You're an Animal, Viskovitz! [Hardcover]

Alessandro Boffa (Author), John Casey (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 2002

From Italy, a wildly modern riff on Ovid’s Metamorphoses—a whirlwind of ironic fables in which the central hero, Viskovitz, continually changes identities in pursuit of his one true love.

A snail with two sexes, a parrot who speaks of love, a dormouse who has erotic dreams, a police dog who’s a Buddhist, a microbe with an inferiority complex, a lion in love with a gazelle, a chameleon hoping to find himself, an intestinal worm, a dung beetle . . . Viskovitz is each of these animals and many more, possessed by their behaviors, their neuroses, their vanities. And the gorgeous and impossible Ljuba, the object of Viskovitz’s desire, is in turn a sow, a bitch, a gazelle. There is an animal passion between them that lasts from story to story, but it is the fullness of the human condition that is portrayed most vividly in these hilarious metamorphoses.
Dazzling beginnings lead into plots full of surprises, ranging from slapstick to Western, from cautionary tale to thriller. Scientific jargon is turned into wordplay and witty aphorism; theatrical reversals and philosophical insights abound.

You’re an Animal, Viskovitz! is a triumph of comic inventiveness and intelligence unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this delightful, clever debut collection of interrelated tales, Boffa employs a variety of living creatures to demonstrate human foibles and folly. Rapidly morphing from larva to ant to Buddhist police dog, Viskovitz, the book's charming protagonist, enjoys a variety of incarnations that allow him to thoroughly explore the human condition. In one tale, Viskovitz assumes parrot form and engages in a maddening yet hilarious dialogue with other parrots that resembles Zen-tinged slapstick. He learns the perils of love and lust as an elk when, assuming the mantle of Elkness, his waking hours are spent defending females, leaving no time for propagating the next alpha male. In the Mojave Desert, Viskovitz the scorpion adopts the patois of a western gunslinger, leaving a trail of dead scorpions in his wake along with dry observations about the nature of survival. Over all these stories, the figure of Ljuba looms. Whether shark rat, praying mantis or sow, she shines with a luminous beauty as Viskovitz's romantic beacon. Seemingly doomed to pursue her, he encounters her in every form, and true animal passion boils on the page as she bewitches and inspires him. Boffa's writing crackles with humor (What was daddy like? Crunchy, a bit salty, rich in fiber) and wonderfully worded descriptions, lovingly translated by Casey (author of Spartina, winner of the 1989 National Book Award for fiction). Boffa's training as a biologist is readily apparent; the precise physiological details he provides for each embodiment of his protagonist rings with technical precision. Whimsically combining scientific lingo and specific biological argot with candid vernacular, he creates a series of engaging dichotomies of high and low, sacred and profane.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Viskovitz, Boffa's intrepid hero, is not, as the title declares, an animal; he is many animals, reincarnating 20 times as 20 different creatures in 20 smart and wickedly funny satirical fables. Trained as a biologist and skilled as a storyteller, Boffa, who looks to animals, as so many have before him, for insights into human nature, has concocted a scientifically accurate, gleefully sexy, and philosophically mischievous improvisation on Ovid's Metamorphoses. Whatever form Viskovitz takes--a dormouse who lives only to sleep and dream, a rebel snail who falls in love with his own reflection, an alpha elk too busy fighting off predators and rivals to be able to mate, or a scorpion who wants to live in peace but whose instincts force him to kill--he is an incurable and hapless romantic. Forever pondering the meaning of life, he falls madly in love with Ljuba, an elusive and wily female in each of her incarnations, and is outsmarted by his beloved over and over again. "Who am I?" asks Viskovitz the chameleon. He is us, whispers Boffa. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; Second printing edition (May 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375405283
• ISBN-13: 978-0375405280
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,127,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and Surreal, January 28, 2003

By 

Tom Shi (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You're an Animal, Viskovitz! (Hardcover)

I am a little in awe of what Boffa has pulled off in these parable-like stories. His anthropomorphized critters suffers pangs of love, stabs of jealousy, strains of thwarted desire, as passionately as any human Romeo/Juliet, yet still remain true to their critterly natures. From the noblest elk, to the lowliest sea-dwelling sponge, everyone is consumed by the quest for love, and the irrespresible spirit, Viskovitz, stand in the center of it all.

