We Could Be Rats

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. The only thing I knew was that there was a lot of chatter about it on bookstagram - and the author had had an event in my area recently. 

We Could Be Rats explores the complicated relationship between Sigrid and Margit, two sisters who are very different. The story is told using suicide letters and the POVs of both sisters as they experience family drama and the world around them. 

The tone of this story is a heavy one and includes the topics of addiction, domestic violence, rape and homophobia. I fully expected to be emotionally annihilated by this book, but I just wasn't. Austin could have gone for the emotional jugular but instead kept it surface level. The narration and letter format didn't quite work as an audiobook.

With its blend of pain, cynical humour and YA feel, this story (I think) is about people's desperation to be understood and seen by those around them. I thought this would be a tearjerker, but I ended up not connecting with the characters and was left with a story that felt bleak, insular and repetitive. With its focus on journal entries, we didn't get to see how the sisters relate to each other. It just wasn't a good fit for me.

My Rating: 2 stars

Author: Emily R Austin

Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Canadian

Type and Source: eAudio from public library via Libby

Narrator: Candace Thaxton

Run Time: 5 hours, 38 mins

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio

First Published: January 28, 2025

Read: July 12-15, 2025

Book Description from GoodReads: A moving story about two very different sisters, and a love letter to childhood, growing up, and the power of imagination—from the bestselling author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space.

Sigrid hates working at the Dollar Pal but having always resisted the idea of growing up into the trappings of adulthood, she did not graduate high school, preferring to roam the streets of her small town with her best friend Greta, the only person in the world who ever understood her. Her older sister Margit is baffled and frustrated by Sigrid’s inability to conform to the expectations of polite society.

But Sigrid’s detachment veils a deeper turmoil and sensitivity. She’s haunted by the pains of her past—from pretending her parents were swamp monsters when they shook the floorboards with their violent arguments to grappling with losing Greta’s friendship to the opioid epidemic ravaging their town. As Margit sets out to understand Sigrid and the secrets she has hidden, both sisters, in their own time and way, discover that reigniting their shared childhood imagination is the only way forward.

What unfolds is an unforgettable story of two sisters finding their way back to each other, and a celebration of that transcendent, unshakable bond.