earlier time period as well as from the present.
When she is out on her bike one day she sees a girl taking birds who have flown into office towers and wonders about what she is doing with them and follows her.
The girl, Lily, goes to an autowrecker's yard near a ravine, a yard that has become a sanctuary for both animals and humans. Lily is living out on her own with her dog, Billy. She is also escaping something.
The owner of the autowrecker's yard is Guy Howell. The yard is something he inherited and he has a talent for seeing vulnerability in living things and understanding what to do. Guy is working with an injured redtail hawk to rehabilitate it. Guy has one employee, Stephen, whose heart was weakened by an infection he got on a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Stephen is apprenticing there and doing the books and learning about animals. Stephen also has a history he isn't entirely comfortable with.
Lily encounters a young vet tech, Kate, when she is out on day, and Kate comes into the yard and finds a sort of place there. Kate is happy at her work, and yet still getting over a tragedy in her young life and finds herself drawn to the young Lily.
A separate menacing presence enters the ravine and touches on the lives of these people, a young man with issues and anger and who is looking to make his own mark. Stephen encounters him first and tries to make a difference in his attitude, but the others encounter him in some way as well. This young man is the other character that we see the full backstory of, and it isn't a happy one. He has experienced loss and abuse and struggles with himself.
I really liked this book and the insights and growth of the characters.
These are all people who have experienced loss. The losses and experiences differ, as do the way the characters deal with what they face. This is an emotional book, not meaning that it made me cry, but that the characters were so vulnerable and looking for ways to respond to those living things they encounter.(less)

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Aug 04, 2012 Karen Wapinski rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. After years spent busting smugglers of exotic pets and banned animal parts, federal wildlife officer Edal Jones is on stress leave when she happens upon the unusual community that will change her life. Situated between a half-wild ravine and Toronto’s Chinatown East, Howell Auto Wreckers is a modern-day sanctuary for injured souls. Handsome proprietor Guy Howell offers refuge to animals and humans alike: a half-starved hawk and a brood of orphaned raccoons; a soldier whose heart failed him durin...more After years spent busting smugglers of exotic pets and banned animal parts, federal wildlife officer Edal Jones is on stress leave when she happens upon the unusual community that will change her life. Situated between a half-wild ravine and Toronto’s Chinatown East, Howell Auto Wreckers is a modern-day sanctuary for injured souls. Handsome proprietor Guy Howell offers refuge to animals and humans alike: a half-starved hawk and a brood of orphaned raccoons; a soldier whose heart failed him during his first tour of duty; a teenage runaway and her massive black dog. Guy’s a rare kind of man—well-versed in the delicate workings of damaged beings, he might just stand a chance at capturing Edal’s heart.
Before love can bloom, however, the little community must come to terms with a different breed of lost soul. Known to the blogosphere as Coyote Cop, nineteen-year-old Darius Grimes may have taken on a new name, but he can’t seem to shed his brutal past. His backwoods childhood is catching up with him, and he’s taking it out on the creatures that call the neighbouring valley home.

I’m having a hard time pinpointing what exactly it is about this novel that bothered me. One thing I loved was the writing itself, Miss York is excellent. I love the tie ins to various famous works, and their appeal to the characters, such as The Jungle Book or Watership Down. And the characters were so relatable to me. The writing is simply beautiful, eloquent and wonderful to read.
The characters are brilliant, pop-off-the-page real. Edal’s emotional breakdown is so understandable, and you see why she is so drawn to this odd group of misfits. Guy is completely likeable and charismatic, he’s responsible but also relaxing. Lily and Stephen are a joy to read; and the rest of the minor characters are all fully drawn out.
I think my problem with this book is mainly that I was disturbed by it. As in, I sometimes found it hard to read. For example, when we have a chapter dedicated to the life of a tough, struggling city racoon from its perspective, only to have it run over in another scene. Or the graphic details of a family of murdered coyotes. I think what bothered me was the thought that these type of psychos exist, and no one stops them. I find it easier to deal with the murderous psychopaths of Urban Fantasy because I can place them safely into the unreal. Several times I almost stopped reading, I was so disturbed by the content.
I would say this is a good read, but it’s a difficult one if your heart bleeds for animals, like mine.
(less)

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May 31, 2012 Ian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This exquisitely wrought novel begins with Edal Jones, a federal wildlife officer on stress leave, happening upon a skinny young woman collecting injured birds at the base of a Toronto office tower. Propelled by some impulse she hardly recognizes, she follows the woman and her dog back to a fenced-in yard full of wrecked cars. The next day Edal returns and is welcomed in, only to discover that Howell Auto Wreckers in Toronto's east end is refuge for a motley group of young people doing what they...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 4-star

