I’ve read three of Emily Austin’s books now. I loved Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, and I liked Interesting Facts About Space, though it started out slowly for me before it took off in a great feat of storytelling by the last half. She has a wonderful knack for writing female characters who are atypical but find their way in their own time.

All that to say that I liked but didn’t love her newest offering We Could Be Rats. It follows Sigrid, who writes letters in order to explain some of her actions, so it begins as an epistolary novel of sorts. She’s a person who’s always thought that her best life would be as a carnival rat, riding the carnival rides, feasting on leftover carnival food and hanging out with other rat pals. Her rat life span would be about two years, which she finds pretty okay. She’s not a person who fits easily into the actual life she was born into.

The other main character is her sister Margit, a peace-maker, high functioning and perfectionistic. Gradually, details of their difficult family life emerge, along with community problems like the fentanyl crisis. I liked the way that these sisters could tentatively, gradually find common ground.

However, like the first half of Interesting Facts About Space, I found that this book became repetitive. Austin is a talented writer of interesting sentences and paragraphs, and she portrays Sigrid with great depth. If I could quote freely from this ARC I would, because there are such great lines full of meaning. But there wasn’t enough story for me; I needed more plot.

That said, if you’re a fan of Austin, then I say you should read this book. There is much praise for it, and I can see why. My time was well spent getting to know Sigrid and Margit, and the way that two sisters deal with trauma differently.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a gifted copy for review!

This book very much felt like it was pulled from my brain at some parts. Parts of the different notes hit me so hard that I would have to step away from the book because it just felt too much. I think that is one of the great things about books. I loved the aspects of sisters and their relationships. There were times where Sigrid and Margit were either talking or talking about something they did as kids and could see my sister and i having those conversations or doing those things as kids.

It is hard to describe what i liked about this but there were so many things and now i want a rat tattoo.

emily austin, the author you are!!!!

I am beyond proud to say that this is my first 5-star read of the year, and am still in awe that I was able to receive an Advanced Copy of one of my most anticipated releases for this year!! Thank you so so much to Simon & Schuster and Atria, I am exceptionally grateful.

Emily Austin writes about everyday life and mundanity in such a profound way. She writes about specific, microscopic experiences that I have thought were singular, and deftly shows how these seemingly insignificant experiences tether our lives to one another. Reading an Austin book is turning the first page to find a mirror, and also a sucker punch to the gut.

Sigrid and Margit felt so tangible and fully formed that I half-expected them to crawl off the page into my living room. we could be rats is a love letter to sisterhood, growing up, childhood, lesbianism, and the depths of imagination, while also discussing the nuance of mental health, mental illness, conformity to societal expectations, coping, loss, grief, and addiction.

I honestly believe this is a book that is best to enter into without knowing much about the plot. With that said, please make sure to check content warnings if you have anything that could trigger you because this book discusses a wide variety of heavy and potentially upsetting topics, and centers on the main character attempting. Take care of yourselves and prioritize your needs and wellness<3

the magic of emily austin: absolutely stunning, beyond moving, and unexpectedly funny

This is a poignant and uplifting novel that will resonate deeply with readers who cherish the transformative power of sibling love, the magic of childhood imagination, and the resilience of the human spirit, making it a must-read for fans of character-driven fiction and stories about the complexities of family relationships.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Emily Austin for an eARC of We Could Be Rats in exchange for an honest review. 

I was worried this book would make me feel really sad, but it was actually quite funny and I felt I could relate to it on a close personal level. For such a short book, it fully covers topics of sisterhood, relationships, and life as a young adult in very thorough ways. The writing was easily digestible and the story flowed at a good pace.

This novel is definitely not for everyone as it discusses topics of suicide and the opioid epidemic, but for those who feel they will connect will feel a part of them heal when they read this book.

4.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to Atria Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book published today, January 28, 2025.

We Could be Rats started off dealing with a heavy topic but in a very whimsical way that turned, around the halfway point, into a very serious and profound conversation on grief, mental health, and how people who love you carry the repercussions of your actions. It will also resonate, I think, very specifically with the liberal Americans living in conservative/rural America. There was a passage about 90% of the way through the book that spoke very clearly to the struggles and division we're facing as a country (even though the author is Canadian—it probably equally applies there as well), and it just felt very cathartic to read. It had the usual humor you can expect from Emily Austin, as well as the heart, and I appreciated both.

