American Animals: A True Crime Memoir

by Eric Borsuk

- AS SEEN IN THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE -AMERICAN ANIMALS is a coming-of-age crime memoir centered around three childhood friends: Warren, Spencer, and Eric. Disillusioned with freshman year of college, and determined to escape from their mundane Middle-American existences, the three hatch a plan to steal millions of dollars

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Memoir, Crime, Audiobook, Biography, Biography Memoir

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2018

About the author

Eric Borsuk is the author of American Animals (Turner, 2020), the memoir featured in the acclaimed major motion picture of the same name. Since its premiere at Sundance Film Festival, this multi-award winning, true story has been praised around the world, from NBC’s "TODAY” show, to the British Independent Film Awards, and earning a Critics’ Choice Seal of Distinction. Borsuk has written for such award-winning publications as The Marshall Project, VICE, and Virginia Quarterly Review. His essay, "Bidders of the Din," about the U.S. federal prison system, received the 2022 Sidney Award from David Brooks of The New York Times, and is featured in Longreads' Best of 2022, and The Best American Essays 2023 (Mariner, 2023).

Reviews

[Jennie S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real crimes are often done in such a sloppy manner that it almost seems like a travesty of what is portrayed in movies.

The story starts with college fraternity life, the halcyon days of undemanding expectations, nonexistent workload, and the occasional companionship of illegal drugs.

The main character is a sympathetic loser. He ignores the numerous red flags of his buddies and succumbs to peer pressure in one major decision that ruins his entire life. If not for the entertainment value, it would be just a sad frustration to listen to the author's description of his visceral unease with the potential consequences, his unstable accomplices, and the reality of actually committing immoral acts.

The high-intensity crime story quickly turns into a reflection of psychological pressure and decay. This last part of the story is the perfect culmination of the author's unwitting journey: a deep introspection of his actions, his life, and the consequences. The step he finally took is a moment of lucidity and reckoning.

The narrative is entertaining, which makes this short story easy to finish. I enjoyed the twist of turns and introspection. It's also a good reminder to check the quality of your friends and your decisions.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eejits.

[Sarah Critchley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in a couple of hours. It was certainly easy to read; the author writes for Vice and the whole book kind of felt like a long Vice article (not sure that's a pro) - it just felt like internet writing rather than "book" writing. At less than 200 pages, this memoir could have been fleshed out so much more. I wanted to know more about how the author formed the friendships with these people who he came to commit this crime with and I wanted to know why he was so miserable before even committing the theft. Instead you get stories about team-building gone awry on the Appalachian Trail, where a hitchhiking scene takes up almost as many pages as one of the biggest FBI thefts, or about Borsuk's tennis class. The tone of this book is so detached, and I imagine he did it purposely so we could really feel his 19 year old depression, but for all the guilt that he feels after they steal the books Borsuk centers it on his own life. Even though he reminds the reader that he's intelligent by reading Ulysses at the library while they are casing it, or sneaking down into the basement during parties to read Darwin, Borsuk doesn't seem to ponder the broader ramifications of what it means for the world to steal priceless antiquities. I guess I would watch the movie version, but I don't know if I would enthusiastically recommend this book.

[Natalie (CuriousReader)]

True crime has become a seemingly endlessly popular genre of non-fiction and infotainment in the last few years; although it has a rich history starting with classics like In Cold Blood, most of it in book form has focused on bloody deeds and murder. American Animals on the other hand is a heist story – where a group of Kentucky university students in 2005 rob a rare-book collection of a local university library, stolen goods worth millions. They are eventually caught before they manage to sell off these books to make a profit – and the whole event ends up being rather more ridiculous than alarming. This book is written by one of those students – Eric Borsuk, as he narrates the lead-up to the crime event and its aftermath. What ensues is an often-time hilarious and self-deprecating, spiralling story and situation completely gotten out of hand of kids who impulsively decide down a route that soon turns out to be a one-way street.

FULL REVIEW: https://curiousreaderr.wordpress.com/...

[Greg Soden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book! It’s hilarious and agonizes over consequences and making choices in life. Well done. Loved the movie and the book was totally gripping even though I knew the ending.

[Caleb Bollenbacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great companion perspective to a great film. Such a bizarre and fascinating true story.

[Jessica White · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has everything I could ever want.
It's true crime about college kids robbing their library, AND Evan Peters is in the movie adaptation.

I usually don't talk about movies here, but I watched American Animals years before I read it. It's a quick read, less than 200 pages. Eric and two of his friends, Warren and Spencer concocted an elaborate heist that they believed might actually work. The idea was simple, they were going to rob the Rare Books Room at the Transylvania University Library. They had a contact in Amsterdam who was willing to purchase The Birds of America and several other rare books. If they would have gotten off with all the books they intended on stealing, they were looking at a 12 Million Dollar payout.