Read no further if you have no more than a passing interest in reading about animals, because, as the name suggests, there’s quite a bit in this book which is purely about animals. But it’s really about a small group of people who come together almost accidentally because they care about animals. I really enjoyed it. Having read an earlier book by York (Effigy), I knew her writing to be powerful and her characters to be amazing in their diversity, uniqueness and talents. Fauna does not disappoin...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Helen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, canadian

Spotted this in the library after seeing an ad here on Goodreads. It is a complex story in that we are getting back stories as we go along so that we will eventually understand what is motivating this group of individuals in their attitudes toward animals. We start off with Edel, a wildlife officer and named for the otter in Ring of Bright Water, and assume that we will see events through her eyes, but we meet Lily and her mostly Newfie dog Billy and wonder if we'll follow her and all her fears...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Pooker rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canada

Jim Lynch's blurb on the back cover of this book suggested that *Fauna* was "the sort of rare novel that can change the way you see your world." This coming from the author of *Border Songs*, I was fairly confident that he meant the change would be toward a more humane and "natural" way of looking at the world.

*Fauna* has not changed the way I see my world but it has reaffirmed for me the way I see my, or rather "our", world in the same way that some of my other much loved novels (Margaret Atwoo...more Jim Lynch's blurb on the back cover of this book suggested that *Fauna* was "the sort of rare novel that can change the way you see your world." This coming from the author of *Border Songs*, I was fairly confident that he meant the change would be toward a more humane and "natural" way of looking at the world.

*Fauna* has not changed the way I see my world but it has reaffirmed for me the way I see my, or rather "our", world in the same way that some of my other much loved novels (Margaret Atwood's *Surfacing* and Barbara Kingsolver's *Prodigal Summer*) have done. As such I am very fond of this book.

There were some minor flaws, in particular an over-abundance of characters, both human and animal, but I easily forgive any flaws to the point that this book is sure to rank among my all time favourite books as above-mentioned and another non-fiction book, *Grass, Sky, Song* by Trevor Herriot.

I've never been to Toronto so do not know the Don Valley, but I do live in a city where peregrine falcons nest in the cliffs of city office towers, hunting pigeons in the air to feed their young, sometimes breaking their necks in a misjudged dive to the pavement below or splatting under the wheels of a bus. A city where raccoons and deer and rabbits feast on the salad bowl that is my garden and sometimes end up as bloody masses lining my street after losing on the collision course with my neighbour's SUV. And, of course, I live in a city where people talk not to their neighbours across the street but to people a world away on the internet while children are being wrenched from their beds by Child and Family Services as their parents are drinking and brawling, sometimes ending up as bloody masses lining the very streets under which those peregrines nest.

I loved York's characters, all damaged misfits in their own way and wary of each other, but all, with the exception of Darius, respectful and caring of the animals that inhabit their world. It is that connection that allows them to connect with each other. Darius, on the other hand, represents the nastiness of humans toward the animals (although even his "evilness" is not really innate but, presumably, a result of his own unfortunate background).

I also loved how York's characters loved other classic "fauna" books - The Jungle Book, Watership Down, Wild Animals I have Known, White Fang, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and others.

All in all a thoughtful, respectful and quite satisfying read. (less)

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Feb 17, 2011 Ken Vaughan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary

I really enjoyed Fauna. It is the story of a small group of young people, diverse in their backgrounds, but united in their love for Toronto's urban wildlife. Stephen and Guy run an auto wrecking business, but behind the scenes care for and rehabilitate injured or abandoned animals. Lily and her dog Billy live in a tent in the river valley behind the garage. Lily rescues birds that have crashed into the glass buildings in downtown Toronto, burying those that do not survive and releasing those th...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Vicki added it · review of another edition

Early in his own reading of Fauna, a panelist with the National Post Afterword Reading Society referred to the urban wild settings in the book as "a kind of subconscious of the city". (http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/07/...) I latched on to that observation about one-third of the way through my own reading of Alissa York's fine novel. I found that characterization of Toronto's Don river, valley and ravines as the subconscious, the undercurrent and the foundation of this haunting urban wildlife...more Early in his own reading of Fauna, a panelist with the National Post Afterword Reading Society referred to the urban wild settings in the book as "a kind of subconscious of the city". (http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/07/...) I latched on to that observation about one-third of the way through my own reading of Alissa York's fine novel. I found that characterization of Toronto's Don river, valley and ravines as the subconscious, the undercurrent and the foundation of this haunting urban wildlife love story gorgeously informed my Fauna experience. "Characterization" is probably a particularly apt word, as the urban wild settings are almost a collective character unto themselves. York sensitively and unforgettably weaves the presence of this character throughout a tale of damaged souls struggling to survive in a large city and in the world in general.

