What a lovely audiobook listen this one is. It’s part coming of age with some magical realism that reads like poetry. It’s a sweet story that is beautifully narrated by Mara Wilson. Mara has a great voice and she gives just the right inflection to the character’s voices without distracting the listener from the fairytale-like atmosphere. I especially enjoyed the perspective from the skunk’s POV. At approximately four hours, The Skunks is a perfectly enjoyable short car trip listen.

3 stars

I am new to Warnick's work, but I absolutely love the way Mara Wilson narrates, so I jumped at the chance to listen to this audiobook. While the narration was an expected win, I wanted more depth in the content.

Isabel is at one of those pivotal (and often later cringey) moments in life where she's crushing, working in a yoga studio, housesitting, and generally trying to make meaning of herself and in general. It's interesting to follow her journey, but the business with the skunks - which is what I thought I'd enjoy the most! - really didn't work for me.

I'm interested in reading more from this author because this is an undeniably fascinating idea, but I hope to get more out of subsequent reads/listens.

This book is more of a meditation than a story, which feels entirely right for Warnick’s style of writing and, I think, what she’s attempting to say with it.

In some respects this has the bones of a typical “young adult adrift after college” novel, but it’s more than that, albeit with less plot. Warnick is at her best when her protagonist is simply musing, be it about her own life or something broader, and the prose feels both relatable and aspirational.

It’s not uncommon to feel lost at this stage of life (indeed, I expect most of us felt that way), but the thoughtfulness put into this particular portrayal of it is both comforting and thought provoking.

Be prepared for an unnecessary animal death toward the end of the novel. It’s predictable but not pleasant if, like me, this kind of thing bothers you. Fortunately it doesn’t detract from the quality of the book, or from the lovely relationship the protagonist imagines between herself and the titular skunks.