The Last Animal

jogged the halls. Eve made a hand flourish and said, "Exhibit A." Vera watched the Russians watch Todd and it seemed possible that he alone might inspire a war between the two countries. Americans, if this was any indication, needed to be put out of their misery. It would have been a service.


As the sun was going down, they boarded a plane that would take them from Moscow to Yakutsk. The stewardesses in stilettos served chicken cutlet and sweet wine. The plane crossed six time zones and they had only traveled two thirds of the way across Russia.

Eve and Vera played a favorite game, Fortunately/Unfortunately, a game that had traveled with them on buses, planes, ships, trains all over the globe.

"Once there were two sisters who wanted to run away," Eve started.

Vera said, "Fortunately, they had large bags full of precious gems."

"Unfortunately," Eve continued, "the gems were heavy and the girls couldn't carry them."

"Fortunately, they came upon a cave where they could hide the bags until they had a way to transport them."

"Unfortunately, there was a wild and ferocious bear living in the cave."

Vera smiled at her older sister. "You always put a ferocious bear."

"It's a classic."

The story was, by design, endless. Meant to carry the girls across land and sea, every piece of bad news immediately followed by the upswing of salvation.


It was morning again when they landed, dawn a fine pink stripe on the horizon. Vera felt broken by tiredness. She was not a person anymore but a hunger for sleep. The tarmac smelled like fire and melt.

This was the coldest city on earth in winter and all the photos in the hotel lobby were of people with iced eyelashes, men in fur suits with fur hoods selling fish in the outside market and everything shimmered with frost and the fish were frozen but no

wit and intellect are evident in every wacky setting, character and plot line she weaves. Few authors can do what she does, seemingly effortlessly: spin saucy yet kind-spirited social satire while exploring a multitude of topical and archetypal subjects all within a single work, all in sentences that sing Forget everything you think you know about your reading tastes, sink into [Ausubel's] weird world and prepare to fall in love with a 4,000-year-old baby mammoth. LA Times

A hairy but cuddly beast of a novel that sheds life lessons, some heartwarming, many sticky with sentiment Ausubel s conclusion is clear: Nurture the earth and your dreams, but don t forget to nurture your family. Christian Science Monitor

"The Last Animal is a wildly plotted romp as well as a deeply felt story of family, grief, and the hope to be found in continuing to live, even under the cloud of an uncertain future." Alta Journal

A fanciful tale grounded in reality but reaching into the heart of a reader with relatable storytelling about the relationships between two sisters, and between mothers and daughters. . . a delight to read. . .Ausubel has found a great way to combine the complications of climate change and the wonders of the natural world with the difficulties women still face in a field dominated by men. . .The Last Animal provides laughs, chills and celebration in equal measure throughout. It is highly recommended to anyone who loves what fiction can do with its most wondrous, creative and heartfelt possibilities. Ausubel has a total winner here. Book Reporter

Wondrous. . . a fantastical journey into the kind of life that may or may not be possible after death, and the equally fantastical experience of becoming a woman in a world of men. . .strikingly recognizable yet laced with magic. . .Ausubel's evocative prose, gives the novel a perpetual sense of longing. Shelf Awareness

Ramona Ausubel is a master at creating distinctive young female characters [The Last Animal is] an intense portrait of family dynamics that undergirds a speculative narrative that is just on the verge of real, and also filled with hope. LitHub

"Ausubel s fourth volume of highly original fabulist fiction. . .marries an extraordinary and slightly bananas scientific adventure with a deeply felt portrait of a mother and daughters healing from terrible loss. . . .An amazing amount of humor, pizazz, wisdom, and wonder packed into a story that is essentially about processing grief." Kirkus, STARRED review

The Ice Age meets the Anthropocene in this gem from Ausubel. . .Ausubel is at her best when exploring the ties that bind, especially in a family flung into unprecedented circumstances. In charting the parallel worlds of grief, scientific devotion, and adolescence, Ausubel comes up with a seamless global caper that brims with compassion and makes the reader glad to be alive. Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

An incredibly sharp and sweeping novel about our modern planet with an intimate emotional core. . .Balancing the breadth and complexity of our ailing ecosystems and the resonant humanity of a grieving family, Ausubel has crafted an unforgettable tale for our time. Chicago Review of Books

[A] transfixing, fabulist tale centering the life-giving power of women within a scientific frame. . . a feminist Jurassic Park. The narration. . .is lush and full of wonder as a family is broken and reshaped, and the women come of age, evolve, and grapple with the limits and conflicts of biology and ambition. Booklist

Ausubel s new novel has a surprisingly winning combination of subjects. . . .The story. . .easily manages to win our hearts. . .The author s good-natured humor and wildly imaginative plot create an incredibly appealing read. Center for Fiction

I loved this book so much. Ramona Ausubel writes with such humor, but also shining intellect and vulnerability. The Last Animal shows the value of taking risks even when the heart is broken, and that sometimes risk brings with it a return to warmth. Gorgeous. Jenny Slate, bestselling author of Little Weirds

I never thought I would fall in love with a wooly mammoth, but without a doubt I did. Here is an unlikely story of family and tenacity, of existence and striving to exist even if you are told you cannot.  The women of this remarkable family astounded me.  They are brilliant, kind, and utterly fearless.  The prose is gorgeous.  Each sentence pulsates with such heart and life. Weike Wang, author of Chemistry
 
The Last Animal is pitch perfect, a phylum of every hurt and want traded between mothers and daughters. I was captivated by the spirit of this tightly-woven story. How magical to consider the world as very large and yet very small all at the same time. A tender, fascinating look into the bruised things that can lay buried inside a family.   Kristen Arnett, author of With Teeth