Fauna's characters, separate and with seemingly little in common initially, cross paths, converge and ultimately connect against a background that runs the gamut from the office towers of the city's intimidating financial district, to the sweeping roadways and busy streets, to the lush, labrynthine, simultaneously welcoming and sinister forests, bushes, creeks and ravines. York deftly handles multiple voices and perspectives, including those of a federal wildlife officer on stress leave, an auto wrecking company owner and self-taught wildlife rescuer and sanctuary manager, a homeless teenager and her faithful dog, a veterinarian specializing in animal rehabilitation, a young military veteran and a controversial blogger who might or might not be on a deadly mission. Each character is troubled in one form or another in the present, but can also trace many current tribulations and challenges to dark chapters and influences in their respective pasts. They gravitate to each other through their love of and connection to nature and animals. In one case, where that love and connection do not exist, the character hostile to nature is tragically isolated.

York's facility with balancing different voices and points of view extends beyond the human. The sections seen through the eyes of various urban wildlife are sufficiently convincing and germane to the story and its themes of personal and collective survival. This multi-layered approach is only occasionally an impediment to this otherwise engrossing novel when some of the switches are made a little too quickly, when you'd perhaps rather spend just a few more pages or even paragraphs with a specific character or situation.

Do I find this book resonates so much because the Toronto backdrop is literally so close to home? Perhaps, but I hope it would similarly strike a chord with any citizen sensitive to that same urban wild undercurrent in his or her own city.(less)

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Sep 12, 2012 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fauna is a beautifully written story that weaves the lives of seven outsiders who connect with each other through their relationships with the wildlife that live on the edge of present day Toronto. Six of these characters, Lily; her dog, Billy; Stephen; Edal; Kate and Guy are drawn together by their love of animals. The central gathering place is Guy's auto repair shop, where each person faces their own demons and learn to trust again, not unlike the wildlife that are rescued from the ravages of...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Christina G rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian

I had pretty high expectations for this book after hearing it described and reading the blurb on the book jacket, and the read was just as filling as I'd hoped it would be.

The book explores healing through connection, both human and animal. The first character the reader is introduced to, Edal, is on sick leave from her Federal Wildlife job after her exposure to years of animal cruelty that has finally pushed her over the edge. Additional points of view are introduced in characters that have bee...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well hello there, aren’t you just a nice love letter to Toronto?
I was not expecting there to be so many name drops of places I actually visit on a regular basis in this book. The story is about a woman that is on leave from her job as a federal wildlife marshall who happens to come across a car garage which has been turned into an animal sanctuary by a small group of mismatched characters. This story is definitely for people who love animals. What is really interesting is how the author actually...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Erica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: animals, canadian, social-commentary-fiction, eco-fiction, animal-fiction

I found it difficult to rate this book. I wanted it to be one of my favorites, but I couldn't leave it in that category. It is about a subject that is very close to my heart: the human relationship to (non-human) animals. It was wonderful to read about people who were trying to make the world a better place for animals, and it did my heart good to see there was a book like this out there.

The reason why I am so conflicted is because of the writing itself. There are many good elements of character...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Carol MacInnis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I won this book from a contest on Goodreads.

As I began reading "Fauna" I felt I was in my own old town as I grew up not far from Toronto and the names of the streets etc were all too familiar.

Edal Jones, a Federal Wildlife Officer, is off on an extended leave after she experienced a 'melt-down' after years of finding defenceless wild animals being smuggled into Canada. Most of these animals were found either dead or maimed in the most unimaginable ways of transportation to their unknown destina...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Vicki rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, animal, contemporary

Captivating novel that explores the human/animal relationships of a handful of emotionally scarred adults in Toronto. Edal is a federal wildlife officer on stress leave after witnessing too many tragic cases in wildlife trafficking. When she spots a teenager rescuing birds that have flown into windows in downtown Toronto, she follows the girl on impulse and discovers an underground wildlife refuge in Toronto's Don Valley. The story is told from multiple viewpoints, introducing us to a variety of...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Norma rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is just OK. It is the story of a disparte group of individuals who all come together via their various individual needs and like for animals and birds. Each has a disfunctional background and find comfort and protection in the group. The story is set in Toronto's Don Valley, a green space which runs north-south through metro Toronto. Is the home of coyotes, racoons, bats and birds.