It didn't quite feel fully formed, which is what kept it from rating higher for me. But I do think the big conversations in such a short book packed a heavy punch. There are quite a few triggers in this so please check those before diving in.

This same review is published on my GoodReads account, which is linked on my NetGalley profile.

This book really cemented Emily Austin as one of my favourite authors of all time. Her novel Interesting Facts about Space is what I usually tell people is my favourite book, and although I think I still preferred Interesting Facts about Space to We Could be Rats, this is a close second. Every line Emily Austin writes feels like it was written for me. I truly have never felt so understood and had such visceral feelings of nostalgia as when reading novels by Emily Austin. This novel felt a bit different than the other two novels I had previously read by her (the third being Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead), because the story followed two sisters. It was an interesting experience because unlike her previous novels, in which I felt myself relating a terrifying amount to the main character, I found intensely relatable aspects in both sisters and I don't think I could choose which sister I relate to more, despite them being so different from each other. I am always hesitant about stories following siblings; myself being an only child, I often feel like I cannot relate to them as much as I wish, however, Emily Austin somehow made me feel so connected to their relationship despite never knowing anything like it. Another impeccable book by Emily Austin (of course)!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC!

Emily Austin has quickly solidified as an autoread/autobuy author for me. We Could Be Rats is the moving, heartfelt, gut-punch of a novel that all of her others have been. I said this about Interesting Facts About Space but it’s true here too: Austin writes human emotion and human experience so well. Austin also plays with format here a little differently than her past books and I think it paid off really well. And like of all her novels the themes of queerness, growing up different to those around you, and mental health are center stage here.

We Could Be Rats releases today! Please note that while all her books have dealt with heavy topics, this one is a lot. TW's include suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, suicide, sexual assault, addiction, homophobia, and ableism. Please take care of yourselves.

This was my first Emily Austin and it did not disappoint! I consumed this story of grief and sisterhood in one sitting and I experienced a full range of emotions. The humor is spot on (nice and dark) and I loved the aspect of childhood imagination. I look forward to my next Emily Austin read and feel confident that this story will stay with me.

Emily Austin's writing style has been fantastic since her debut and she continues to hit it out of the park with this new novel. The humour in this book is excellent. Emily Austin writes lesbians so perfectly and this book is no exception. She also writes sisterhood masterfully. This book made me laugh, made me emotional (yes, I cried), made me nostalgic, it's got it all and I loved it all!

I’m glad I read this book at this particular moment in time. I found this comforting as someone who has struggled with my family relationships in our current political climate. I relate immensely to both Sigrid and Margit and I love that their relationship as sisters was more complex than the stereotypical “built-in best friends,” because sibling dynamics are usually more complicated than that. Ultimately I think this was a hopeful story and I will be recommending it to others. Maybe someday soon the skies can be pink.

CW: suicide

Happy Pub Day! We Could Be Rats opens with Sigrid writing a series of suicide letters to her sister, Margit. She pours out her frustrations about her unfulfilling job, the confines of her small-minded small town, and her complicated feelings about childhood, family, and friendship. The narrative then shifts to Margit, who is grappling with the aftermath of Sigrid’s suicide attempt.

I really enjoyed this book. While it delves into dark themes, it balances them with humor and meaningful reflections on childhood, imagination, and the challenges of growing up. The storytelling is uniquely crafted, though it can be frustrating at times. The messy, complex relationship between the sisters was especially fascinating—particularly in how they each navigate and cope with the weight of their family dynamics.

I recommend giving it a read!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!

4.5 stars

First of all, giant content warnings for discussion of suicide and opioid addiction.

The beginning of this book is written as a series of suicide note attempts, and the tone is light and straightforward and almost funny at times—I kept wondering what had happened in Sigrid’s life to lead her here. Of course, more is revealed as the narrative continues, and we eventually learn about her sister Margit, her best friend Greta, and some pretty upsetting events that have left their mark on Sigrid. The ending seems hopeful, but man, this is definitely the heaviest of Emily Austin’s novels so far.

I thought the structure was innovative, and the use of different perspectives effective (and truly heartbreaking). My feelings for Sigrid and her loved ones are so tender—I’m going to be thinking about these characters for quite a while.

Do you ever read a book that is very well written but just didn't quite click with you?