The author's genius lay in endowing his animal characters with just enough human attributes balanced with their "natural" concerns (i.e., a dung beetle still needs to roll you-know-what), and write the tales with aboslute deadpan seriousness.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Determination, deception and . . . dung?, April 9, 2005

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You're an Animal, Viskovitz! (Hardcover)

Some years ago, philosopher Thomas Nagel published his now-famous essay, "What Is It Like to Be A Bat?". He concluded that we can't fully comprehend the mental processes of another creature. Boffa may accept Searle's pronouncement on bats, but this Russian-born biologist has worked it out for twenty other species. In this treasury of witty "autobiographies", Boffa examines various animals' lives. In these lively episodes he demonstrates the various manifestations of one "Viskovitz" as spider, snail, mantis or microbe. In sometimes wonderfully lyrical language, Boffa recounts Viskovitz' quest for his true love, "Ljuba" and the turmoils and travails this multiple personality must endure.

Biologists know all animal life [and perhaps a few plants!] is driven by the "Five Fs" - Feed, Fear, Fight, Flight and . . . er . . . reproduction. Boffa rearranges the queue to put the last up front. As twenty different species, not all of them definably male, Viskovitz uses every opportunity to continue the line. His quest to mate, especially with the love of his choice, consumes him in each guise. His sense of mission may seem extreme to some, but the tales clearly represent what has been learned from studying life. Boffa recounts the many rituals various species go through in attracting mates. Africa's dung beetle Viskovitz goes beyond mere collecting and posturing. He becomes a monopolistic entrepreneur, determined to overwhelm any competition in his desire to win the beetle Ljuba. The resolution of that courtship is a priceless example of what "diversity of life" truly means. Identity may be hidden in some remote aspect of an organism.

Ljuba, primary object of desire, isn't the only influence on Viskovitz' life. There is Zucotic, who might be Viskovitz' alter ego. There's Lara, who may play substitute for the elusive Ljuba. In one case, the delightful Ljuba is replaced by a new, even more attractive mate, who happens to be a cardboard cutout. And, there's Viskovitz' relationship with his own parents, who- and what-ever they may be. Antecedents, as in any family, bear strong influence on how the current generation behaves and what they might expect. Inquiring about what his departed father was like, he's informed: "Crunchy, a bit salty, rich in fibre" by his preying mantis mother. Gender identity is vague among some creatures, and Viskovitz' relations with snail and sponge families makes delightful reading. But, so does the whole book. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever and funny animal fables, May 18, 2004

By 

Eileen Rieback (Coral Springs, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You're an Animal, Viskovitz (Paperback)

Poor Viskovitz! No matter what kind of animal he is, no matter how he tries to court the beautiful and elusive Ljuba, he encounters problems. In each of these twenty creative stories, Viskovitz and Ljuba metamorphose into different kinds of animals, including bees, pigs, fish, scorpions, and dogs. As an elk, Viskovitz spends so much time defending the females of the herd against the other males that he finds no time for his beloved Ljuba. As a mantis, he literally loses his head over the treacherous Ljuba. As a sponge, he is affixed to a rock and cannot reach Ljuba, the object of his affection. As a lion, he is hopelessly in love with the gazelle Ljuba, which is an impossible relationship. As a finch, he must protect Ljuba's eggs from the cuckoos.

This book is not only funny, satirical, witty, and surprising, it is also informative. Alessandro Boffa is a biologist, and through these imaginative tales you will learn interesting tidbits about the physiology and behavior of animal species. And one more thing: you will gain insight into the vagaries of the human condition as well. Highly recommended for a quick and fanciful read.

Eileen Rieback