The story is told through the eyes of the various characters and is somewhat hard to follow, as each chapter a...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Kyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It was chosen as the 2011 Durham Region Pass the Book book, and though it won't be a resounding success for that program (I think it is too heavy a work of literature to please the masses), I am happy to see a book that most people would never pick up chosen for Pass the Book. The story, set in Toronto's Don Valley, reflects on the sometimes sorrowful, sometimes healing nature of people's relationships with animals. Thoroughly Modern, we read about a group of "strays" that co...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Helene rated it 4 of 5 stars

I very much enjoyed this book, which is set in the area of Toronto where I used to live, and which interweaves the narratives of half-a-dozen human characters with stories of the animals who live around them. The antagonist's story is the least satisfying: on the spectrum established by the other characters, his history is the grimmest but also provides less insight into who he is and why he does what he does; the histories of the other characters are not necessarily fully sketched, but they add...more

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Jul 24, 2010 Danielle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, bookshelf, favorites

I've been a goodreads member for at least 4 years now, and in that time I've entered dozens and dozens of contests for free books, I remember being infuriated when a new goodreads friend won a contest within a few weeks of signing up!

That is, until I finally won this book, Fauna by Alissa York and completely gobbled it up.

York spins her yarn across the split that divides Toronto in two, mostly sticking to just east of the Don River and the inhabitants, human and mammal, and the interactions betw...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Martha marked it as to-read · review of another edition

This is such a beautifully designed book. I'm just a couple of chapters in, but I'm intrigued. It makes me want to go back and read some of the books it references. It was also a wonderful gift from a dear friend.

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Dec 09, 2010 Camrose rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Now I've finished reading it and I still love this book. The urban wild animals -- racoons, skunks, squirrels, coyotes, red-tailed hawks -- are portrayed vividly as individuals. They don't speak and they don't have personal names (except those in captivity). But York lets us eavesdrop on their inner voices, revealing their observations and life lessons, their fears and satisfactions. They and the human characters whose paths they cross, are shaped by their personal histories, their early tragedi...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Julie rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was a book, I just couldn't get into. It was well written, but a combination of the story, the characters and pacing of the book, didn't mix well for me.

The characters were one of the factors to why I didn't like the book, while I liked how they all came together in the book, I found that the amount of characters and concentration on their individual stories, both past and present, affected the overall story. There was to many of them and for some of them, how they connected together seemed...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wonderful and weird. Loved this book.

This quote is my favourite from the book and pretty much sums up the message:

"There's a switch inside every one of us that I guess grew there as a necessary part of survival. How can you drag a fish up out of the river for your supper if you feel the yank of the hook in your own cheek? I get that part. We can't feel for everyone and everything all the time. We'd die of fear or sorrow a hundred times a day. The thing is, it's gotten so we flick the switch off...more

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Feb 10, 2011 Julie-Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: do-not-own, fiction

I don't if it was my mood, or the book, but I loved this. Not much happens, you really just follow the goings-on of a group of people who find themselves drawn together. Usually I don't go in for this kind of thing. But it was great, I couldn't put it down. I never even managed the time to add it to my 'currently reading' shelf. I was drawn into the characters and their individual worlds and frankly, found myself happy to be a fly on the wall and wishing I could continue to do so beyond the end...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Hnolan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not what I expected, but I ended up really liking Fauna. I related to the characters and was intriqued by them as well. I wanted to keep reading to know what they were going to do next and if Edal would turn in her new friends or join them. I loved that they read aloud from classic books and quoted them. This was very believable for me and having been in a similar situation in my teens, I found the fact that these people gathered and just accepted each other refreshing. This book was much more t...more

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May 22, 2013 Doreen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: personal-library

This book has been sitting on my shelf for almost two years since it was released in 2010. I really liked Alissa York’s two previous novels and so bought this one as a hardcover. In those two years I made several attempts to read the book but just couldn’t seem to get into it. This time I was determined to finish it, and I’m glad I persevered although it was slow going at the beginning.

Set in the Don Valley of Toronto, the novel brings together five disparate characters to an autowrecker’s yard...more This book has been sitting on my shelf for almost two years since it was released in 2010. I really liked Alissa York’s two previous novels and so bought this one as a hardcover. In those two years I made several attempts to read the book but just couldn’t seem to get into it. This time I was determined to finish it, and I’m glad I persevered although it was slow going at the beginning.

Set in the Don Valley of Toronto, the novel brings together five disparate characters to an autowrecker’s yard which serves as an ad hoc animal sanctuary. Guy is the owner of the business and he welcomes animal strays as well as those of the human variety. These latter include Edal, a federal wildlife officer on stress leave; Stephen, a young veteran recovering from a tour of duty in Afghanistan; Lily, a teenaged homeless runaway; and Kate, a lesbian veterinary technician specializing in canine physiotherapy.