Unfortunately, that was me with We Could Be Rats. The book deals with relationships and mental health and while this typically will captivate me as a reader, i just couldn't click with Sigrid.

Im still giving this 3 stars because it is well written and the message will no doubt captivate the right reader!

This is not a review of We Could Be Rats (out today!) so much as a thank you note to its author, Emily Austin, for writing this book specifically for me.

It’s rare for me to get everything I love about novels in one package, but We Could Be Rats really delivered—a distinct voice, the perfect balance of humour and heaviness, sharp observations, narrative ambition (the structure reminded me a bit of Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise or Trust by Hernan Diaz), and a protagonist I connected deeply with.

I can’t remember the last time a character made me feel as seen as Sigrid did. So seen, in fact, that I had to wonder if the book hadn’t just been written for me, but about me (yes, as it happens, I am aware I’m not a 20-ish lesbian surrounded by small town narrow-mindedness and dealing with family trauma and the impacts of the opioid crisis. Yet somehow the Venn diagram of our brains is practically a circle).

Another thing I particularly loved: The ending. Austin really stuck the landing with that last line. The scope of what it conveys in just a handful of words is breathtaking (but I can’t explain why, not even in vague terms, without lessening its impact. You’ll just have to trust me and read it for yourself).

We Could Be Rats won’t be for everyone—the first half-ish of the novel consists of multiple drafts of a suicide note—but if you’re able to set aside any trepidation you might have around that, you will find a deeply human, empathetic and tender story about leaving childhood behind, sisterhood and finding your place in the world (“It’s hard for me to reconcile being my authentic self with existing comfortably.” Oof. That’s a gut-punch of a line right there).

This is my favourite Austin so far, and reminded me of Miriam Toews, so if you’re a fan of the latter, this one could be for you.

Thank you Atria Books for the gifted digital copy and thank you Simon Audio for the gifted audio copy.

We Could Be Rats
Emily Austin
Publishing Date: January 28, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧 Narrator: Candace Thaxton 🎧

I keep trying to find words for this one and it’s not coming easy. But in the best kind of way.

This story is essentially about two sisters who each coped with a really challenging childhood in very different ways. I found both sisters so relatable, just in general and then also personally.

Emily Austin was so creative in the way that she structured this book. You do get both sister’s perspectives but not in the typical back and forth of chapters. I didn’t know just how much I appreciated this unique style choice until the book was completely over.

The way the author executes the balance of sincere emotion and levity/humor is *chefs kiss* amazing. I felt like my heart was physically aching at points, then I’d find myself smiling, and then in the end there was hope.

I found the portrayal of mental health to be done respectfully and accurately. The inclusion of LGBTQI+ representation and also the impacts of how one is accepted or not was also well done. The author approached certain topics in such a head on way, which I thought was just really awesome. This book felt so brave, especially in light of current times, Emily Austin has all my respect and adoration after this one.

🎧 I had the privilege of having both the digital and audio copies of this one. The narration was good, but I found myself wanting to hold this book and really absorb it fully by reading with my eyes. I would recommend either tandem or eyeballs only for this one, NOT due to any fault of the narrator, but due to the structure and content.

“One of the benefits of growing up with a sibling is having a witness,” Sigrid writes in one of her twenty-one attempts at a suicide note. Siblings provide corroboration. Having a witness also presents a complication: you will always have competing narratives, competing truths of your shared childhood.

This is the matter at the center of Emily Austin’s third novel We Could Be Rats. The novel follows sisters Sigrid and Margit, who grew up sharing a bunk bed in Drysdale, a town worth visiting only if, according to Sigrid, one “wanted to feel jaded, be hatecrimed, or…had a hankering to try fentanyl in a basement.”

Margit and Sigrid are opposites. Sigrid is a high-school dropout, working part-time at the Dollar Pal, and longing for her childhood days of make-believe and play. Sigrid’s greatest ambition is to be a rat at a county fair, riding the Ferris Wheel and eating discarded fair food. Margit, her older sister by only a year, is the responsible and practical one. She got good grades and moved away for college. Margit never understood why Sigrid couldn’t bite her tongue; Sigrid never understood how Margit could.

