Rating: 
Summary: Plot, Theme, Character, Style, and Subtleties of Loving
Review: So why could I not put this book down, to save some of the pleasure until later, without soon picking it up again? Apparently plot, theme, characters, style-and two looks at love.Plot. Lively conflict between smalltown New York redneck villagers and the influx of gay-male weekenders. (Hetero majority vs. homo deviancy.) Also conflict between young native Jesse and his emerging desires within himself, and his straight-culture family tradition. Nothing new there, a universal plot. (Think Romeo-and-Juliet conflicts.) But Russell does it well. He splices nicely the "timely" (the still-present terrible conflict between gay urges and their psychological and sociocultural repression) with the "timeless" (any conflict between Self and Society). Theme. With gay character Cameron being seropositive and having lost lovers to AIDS, it's also about mortality, the most universal plot of all. And one done before. But Russell also does that well. He somehow weaves seamlessly the HIV-specific (Cameron's viral loads and T-cell counts, his lost lovers and friends) into the so-general precariousness of everybody, you and me. Characters. Russell paints people well, both the pencillings of har-de-harumph traditional lowerclass culture, and also the Portrait Gallery of pretty, precious, prissy gay male microculture. Again, done and done again before. But once more, Russell does it well. Style. Throughout the book, Russell can interweave thematically, the echoing motif of "animals" hunted, from vegetarianism to roadkill to Jesse's tortured dreams to symbolic gay-straight warfare. But what I found especially great are at least two other elements worthy of the skill of Russell (especially as seen in his The Coming Storm). Two facets of lust/love. First, the yearning of fortysomething gay AIDS widower Cameron for the local boy-man Jesse. Poignantly done: not neurotic, just natural attraction to his youth and beauty-but also to his own appealing self. Is this love? Russell superbly re-creates oh the pain and ah the pleasure. But especially, the depiction throughout the 300 pages of young Jesse's emerging, awakening, personal (sexual) identity. Never before in any gay fiction have I seen such a superb job of not telling about, but actually showing, "coming out." Of monitoring felt/unfelt urges; of tracking hidden/re-hidden feelings; of tracing ins-and-outs of emotions. On almost every page, Russell inserts superbly this hint and that tint, of Jesse's response, feeling, awareness, denial. It's like sophisticated military intelligence, a Distant Early Warning system... ... or a powerfully-penetrating medical x-ray or MRI... or a chemical test sensitive to slight changes, hues, stains... or a Case History which misses not one intricate step in the unfolding pattern. For me, this depiction of identity-emergence is Russell's top achievement here. And so the book became for me, "literature." Meaning, it did not just discuss (important and enduring) issues and emotions, but it actually "languaged" them-it installed emotions into language so that we readers not only are told, but also feel, those emotions. Simple definition of literature. But rare to achieve in practice. And for me, War Against The Animals attains a level of quality attained only by 10-15% of gay fiction. Well-the book seduced me, captivated me. I unfortunately finished it in 24 hours; its power made me intermittently pause to savor what I read and to save the rest, but then its power soon drew me right back to continue. After The Coming Storm, I was apprehensive. Would Russell write as well? Bravo, and thanks, Paul.
Rating: 
Summary: A compelling story
Review: WAR AGAINST THE ANIMALS is far from the perfect novel, but Paul Russell captures something invaluable about the human spirit: the lengths some we will go to for love (real or imagined) and the energy that drives us to uncover our passions (real or imagined). Russel's favorite theme, emotionally abandoned young men who explore pansexuality as a means of self discovery, resonates for me personally, which may be why I enjoy his work as much as I do. He's not particularly imaginative, but he tells a fine story, and he's very good at capturing the everyday elements of longing, doubt, and fear. I've read all his work except the SciF; I recommend this and BOYS OF LIFE, which is not for the faint-hearted.
Rating:
Summary: An intense and provocative masterpiece.
Review: We've anxiously waited three years for another Paul Russell novel, and luckily he doesn't disappoint. Just as The Coming Storm addressed the controversial issues of underage gay sex, War Against the Animals also addresses the similar theme of the kind of relationships older gay men can have with younger men who are struggling to come out. Both novels are such wonderful and intricate studies of modern gay America, that readers will be wondering just what Russell will come up with next! War against the Animals is indeed worth waiting for, as it's an astounding piece of work and a fine literary achievement. Russell writes with a mature, and serious voice - a voice that is really needed and rarely found within the current dearth of quality fiction for gay men. The story shifts so dramatically between the two main protagonists, Cameron Barnes and Jesse Vanderhof and the story moves so explicitly towards its inevitable climax, that the reader is left feeling emotionally exhausted. Russell does a wonderful job of addressing the needs and issues of older HIV positive gay men; Cameron is lonely, wealthy, and solitary, and wistful of his life spent with his one true love, who has died of AIDS. He meets Jessie - young, confused, rebellious, and a "red neck" - they develop a tender, kind of mismatched friendship, which seems to flourish against all odds. Russell does a great job of telling the story from each character's perspective, and many of the secondary characters are startlingly realistic. There's Perry - young, sexy and provocative; Jesse's brother Kyle - rough, suspicious of Jesse's sexuality and resentful of the changes taking place around him, and Cameron's friend Max - ambitious, politically active in local government, with a drive to change the community for the better. War against the Animals also has some astute familial observations, and I was amazed that even though her husband had just died, Jesse and Kyle's mother was so detached and unaware of her sons' problems. War against the Animals is not just a story of unintended friendship and a young under-educated man trying to find his way in a hostile and confused world. It is also a story of a "war": a war of class, education and money - a war of different worldviews, and a war over sexuality. The politics of small town life is one of the wider themes of the novel. Older communities are changing and the disparate poorer people are being pushed out as the wealthy, many of them young affluent gay men, are moving in, buying up the housing stock and gradually remaking the communities. Russell addresses these issues and themes with resounding honesty and compassion, and paints a beautiful picture of a world undergoing unstoppable change. Russell's command of the language, his use of metaphor and symbolism and his vivid descriptions of the natural world are unsurpassed in contemporary American literature. This is a fine piece of literary fiction from one of America's greatest authors, and one of the literary highlights of the year. Michael
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: You really got caught up in Jesse's fight to break free from the people who were suffocating him. Every chapter you learned something new about him and hoped his heart was capable of breathing new life into his lungs. It kept you wondering until the last chapter if he was capable of living.
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