Lisa Taddeo

Animal

Lisa Taddeo illustrates one woman's exhilarating transformation from prey into predator in Animal, the “intoxicating” (Entertainment Weekly), “gripping” (New York magazine), and “ferociously beautiful” (Library Journal) debut novel from the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and global phenomenon Three Women. I am depraved. I hope you like me. Joan has spent a lifetime enduring the cruelties of men. But when one of them commits a shocking act of violence in front of her, she flees New York City in search of Alice, the only person alive who can help her make sense of her past. In the sweltering hills above Los Angeles, Joan unravels the horrific event she witnessed as a child—that has haunted her every waking moment—while forging the power to finally strike back. Animal is a depiction of female rage at its rawest, and a visceral exploration of the fallout from a male-dominated society.

A Novel

it’s been a long time since I read a book this bad, it was predictable, kind of disgusting and far too long. Women’s rage but where is the rage? Being promiscuous?

Kasia Chodzinska

beautiful yet somehow also revolting… reminded me of the virgin suicides.  

g.m.

this was a riveting read from start to finish. it's been on my TBR for the longest time, way before the girl-categorization of lit fic books started getting popular. even then, to me this doesn't qualify to be on those lists because of how honest it is. how unapologetically angry it is. i do not imagine this would be all that palatable for people who only seem to read 'weird/sad girl fiction' for the aesthetics of ummm... reading. 

i do think it's trope-y, though the writing still holds up. and i can forgive it in this book because this predates the tiktokification of reading. i see how it could be impressive at the time of its publication. a lot of this book just scratches the misandry itch in me in all the right ways, and it ended beautifully on an optimistic note. i think lisa taddeo is extremely talented and i look forward to reading her other (and future) works!

Nova

this was a riveting read from start to finish. it's been on my TBR for the longest time, way before the girl-categorization of lit fic books started getting popular. even then, to me this doesn't qualify to be on those lists because of how honest it is. how unapologetically angry it is. i do not imagine this would be all that palatable for people who only seem to read 'weird/sad girl fiction' for the aesthetics of ummm... reading. 

i do think it's trope-y, though the writing still holds up. and i can forgive it in this book because this predates the tiktokification of reading. i see how it could be impressive at the time of its publication. a lot of this book just scratches the misandry itch in me in all the right ways, and it ended beautifully on an optimistic note. i think lisa taddeo is extremely talented and i look forward to reading her other (and future) works!

armoni mayes

I’d rate this 3.5-4 stars. I did laugh at some parts of the book but overall I am kind of confused on the point of this book. But it was mostly enjoyable!

also, some of my favorite quotes: 

“every time I excepted a job I felt terrorized, like I was about to be sent to jail.”

“men were always putting their coats around my shoulders. They marked their territory that way. It’s better to freeze to death.”

“I worried that with every man that i met, either I was going to want him or he was going to want me. It had never truly been both at once.”

Ein Roman voller Trauma, Gewalt, Vergewaltigung(-sfantasien), Wut, Misogynie (auch durch die Protagonistin), Ableismus und vielen ins absurde überzeichneten Szenen. Auch wenn es positiv ist, dass ein Roman den (berechtigten!) Zorn von Frauen* zur Sprache bringt, fehlen mir hier die feministischen, emanzipatorischen Wendepunkte - sowohl in der Geschichte als auch bei der Protagonistin.

Lea Hi

Lindy

This book felt at least two hundred pages longer than it actually was. You'd get half a paragraph of (convoluted) plot followed by thirty pages of the narrator recounting sordid details of her sex life to a person she's known for twenty minutes. And when the end finally arrived, it was anticlimactic. (view spoiler)[She disposes of a miscarriage and non graphically murders one feeble old guy. I assumed multiple graphic murders and potentially cannibalism and neonaticide based on the build up.  (hide spoiler)]

what a wild beautiful annoying angering gratifying ride this book has taken me on

'American Psycho for the #MeToo generation' The Times 'A raging, funny and fierce thriller with a protagonist whose life force, against extraordinary odds - always in the gaze and sometimes the grasp of predatory, abusive men - is a thing of wonder' Financial Times 'Joan is an unforgettable anti-heroine. I don't think I'll ever stop thinking about her' Elizabeth Day I drove myself out of New York City where a man shot himself in front of me. He was a gluttonous man and when his blood came out it looked like the blood of a pig. That's a cruel thing to think, I know. He did it in a restaurant where I was having dinner with another man, another married man. Do you see how this is going? But I wasn't always that way. I am depraved. I hope you like me. MEET JOAN: SUMMER 2021 A 2021 Highlight for: Guardian - Sunday Express - Independent - New Statesman - Evening Standard - Cosmopolitan - Red - Grazia - Daily Mail - Daily Express - The Week - Irish Times - i - The Sun 'Like a series of grenades exploding' Marian Keyes

The first novel from the author of Three Women

Lila R E

The world had set me up to believe that it was women who went mad. It was simply women's pain that manifested as madness.

