Friday's "Forgotten" Books - The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder

Today is Patricia Highsmith day for Patti Abbott's Friday's "Forgotten" Books. Although Highsmith (1921-1995) was best known for her psychological thrillers with some two dozen film adaptations (Strangers on a Train, for one), she also wrote many short stories. One of her most unusual outings is The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder from 1975. Each story revolves around an abused animal who gets revenge in one way or another, or as one recent reviewer put it, the "anti-Marley & Me."

Highsmith may have been a misanthropist (or even misogynist, a la another satirical collection, Little Tales of Misogyny), but she was a little more sympathetic toward animals. Beastly Murder builds on a Kafka-esque premise of anthropormophic animals, and in some cases, the effect is poignant, as in the case of a lonely circus elephant who bonds with a sympathetic handler for 30 years then has to deal with his cruel replacement.

But these aren't sentimental tales, with the likes of a truffle-hunting pig, a goat who gives rides in an amusement park, a Siamese cat, a dog named Baron, cockroaches, hamsters, and chickens on an automated farm all getting their due in ways that are often grisly and filled with black—and bleak—humor. Some are written from the animal's POV, some from the human's, and some of them, like "The Bravest Rat In Venice" are downright horrific. (Maybe appropriate, then, that Terry Castle wrote how Highsmith commented creepy ideas came to her as "frequently as a rat has orgasms").

CONTENTS
Chorus Girl’s Absolutely Final Performance
Djemal’s Revenge
There I Was, Stuck with Bubsy
Ming’s Biggest Prey
In the Dead of Truffle Season
The Bravest Rat in Venice
Engine Horse
The Day of Reckoning
Notes from a Respectable Cockroach
Eddie and the Monkey Robberies
Hamsters vs. Websters
Harry: A Ferret
Goat Ride

Comments

[George Kelley]

Love that Highsmith quote about creepiness!

[BV Lawson]

The more I read about Highsmith's early life, George, the more I realize how she came to be the writer she is. She knew "creepiness" first hand, unfortunately. But it can be fun to read some of that creepiness in her writing, at least some of the time. There are other times that it makes me incredibly sad.

[Patti Abbott]

Yes, her life is almost as interesting as her novels.

[Kelly Robinson]

I haven't read any of these, but I'm wondering how they might compare to the gruesome snail stories I covered. Her shorts aren't her strongest work, but her dark mind is definitely present.

[BV Lawson]

I think your snail story would fit in quite well with this collection, Kelly. I agree that her short fiction isn't her best work, but there's the occasional gem. The circus elephant story had me a little verklempt.