Though the opposite sisters are a well-trodden character dynamic in fiction, Austin makes it feel distinct. The text highlights the sisters’ differences not through conflict with each other, but rather the ways they are separately and uniquely in conflict with their past. One of the ways this is accomplished is through descriptions of how they played as children. Sigrid was interested in other-worldly imagination, pretending that the pink insulation in her family’s unfinished basement were clouds over a city she built of her toys. Margit played at being a grown-up, stuffing a pillow under her shirt to feign pregnancy and said a “bad guy” was after her. She would hide under the bed and tell Sigrid to be quiet.

These methods of play characterize the trauma responses both sisters developed to survive the volatile household they grew up in, where their parents’ fights were loud and unpredictable. Sigrid chooses escapism, first in her basement world and then with her best friend Greta as they explored Drysdale. Margit chooses hypervigilance of other people’s emotions in an effort to prevent outbursts from her parents, even if it meant hiding her own emotions. Sigrid instead imagines that her parents are swamp-monsters when they are angry, with scaly green skin and tentacles growing out of their heads. If it’s a fantastical world, maybe it can’t hurt her.

We meet these sisters as they teeter on the crisis points of their coming-of-age, their traumatic childhoods behind them, the vast unknown of adulthood ahead. The novel captures this crisis point in three darkly funny and voice-driven sections from different points of view. In “Sigrid’s Note” she tries to soften the unsoftenable, her attempted suicide. In “The Truth,” Margit, in first-person, must contend with the aftermath of the attempt. And finally, in “Sigrid,” Sigrid, awake from a coma, documents her recovery in a therapy journal. These sections put Margit and Sigrid’s divergent experiences and coping mechanisms in conversation with each other, revealing how they both stem from the same events—for example, the time their dad punched a wall in their bedroom, the death of their grandmother—that they both revisit multiple times.

Their escapism and vigilance aren’t working out as well as they planned. Margit begins to experience the physical and emotional ramifications of constantly dialing into everyone else’s emotions but her own. She lives on edge underneath her upstairs’ neighbors explosive fights that she can’t try to control like she once did with her parents. Sigrid’s penchant for escape has morphed into total detachment and depression at the loss of her best friend Greta to opioid addiction. She avoided growing up as long as she could, dropping out one class shy of her high school degree, and she still longs to play pretend but has no one to play with. Even when she tries to escape through her imagination, the darkness of reality – the loss of her best friend, the disappointment of her parents, the letdown of adulthood – still seeps in.

As both sisters return to the same events over and over again in these pages, they realize that there is only one other person who can corroborate those events, even if the way they tell the stories and dealt with the events are different. We Could Be Rats reveals that part of growing up is accepting that competing narratives can and must co-exist.

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ll read anything Emily Austin writes. 🐀

This read was short and unique. It was filled with quirky characters, and I was impressed with how well I knew them by the end. It was funny and sad. It was breezy and innocent while also being daunting and dark. It was a masterpiece to have done so much in a one-sitting read.

If you’re looking for a truly one-of-a-kind read, check this one out. There are triggers so please take care of yourself before, during, and after reading.

📖 Book Review: We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin

‘I felt like I had to become someone new to grow up. I changed a lot. I became more jaded and serious. I was happier when I was a kid. I was more creative, and I cared less about what other people thought of me. I wish I could go back in time, reconnect with my genuine interests, let go of all social expectations, and feel happy as myself.’

My thoughts 💭

Please check for trigger warnings. ‼️

Thank you NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Emily Austin for providing me with an ARC of this book. As always, all thoughts are my own.

This book is truly unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I feel like you truly get to be inside the mind of Sigrid and her sister Margit during a truly devastating part of their lives. Although this book does deal with heavier topics, Emily was able to write the story in a way that keeps you laughing. Unfortunately, this book was very relevant to what the world is dealing with currently. In that way it was a difficult read but also was nice to not feel so alone in this big world. 4/5 ⭐️

Ooof! That hit me in the feels. I am a huge fan of Emily Austin's writing. She has a unique sense of humour and writing style that makes her characters seem like real people, dealing with real life.
Sigrid's sister Margit always wrote her English papers for her, but after graduation they begin to drift apart. We learn about them and their upbringing through a series of notes written by Margit pretending to be Sigrid. She tries so hard to get inside her head, to understand what Sigrid is not only thinking, but what she's going through. One spent their youth sticking up for others, which often created conflict, while the other would do anything to prevent conflict. This leads them to a lack of understanding each other and eventually going their seperate ways. But what if one major event could help them understand each other better, to get things back on track, and be there for each other like when they were little, or is it already too late?