The term 'female rage' has been thrown around so freely recently that this book came along (for me) at the perfect time. For me, it encapsulated this concept masterfully; Joan is utterly compelling as a narrator and anti-heroine who, as a woman, has really faced all that life can throw at you and I was completely drawn into her story. The thriller aspects were so well executed - I literally felt like I couldn't breathe at times as I raced through the pages to discover the truth Taddeo brilliantly withholds from us until the very last second. At times I even enjoyed myself uncovering the mystery - although I was pretty frequently brought crashing down by the very real portrayal of the female experience which is in no way sugarcoated here.

A line that I think will stay with me is Joan's observation when she recounts a man staring, unashamed, at her. She says, 'there are a hundred such small rapes a day.' This absolutely rang true and perfectly illustrates what I love so much about this book; while Joan goes through so much more than I hope most of us will ever experience in our lifetimes, as a narrator she never seems to lose sight of the universal truth that all women have to endure and endure and endure - whether its unwanted attention from men or the cruelty of men or even being loved by a man. And while this isn't the most uplifting truth, I think this book does an incredible job of recognising it and isn't afraid to fully address it - which in itself is cathartic.

Grace M

Taddeo is brilliant, plain and simple. I was a fan of her first book Three Women, so I was very excited to see how she’d approach fiction. I believe the research she did for Three Women really informed Joan as our delightfully unlikable main character. The more I sit with Joan and her story the more I see how smart Taddeo was with her character. Joan’s relationship with her mother is reflected in an interesting way (this is the only non-spoilery way to say it). Animal is whip smart and pitch black. I won’t be forgetting about this one any time soon.

Taous Merakchi

Phénoménal. J’en ai fait des cauchemars mais c’était extraordinaire.

soooo morbid throughout but it gets legitimately poignant by the end, some kind of magic trick from taddeo. i really liked this and found it especially gripping in its back half, but i definitely struggled to get through the first 150 pages or so. the plot moves slowly at first and by the time it picks up, it’s definitely jarring. i realized that the pacing and action of the back half is when the book feels most like itself, though. so i’m conflicted but i enjoyed it overall.

Mitch

A deeply disturbing, dark, yet captivating story that I couldn’t stop listening to. Emma Roberts narrating made it EVEN BETTER. Highly recommend. 

Rin Dav

NATIONAL BESTSELLER From Lisa Taddeo, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and global phenomenon Three Women, comes an “intoxicating” (Entertainment Weekly), “gripping” (New York), “explosive” (People), and “ferociously beautiful” (Library Journal) debut novel. “With skill and insight, Taddeo examines how the savagery of men fuels female rage. The result is as intimate as it is explosive.” —People (Book of the Week) “[A] propulsive, fiercely confident debut novel…Joan’s voice is so sharp and magnetic that the reader will follow her anywhere…Taddeo’s prose glitters. She has a gift for aphorism, the observation that astonishes.” —The New York Times Book Review Joan has spent a lifetime enduring the cruelties of men. But when one of them commits a shocking act of violence in front of her, she flees New York City in search of Alice, the only person alive who can help her make sense of her past. In the sweltering hills above Los Angeles, Joan unravels the horrific event she witnessed as a child—that has haunted her every waking moment—while forging the power to finally strike back. Animal is a depiction of female rage at its rawest, and a visceral exploration of the fallout from a male-dominated society.

Trish D

i n c r e d i b l e!!! lisa taddeo really captures the raw emotions of wrath and pain towards men, because of men and with men. and i feel it to my CORE!!! So so so good.

Full of trauma and daddy issues. It goes from bad to worse in terms of despicable things the main character does. Leaves you questioning where the story will go for the full book but in the end falls short to be truly iconic. 

Maria Davis 

Eva Bailey

2.5 stars. I didn't like this but I couldn't put it down. Joan was so despicable at times that I almost liked her because of it. It dragged at times but overall an engaging read.

But such a wild ride. Hard to listen to at times bc Emma Roberts narrates this so well it feels like a chaotic friend recounting all of their trauma. Glad I stuck with it though, should be a movie imo. 

