American Hippo by Sarah Gailey is a collection of all of Gailey's novellas and short stories that make up the River of Teeth world.
Before I get started, let me just give you a little background. Years ago, I listened to a Longform podcast with Jon Mooallem and he started talking about his article for The Atavist called "American Hippopotamus" and I was absolutely fascinated by it. For a few months, this story was my main small talk talking point. It's a long piece (but worth it!), but if I had to summarize it, I'd just say that in the early 1900s in the United States, the country was suffering a meat shortage. A proposal was put forth to Congress to solve this shortage by using the swamps of the southern US, particularly in Louisiana, to ranch hippos for meat. Hippos! In the United States! This proposal did not go through (sadly? obviously?) and all that's left of this bonkers idea is this Atavist article and my undying obsession with it.
Gailey was inspired by this article to write American Hippo, imagining an alternate world in which the legislation was signed into law and hippos were brought to Louisiana to be ranched. She created a world in which there are cowboy hippo ranchers and people love their hippos the way we love our dogs and horses. Of course, there are unexpected consequences when some hippos are accidentally released into open water and feral hippos become a danger to those who need to use the waterways in the United States. After all, hippos are territorial and aggressive and considered very dangerous. This novel is about a group of thieves, con artists, and criminals who come together to do a caper an operation to solve this feral hippo issue.
Readers, this was a true delight for me. It's all about our relationships with non-human creatures, found (human) family, and was just a swashbuckling delight. The book includes characters of color, characters from a wide variety of the gender spectrum, and was the gayest cowboy book I've ever read. One Goodreads review read "Came for the hippos. Stayed for the queers." If you like to read narratives about complicated people who do care about each other and their pets, this might be for you. If you like to read about alternative histories with ridiculous premises, this might be for you.
It was most definitely for me.
Line of note:
"I think that's what love is - it's not about forgiving or forgetting right away. It's about deciding to give someone a chance to earn your forgiveness, eventually." (page 249)
5/5 stars
