Filthy Animals
Brandon Taylor
(Author)
Description
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE STORY PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY USA TODAY, NPR, VULTURE, MARIE CLAIRE, THE TIMES OF LONDON, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY A group portrait of young adults enmeshed in desire and violence, a hotly charged, deeply satisfying new work of fiction from the author of Booker Prize finalist Real Life In the series of linked stories at the heart of Filthy Animals, set among young creatives in the American Midwest, a young man treads delicate emotional waters as he navigates a series of sexually fraught encounters with two dancers in an open relationship, forcing him to weigh his vulnerabilities against his loneliness. In other stories, a young woman battles with the cancers draining her body and her family; menacing undercurrents among a group of teenagers explode in violence on a winter night; a little girl tears through a house like a tornado, driving her babysitter to the brink; and couples feel out the jagged edges of connection, comfort, and cruelty. One of the breakout literary stars of 2020, Brandon Taylor has been hailed by Roxane Gay as "a writer who wields his craft in absolutely unforgettable ways." With Filthy Animals he renews and expands on the promise made in Real Life, training his precise and unsentimental gaze on the tensions among friends and family, lovers and others. Psychologically taut and quietly devastating, Filthy Animals is a tender portrait of the fierce longing for intimacy, the lingering presence of pain, and the desire for love in a world that seems, more often than not, to withhold it.Product Details
Price
$26.00
$24.18
Publisher
Riverhead Books
Publish Date
June 22, 2021
Pages
288
Dimensions
5.43 X 7.95 X 1.26 inches | 0.75 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780525538912
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Brandon Taylor is the author of Real Life, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and named a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, and of the national bestseller Filthy Animals, for which he won The Story Prize and was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Iowa, where he was an Iowa Arts Fellow at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in fiction.
Reviews
Advance Praise for Filthy Animals "Sumptuous, melancholic portraits of characters overwhelmed. . . . Taylor has a talent for taking the dull hum of quotidian life and converting it into lyrics. . . . These intimacies, often cozy, pair splendidly with the uglier, more brutal elements to establish the book's focus: the feral that lurks under the veneer. . . . A perfect companion piece for our nervous era." --John Paul Brammer, New York Times Book Review Blistering. --Time Out "Explore[s] love, longing, and erotic desire between an interconnected group of creatives in the Midwest with tenderness and a gentle touch of dry humor . . . Fully delivering on the promise of Real Life, Filthy Animals firmly establishes Taylor as a brilliantly inventive storyteller, and one whose beautifully drawn characters have that rare ability to really make you care." --Vogue "With Filthy Animals, [Taylor] applies his captivating, precise prose to the short form. These linked narratives thoughtfully examine a group of brainy Midwesterners dwelling deep inside their own heads, falling forward into one another's orbits." --O, The Oprah Magazine "A probing short story collection that grapples with societal expectations and transgressions . . . a luminous exploration of identity, mental health, and sexuality." --BuzzFeed
"Impressive . . . The cloistered world of student life offers Taylor the perfect canvas for the emotionally charged interplay between an insular cast. Most significantly though, these stories provide further evidence that intimacy is Taylor's great subject." --Financial Times "A joy to devour. Filthy Animals is unflinching in its grounded views of relationships and introspection. Taylor draws characters like he's channeling Tom Stoppard, revealing them in their conversations, projecting them off the page like they're standing beside you. These are not characters, they are people. I promise, you will find yourself somewhere in this book. And it will make you glad to have been chosen out of the world." --Little Village (Iowa) "[These stories] all paint a picture of the simultaneous beauties and woes of life: a craving for intimacy, a secret desire for love masked by an indifference toward it, and the lasting effects of pain on present-day life." --Cosmopolitan "Gorgeous." --Barrie Hardymon, NPR "Resonant and poignant. . . . Taylor writes about relationships like a modern E. M. Forster, poking and prodding at the places where the connection is thinnest, and observing what happens when people madly attempt to shore it up." --Vulture
"With a stark and unwavering eye and a deep respect for his subjects, Taylor builds instantly recognizable tales of longing and desire." --Elle
"Incisive and keenly observed, these stories confirm that Taylor is one of our finest chroniclers of intimacy and loneliness." --Esquire "Filthy Animals shows off Brandon Taylor's powerful, insightful writing across a series of pieces that each tell their own tale but all tangle with the importance of connecting to others, even when it seems impossible." --Town & Country "A stunning achievement . . . marked by a pervasive intelligence and empathy, a reminder that even in our despair and isolation, we are not wholly alone." --Refinery 29 There is a deep fear in the publishing world of the 'second book slump, ' the idea that the follow-up to a blockbuster hit can never match the original's genius. But Taylor has blown this myth to pieces with [Filthy Animals], with a cast of characters who allow him to explore the dark, vulnerable, and often ugly side of being human and searching for connection. --The Daily Beast "Not shying away from scenes of sexuality, violence, and belonging, Filthy Animals is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year." --Bustle