It boggles my mind that these 19 and 20 year old kids really tried to pull this off. It's even crazier to think that authorities believed it could have been a professional hit. It took roughly two months before the boys were caught with the books unharmed and still in their possession.

I know this feels like a weird thing to enjoy but I've began collecting rare books myself. Just the thought of holding something worth so much gives off such a powerful feeling. I can only imagine the power, the rush, and the terror of pulling off a heist like this.

More true crime reviews on A Reader's Diary!

[Noah M. Dauncey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only is this a fascinating (true) story, but I really liked the style in which it is written. Very descriptive, clever, etc. Good writing paired with a unique story is always a good time. One might say "Noah what do you mean unique story? Don't you know how many heists books there are???" to which I would reply "yeah but how many of them are about YOUNG COLLEGE STUDENTS who steal books containing priceless paintings of BIRDS???" Ok it may be a pretty typical story but I was really drawn to the idea that these dudes were in college and saw an opportunity and thought "yeah we could probably do that."

My one demerit would be moments when the author cuts away from the main story to give us some seemingly irrelevant anecdote- like when the group goes to New York and suddenly the author is giving us a recount of his memory of 9/11. Like, cool? why did I need to know that? My guess is that the publishers told him he needed to lengthen the book because even with those added stories the book is pretty short.

One final thing, there is a 2018 film adaptation and it rules. It stars Evan Peters and Barry Keoghan and blurs the line between narrative film and documentary storytelling. Very good movie.

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, choppy, story of privileged dude who does something stupid with his also privileged friends, it predictably goes south. It has its moment and the prose isn't unpleasant.

[Meg Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up- I like the movie more

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. This book was so pompous and stupid and useless. I was expecting a heist book and it turned out to be 5% heist, 50% college doofuses doing drugs and other dumb stuff, and 45% side stories that had no point or place in the story. The writing was lousy and self-satisfied. Some other reviews mention the book’s pondering on consequences, but I really don’t see that the writer or his buddies really felt in any way bad about the theft or considered it deeply beyond drug-induced paranoia. I ended up skimming most of the book because there was so much filler and I’m just mad. Baffled as to how this book got made into a movie without huge adjustments and embellishments (or maybe those have been made) because it was so thin and ill-conceived as written. Don’t waste your time on this book.

[Kiely Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real life Goldfinch! I thoroughly enjoyed this and think it was the perfect balance of heist vs Eric. I do wish I had more knowledge on the others and their experience and I wish we knew what happened after the swat team- with their lives and relationships with each other. Conclusion: teenage boys are the stupidest, most immoral creatures on earth but boy do they have nerve!

[Kari Napier · Rating 1 out of 5]

Certainly unsure of where to start on this one....WEIRD. The cops scene towards the end was just a small blurb and to me seemed HUGE. Maybe one of the most exciting things in this book. It ended horribly and overall poorly written.

[Ashley Hubbard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of American Animals for free with NO review expected. All opinions are, of course, my own. 

I had honestly never even heard of this story back when it happened or of the movie when it came out two years ago. This is weird considering 1) I'm from Tennessee and this occurred in Kentucky and 2) I keep up on movies pretty well. 

This book was short and an easy read (I read in just a few hours). It starts with the beginning of college life, a quick glimpse into fraternity life (and props to the author for jumping out of that quickly - sounds just as terrible as I imagined).

I know that the book is only told from the perspective of one of the four friends, but you quickly realize how the whole "people behave differently in social situations" monomer is correct. Don't believe me? Just look up the Stanford Experiment.

Eric is easy to like and sympathize with, but he ignores a lot of red flags and does things he really doesn't want to do (according to the author).

This is a fast-paced and efficient look at their plan. Given the time they took to plan (over a year), the dry runs, the details, and so on, I was really expecting them to pull it off. It's weird to feel they were both smart and dumb at the same time, but I did. 

The book and narrative are entertaining and captivating. The book is an easy read, Borsuk is overall a really good writer, but I wanted more.

What happened after?

Borsuk and the three friends definitely experience privilege on a level many white males do - not having to work, half-assing their way through school, interactions with police that don't' end in death, the fact that they committed this crime and were able to write a book and a movie on the experience when others would likely still be sitting in prison, and so on.

Borsuk is clearly intelligent as that's obvious just through his writing and his thought processes, he has a moral compass (he takes care of his roommate's dog, Dixie), and, overall, I think this was just a ridiculous idea that one friend brought up as a joke likely and it just snowballed and it's easy to get caught up in an idea when other people are involved. 

Eric (not sure about the others) definitely turned his life around. He is clearly a good writer and sits on the board of non-profit Die Jim Crow, the first US record label devoted to recording formerly and currently incarcerated musicians.

[Jess Witkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars? I honestly don't know quite what to make of this book.