All five characters have suffered the loss of parents either through death or virtual abandonment (because of abuse or mental illness or self-centredness or nonacceptance). Each is an outcast or misfit in some way and so wary of human interaction. All are also somehow involved in rescuing injured animals, and it is this common concern that helps them connect.

All five are interesting people, especially as their backgrounds are gradually revealed. (At the beginning, the number of characters and the alteration among them can cause some confusion; several times I found myself having to look back to connect a particular back story with a particular character.) My problem with them is that, despite their dysfunctional childhoods, they are all such paragons of decency. Guy is almost god-like in his acceptance and welcoming attitude to all, both animals and humans.

The book examines the inevitable collision between animals and humans in an urban setting. An uneasy relationship exists between them, and the author’s suggestion is that humans must find a more balanced way to live with animals. Furthermore, there is a healing power to be found in the natural world: all five characters find some form of redemption in their interaction with the fauna that share the world they inhabit. (The one exception is Darius, the extreme opposite of an animal lover, whose behaviour and fate are lessons in what happens when animals and humans do not co-exist peacefully.)

Because of my affinity for the author, I wanted to love this book, but I can’t honestly say I did. The pace at the beginning is almost glacial, and until the end there is no real action or conflict. There are nice touches like the short passages narrated from the point of view of various animals (fox, skunk, bat, raccoon, squirrel, bat) living in the Don Valley. Also, as mentioned, the five protagonists are rather too good, and in the end the resolutions for all involved are too neat.

At one point, Stephen describes an encounter with a camel spider and he concludes, “The longer he watched it, the lovelier it became” (230). That statement both summarizes the author’s opinion as to how people should approach animals and my opinion of the book as I continued to read. Unfortunately, it takes too long to get caught up in the reading.
(less)

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Feb 24, 2013 Normie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

SPOILERS ******I just finished Fauna yesterday and I enjoyed it very much. I got this book free from Goodreads and I am so glad I was able to read it. I don't know if I would of normally picked this one up. I loved each story. There is Guy. He owns a wrecker yard which is also a haven of sorts for the lost and injured - human and animal. He has a hawk that he is rehabilitating. Then there is Edal. She is a wildlife agent who is on leave for stress. She finds the wrecker yard kind of by accident...more

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Oct 14, 2010 Edith rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads, books-read-in-2010

I won this book on goodreads. I feel a little guilty because I won it like in June and it took me so long to read it. It's not because it was bad, I was really busy and had (still have) tons of books to read.

3,5/5
I actually liked the book but it took me a long time to get into it, at least 100 pages. And at first I was mixing up characters and had to go back to reread parts. Mostly because each sections told by the eyes of one character are really short. Too short. And I still don't see the poin...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Steven Bergson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I'd rate it 3.5/5, but Goodreads doesn't allow that.

As a Torontonian, I loved the (mostly) Toronto setting and could easily visualize the places described (which were described well).

As a bibliophile, I loved Letty's obsession with book collecting, though it wasn't clear if she actually read all of the books that filled virtually every nook & cranny of her home. My own collection isn't that bad ... not yet. And I haven't read half of the books that I've saved up...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Amanda added it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

i enjoyed Fauna, but would have enjoyed it better if the story had concentrated on one specific character more. this is a bit of a modern disease with fiction: too many characters taking central spot...the old deal with each one per chapter and then mingle their storylines technique. it gets a bit old. each one of these characters: Guy, Lily, Edal, Kate, Stephen, Darius deserves their own in-depth story. i would love to see spin off tales based on each of these characters.
i enjoyed the compassi...more

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About Alissa York

Born in 1970, Alissa York has lived all over Canada and now makes her home in Toronto with her husband, writer/filmmaker Clive Holden.

York's award-winning short fiction has appeared in various literary journals and anthologies, and in the collection, Any Given Power, published by Arbeiter Ring Publishing in 1999. Her first novel, Mercy, published by Random House Canada in 2003, was a Canadian best...more

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Quotes from Fauna

“There's a switch inside every one of us that I guess grew there as a necessary part of survival. How can you drag a fish up out of the river for your supper if you feel the yank of the hook in your own cheek? I get that part. We can't feel for everyone and everything all the time. We'd die of fear or sorrow a hundred times a day. The thing is, it's gotten so we flick the switch off like it's nothing. And, more often than not, we forget to turn it back on.” — 1 person liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11174735-fauna?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320488303l/11174735.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11174735-fauna?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Fauna by Alissa York[/url]

Fauna

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