We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Abstract

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves presents Rosemary Cooke, a girl in her twenties and the novel’s narrator, who reflects on her early life. She states that she lived with her parents, her brother Lowell, and her sister Fern, and much of the novel is focused on Rosemary’s recollections of Fern, beginning with the moment when she was horrified to know that Fern was to be given away. While expressing a tremendous grief – especially because their connection is hinted at being like twins, and they used to play together a lot –, young Rosemary also feels relieved to know that she was not the chosen one to be given away. In time, it is revealed that Fern is, in fact, a chimpanzee, which was adopted by Rosemary’s parents as part of a long-term scientific experiment on animal behaviour, as her father is a professor and behavioural scientist. The many games that both used to play, for instance, were also part of this experiment, as the activities were monitored so as to compare Fern and Rosemary’s skills and development. Eventually, and as Rosemary grows older, her father explains that Fern was sent to another place to live with a new family. It is also revealed that Lowell did not suffer less than Rosemary herself, and was also deeply traumatised by the loss of Fern. He runs away from home and dedicates himself to animal activism, at one time releasing all the lab rats that his father had in his laboratory; as a consequence of this and other similar acts, he begins to be hunted by the FBI. Lowell becomes even more incensed when it is found that Fern had actually been taken to live with other chimpanzees in a research facility run by a professor and scientist who was very cruel to the animals. Lowell tries to rescue Fern multiple times but fails, and Rosemary takes upon herself to confront her parents so as to understand what was going on with Fern and the experiment. She eventually learns that Fern was given away because she became too dangerous to keep with the family and inside the house. Time passes and, despite this, Rosemary eventually comes to live near the facility where Fern is kept, along with her daughter (named Hazel). Near the end of the novel, she states that when she encountered Fern for the first time in many years, the chimpanzee recognised her immediately, and both pressed their hand and head against the glass, proving that their connection was not lost. Rosemary also states that she wrote the novel for Lowell, as he was arrested following an attack he was planning against SeaWorld.