"Filthy Animals is a powerful look at what it means to strive to live a creative life, the cruelties of families and friends, and the painful realities of longing." --Alma
"Empathetically written. . . . Taylor does an impressive job of pulling readers into the lives of complex and relatable people." --Glossary Magazine
"This collection offers us contexts to think about how fraught longing is, how painful it can be, and why we still yearn for it." --Lit Hub "Taylor spins intimate narratives of fraught relationship dynamics and demonstrates a keen sensitivity to his characters' fragile mental health. [His] language sparks with the tension of beauty and cruelty. . . . [He] has an impressive range, and his depictions of complex characters trapped in untenable situations are hard to forget." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Brandon Taylor writes with unsparing precision about the blurry territories of fear, longing, violence, and desire. An extraordinary book that rewards, and deserves, keen attention." --Karen Russell "The characters at the heart of this elegant storm of stories are ablaze with risk and tenderness. Their voices are bright and clear, the contours of their pains and desires sharp and urgent. A profoundly gifted writer." --Laura Van Den Berg
"A dazzling showcase for Brandon Taylor's formidable talents--his fierce intellect, his emotional and linguistic precision, his dry and unflinching humor. He is a writer of rare daring, his fiction a series of revelations." --Katie Kitamura "A writer who meets life with a rare combination of will, wonderment, temperament, and vitality." --Yiyun Li "Superb work by a writer of extraordinary psychological insight." --Joseph O'Neill
"Impressive . . . The cloistered world of student life offers Taylor the perfect canvas for the emotionally charged interplay between an insular cast. Most significantly though, these stories provide further evidence that intimacy is Taylor's great subject." --Financial Times "A joy to devour. Filthy Animals is unflinching in its grounded views of relationships and introspection. Taylor draws characters like he's channeling Tom Stoppard, revealing them in their conversations, projecting them off the page like they're standing beside you. These are not characters, they are people. I promise, you will find yourself somewhere in this book. And it will make you glad to have been chosen out of the world." --Little Village (Iowa) "[These stories] all paint a picture of the simultaneous beauties and woes of life: a craving for intimacy, a secret desire for love masked by an indifference toward it, and the lasting effects of pain on present-day life." --Cosmopolitan "Gorgeous." --Barrie Hardymon, NPR "Resonant and poignant. . . . Taylor writes about relationships like a modern E. M. Forster, poking and prodding at the places where the connection is thinnest, and observing what happens when people madly attempt to shore it up." --Vulture
"With a stark and unwavering eye and a deep respect for his subjects, Taylor builds instantly recognizable tales of longing and desire." --Elle
"Incisive and keenly observed, these stories confirm that Taylor is one of our finest chroniclers of intimacy and loneliness." --Esquire "Filthy Animals shows off Brandon Taylor's powerful, insightful writing across a series of pieces that each tell their own tale but all tangle with the importance of connecting to others, even when it seems impossible." --Town & Country "A stunning achievement . . . marked by a pervasive intelligence and empathy, a reminder that even in our despair and isolation, we are not wholly alone." --Refinery 29 There is a deep fear in the publishing world of the 'second book slump, ' the idea that the follow-up to a blockbuster hit can never match the original's genius. But Taylor has blown this myth to pieces with [Filthy Animals], with a cast of characters who allow him to explore the dark, vulnerable, and often ugly side of being human and searching for connection. --The Daily Beast "Not shying away from scenes of sexuality, violence, and belonging, Filthy Animals is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year." --Bustle
"Filthy Animals is a powerful look at what it means to strive to live a creative life, the cruelties of families and friends, and the painful realities of longing." --Alma
"Empathetically written. . . . Taylor does an impressive job of pulling readers into the lives of complex and relatable people." --Glossary Magazine
"This collection offers us contexts to think about how fraught longing is, how painful it can be, and why we still yearn for it." --Lit Hub "Taylor spins intimate narratives of fraught relationship dynamics and demonstrates a keen sensitivity to his characters' fragile mental health. [His] language sparks with the tension of beauty and cruelty. . . . [He] has an impressive range, and his depictions of complex characters trapped in untenable situations are hard to forget." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Brandon Taylor writes with unsparing precision about the blurry territories of fear, longing, violence, and desire. An extraordinary book that rewards, and deserves, keen attention." --Karen Russell "The characters at the heart of this elegant storm of stories are ablaze with risk and tenderness. Their voices are bright and clear, the contours of their pains and desires sharp and urgent. A profoundly gifted writer." --Laura Van Den Berg
"A dazzling showcase for Brandon Taylor's formidable talents--his fierce intellect, his emotional and linguistic precision, his dry and unflinching humor. He is a writer of rare daring, his fiction a series of revelations." --Katie Kitamura "A writer who meets life with a rare combination of will, wonderment, temperament, and vitality." --Yiyun Li "Superb work by a writer of extraordinary psychological insight." --Joseph O'Neill
