Strange Animals - by Chad Kultgen (Paperback)

About the Book

"She found herself thinking how strange it was that although we are all animals with roughly the same mental capacity--and roughly the same access to information, both general and specific--we can come to such radically different conclusions about the nature of reality. She wondered if it would always be like this, or if at some point in the future a general knowledge base would be accepted by the whole of humanity on which every individual would base their view of existence. She hoped this would be the case and wished she could live to see it. Karen Halloway is a philosophy PhD candidate, struggling to find a dissertation topic strong enough to make a mark on the world. When she discovers that she's pregnant, she finds herself at a crossroads: she has always known that she doesn't want to be a mother, and feels her only choice is to have an abortion, though she knows that both her boyfriend and her highly religious best friend will object. Yet on the way to the clinic, Karen has the epiphany she's been looking for--a way to turn her unexpected situation to her advantage"--

Book Synopsis

A thought-provoking and darkly witty novel about freedom, motherhood, greed, and religion--a surprising new direction from the controversial author of Men, Women & Children and The Average American Male.

Chad Kultgen has established himself as one of the most honest and candid chroniclers of human relationships working today. Now, in an eye-opening departure, he turns his gaze on the collision between religious values and human freedoms in American society.

Karen Halloway is a philosophy PhD candidate, struggling to find a dissertation topic strong enough to make a mark on the world. When she discovers that she's pregnant, she finds herself at a crossroads: she has always known that she doesn't want to be a mother, and feels her only choice is to have an abortion, though she knows that both her boyfriend and her highly religious best friend will object. Yet on the way to the clinic, Karen has the epiphany she's been looking for--a way to turn her unexpected situation to her advantage.

Fiendishly suspenseful and provocative, Strange Animals is a surprising novel about freedom, choice, and desperate measures.

From the Back Cover

In the days that followed Karen's decision to postpone the abortion, she became increasingly aware of the unique position pregnancy afforded her. . . .

For the first time in her life, she began to feel that she could do something that changed the way people thought. . . .

It might be the best idea she would ever have.

Karen Halloway is a philosophy graduate student, searching for a dissertation topic strong enough to change the world. When she accidentally gets pregnant, she has the epiphany she's been looking for--a way to transform the situation into an object lesson for mankind.

A surprising story of freedom, choice, and desperate measures, Strange Animals is a fiendishly suspenseful and eye-opening novel from one of our most provocative writers.