Kyra Cracchiola

The first half of this book all I was thinking is damn this woman is traumatized, then you get to the second half you find out oh this woman is TRAUMATIZED.

She’s a Sagittarius and you can’t convince me otherwise. 

But such a wild ride. Hard to listen to at times bc Emma Roberts narrates this so well it feels like a chaotic friend recounting all of their trauma. Glad I stuck with it though, should be a movie imo. 

Julie Weber

I think this book will appeal to people who already like Lisa Taddeo’s writing. Animal is brutally violent and graphic at times, so it is definitely not for the faint of heart. It kind of gives similar vibes to Promising Young Woman. It definitely gripped me, but I’m giving this a 3-star because the plot felt disjointed at times. I already feel like I need to re-read this because I think I would like it more on the second go.

Really went through the motions of simultaneously wanting to throw the book at the wall, laugh maniacally, shed a tear, and hate everybody.

Anna Oeltjenbruns

Fraser Simons

One evening a man walks into a restaurant and, in an act of facile dominance, takes his own life in front of Joan, putting her on a collision course with her past. 

Trauma has a way of getting under your skin and puppeteering you. Sometimes you’re aware of it, sometimes you aren’t. As Joan tunnels to a new location even as she dredges up her past in the narrative, “Who is this for” is a nagging question that creates a wonderful narrative tension.

It also manages to craft a really compelling voice for Joan in, something like a co-opting of the detective genre. Towing a melodramatic tone with the deathly serious traumatic aspects and, really, the honing in on the darkest parts of self that Joan is able to read, the prose are incandescent to me. There’s a real penchant for description and a willingness to allow the reader to understand Joan to her core. Unconventional and macabre though she may be, I find her to be brilliantly rendered, as is the world. And the cadence and diction of it makes the innocuous interesting. 

Which it has to, since the present day plot is essentially entirely conflated with the past. As we learn the origin of Joan as she is today, the journey inward is taking place in physical space. Time is moving linearly, but ultimately, Joan understands at an instinctual level that to deal with death, for her, means a regression of self. Every step forward is a step backward. It’s survival. 

This makes the flow compelling but choppy. When Joan is stymied, the story of the past does too, hindering the pacing somewhat. It also, in a weird way, feels right for the character though. Especially when things come to a head and all is revealed. 

As a sum of its parts, Animal has a lot of interesting things to say about women and the impact of childhood socialization intersecting with trauma. But also the way in which patriarchy makes it so difficult to form positive female bonds that center them, rather than the men in their lives. The generational impact of this is particularly effective in the novel, essentially putting every gender role present in the novel on an inevitable and escapable trajectory, but creating a subjective space of interpretation for the reader to wonder if, with the unhinged nature of Joan manifesting, she has broken free of her trajectory, or merely fully manifested it.

Elizabeth Denny

I am absolutely in love with this book. It is absolutely captivating from the start! 

Ebony Cropper

I read the pre-release extract of this book.

I think this plot shows promise for an exciting novel. When I first started reading this extract I struggled to get into it initially. I see where Taddeo is trying to go with the plot but it felt a little rushed and I would have enjoyed understanding more of the events leading up to Joan’s current situation. Joan’s character clearly has some unresolved issues, causing her to form unhealthy relationships with men and becoming unapproachable to women. I could see how her character was trying to be portrayed, a blunt, desensitised woman in which does not conform to the perfect and ideal life set out for women. Her characterisation sometimes then bled into the descriptive elements. The attempt to create an image and set a scene was a good attempt however the chosen descriptives lacked just a little, so I could not fully let myself imagine what was being described. I think there were some geographical issues when discussing Scotland and Newcastle as Newcastle is in England, this element could feel more authentic with a little more research beyond the tartan and gravel roads. What was effective was Joan speaking directly to the reader. This made it seem as though the story was being told first hand like a therapy session or a confession which is an interesting perspective to follow and see where it takes us. Already in this extract there are a lot of cliffhangers and questions. I believe this can be a very interesting plot, offering the stark life of a broken woman showing how some people have more hurt than others lifetimes worth.a If the rest of the book follows a thriller and mystery route and with the correct research, this could make for a really great novel. It offers the idea that you can both love and hate the protagonist, with the potential to offer moments when the audience questions each characters morals and behaviours but asking themselves why they also feel sympathy towards the characters. The message that is evident from this extract is to not judge someone so quickly if you do not know what they have been through or why they choose to do what they do. One recommendation would be to look at alternative terms than “mentally challenged” such as lifelong developmental issue or disability.

Arden Kowalski

maggie

women with rage and abandonment issues my beloved <3

Animal

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