Name: Filthy Animals
ISBN: 9780525538912

Brandon Taylor

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.

Filthy Animals

In the series of linked stories at the heart of "Filthy Animals," a young man tentatively engages with the world again. Recently discharged from hospital, Lionel meets two dance students at a party. Charles and Sophie’s relationship is difficult to read but Lionel is drawn to them both. As he navigates their sexually fraught encounters he is forced to weigh his vulnerabilities against his loneliness – and to consider his return to life. Elsewhere, a little girl runs wild to the consternation of her childminder; unspoken frictions among a group of teenagers come to a vicious head on a winter night; and a woman dreads a first date only to find that something has cracked open.

What connects these stories is the tension between the surface of things and the intensity of our inner worlds. With exquisite empathy, Brandon Taylor shows that though violence hovers at the edge of many encounters, so too does tenderness and love.

I enjoyed Taylor’s writing as much as I did in Real Life. Short stories just don’t really do it for me.

Emma Cragg

Maria Flowers

One of my favorite authors. Taylor knows how to articulate all the emotions and sensations you didn’t even know you had. He gives voices to the raw and vulnerable realities of every being he puts onto the page.

sophia n

brandon taylor is what sally rooney wishes she was .................. i said it don't come for me

Maurice Weakley

Favorite stories (in order of appearance): Potluck, As Though That Were Love, Filthy Animals, Mass, Anne of Cleves, What Made Them Made You, Meat

Fraser Simons

Taylor is wildly good at characterization, human interactions, and interrogating some facets of queer identify (imo). While this sometimes detracts, in the sense that there is no “easily” packaged notion conveyed to the reader—especially when white readers such as myself are conditioned to expect something like that in a (queer) narrative—it’s really opened up a lot of interesting space. It’s almost Rooney-esk in its curiosity at examining hyper-specific interactions between identities. Micro-aggressions and politics of pleasure. The power dynamics at play with vulnerability in a wide range of subjects. 

It all works quite well. This was a five star read for me up until halfway in, actually. And I really did like the additional context of other voices coming in, but I also felt like I was missing the “main” storyline too much. I wanted to get back there, and that felt like a bit of a disservice to the other characters, but it was how I felt. I got used to a new person and a new voice. And then it was just gone and we’d do it again. I didn’t feel like it quite mastered the slipping in-and-out of voice style it presented. But it was very interesting. 

There are some really wickedly smart observations on behaviour and kinks and whiteness and mediocrity in highly demanding practices, such as ballet. The way autonomy is described in this is simply mesmerizing. It’s neither sexualized, as is typical, nor is it permeated with a power fantasy, also typical. It’s very much it’s own creature that feels intrinsic to the subject at study. It’s honestly singular and incredible. 

100% liked this more than Real Life, but again, the heights were tempered by the stylistic choice here, for me.