The Lives of Animals

by J. M. Coetzee

First published 1999

Novelist Elizabeth Costello can no longer face the world. Her impassioned arguments against the horrors of animal exploitation have estranged her own family. When she delivers a controversial lecture on the issue, her uncompromising stance provokes a range of reactions - from sympathy to skepticism. As her son watches, Costello's radical compassion for the voiceless compels us to reckon with our own moral blind spots.

Genres: fiction, animals, philosophy, literary-fiction, 21st-century, academic

Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: family-drama, social-commentary

127 pages · Hardcover · Princeton University Press

Content warnings: animal-death

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