The premise is about a group of four college students who plan to rob the rare books room of their university library and sell the goods on the black market. These boys are Privileged with a capital P. While the author makes it apparent they are all living in squalor, over-rooming houses beyond what is legally allowed, they still come across as having a sufficient amount of money with which they purchase a lot of drugs and alcohol. The author mentions student loan debt once, but also complains that he has to waste a semester taking tennis and jiu jitsu classes because he doesn't get up in time to enroll for the classes he actually needs. He ends up dropping out, but still attends random classes that interest him because he looks like a student and no one is paying attention. I don't recall any of them having jobs throughout this, but I could be wrong.

So basically, these bored, entitled boys thought it'd be worthwhile to pull off a heist and then leave the country, as well as their friends and family. The problem isn't just that they're entitled, but that they're also stupid. The good part of the book is how horrible their plan is and how many things go wrong.

Unfortunately, the book failed to win me over in the same way professional reviews raved. The ending is SUPER abrupt. I actually googled how many pages the book was because I thought for sure I had accidentally been given a misprint copy and was missing pages. Nope. It just ends.

The book is already very short, under 200 pages, but other than some drug-induced paranoia, there's no concrete answers to how this heist aftermath is resolved. They think agents are following them (they were - though I had to google that). And then, they're busted. (That's not a spoiler, because the blurb says it's a failed heist.) That all happened in like five pages. The book doesn't get into exactly how they were tracked down (though, most readers can guess MULTIPLE reasons when you hear about the heist). It's a memoir, but he doesn't give the reader any kind of post-heist reflection, or epilogue. I had to google what happened after reading. Did they all get convicted? Did they do jail time? What are they doing now? How did he write THIS?!

It's a worthwhile internet rabbit hole, but as a memoir, it fell flat with the "fade to black" ending. None of the guys are very sympathetic characters, so I really wanted more in terms of reflection and how they changed after it all went down.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book after reading the author's article in the Marshall Project entitled, "The Art of Bidding, or How I Survived Federal Prison." I found that article engrossing and beautifully written, packed with interesting facts about prison and arcane argot. This memoir was not on the same level as the article, but I enjoyed it.

What a bunch of aimless young men. Eric and his friends seem to have no moral compass, no integrity, no sense of direction. Their lives have no purpose and no hope. And perhaps that's a lot to ask of college freshman lost in the hard-partying vanity fair of college life, and (apparently) arriving there with less guidance than some. In other words, I don't blame them, exactly. Or, maybe I blame them, but there's plenty of blame to go around to others. Who sends kids off to college with so little idea of why they are there? I mean, you're throwing away thousands and thousands of dollars on failing grades and a year or two in some animal house of complete debauchery. It's not as though the experience benefits anyone. Though EVERYONE looks back and says, oh, that helped me grow up, I would not be who I am today otherwise... blah blah blah.

There are better ways to grow up. Join the military and get paid to grow up. Then when you get out, you'll welcome the soft ease of college life--and the Army will probably pay for it.

Nevertheless, the book is not without its one redeeming factor. It is TRUE, after all. The writer tells a true story, and he faces his failures head-on. He also faces his sins--his crimes--and he makes no attempt to defend them or justify them or pretend they are normal teenaged foibles, like some stupid ANIMAL HOUSE movie where no one suffers any consequences unless they are funny consequences ... as opposed to real life where John Belushi's suffering was not funny at all.

Borsuk tells his story and admits how stupid and naive the whole thing is and his honesty--and the short, punchy writing--make this a good read.

Two of my favorite parts involved travel. Borsuk's story of finally going to New York after dreaming of it all his life was pretty great, particularly the story of his uncle driving the kids down from Schenectady. I also loved the bit on the Appalachian Trail.

[Laura Diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is. . . interesting. It’s funny at times. The idea is funny in the sense that it sounds like a movie you would go see in college and probably have a good time. But it’s real. It happened. And that’s where I feel very split on my feelings regarding this book.

Part of me does love straight out of a movie real life heist. Part of me does love that a few college aged guys pulled this off (briefly anyway). Part of me thinks they were incredibly stupid for doing it.

Ultimately I think my main issue with the book is that it’s too short. The tone is a little detached. I feel like I never got to know the boys and their motives. I mean, I suppose ten million dollars is enough of a motive, but I also think that it’s was supposed to have this edge to it that never quite caught. I read a little bit on the story itself and where all the guys are now. Supposedly Eric is writing a second book, a prison memoir. I’d be interested in reading it. Overall I do wish I had more from this one. More backstory, more of the why, more of the in between, and more of the aftermath (there’s virtually no aftermath here). Then I’d at least have a better idea of what I think.

[Jen Davis Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cautionary tale about the perils of being young, male, bored, and lacking a moral compass. Eric recounts his part in the heist of some rare books from the Transylvania College Library in Lexington Kentucky in 2004, and it's shocking how close they come to pulling off a relatively sophisticated crime. The four college students commit a fatal error in the execution, which is nothing compared with the errors in judgment they make in coming up with the plan in the first place. The deeper question is how and why a group of boys with promising futures and stable home lives took such a dark turn into felonious behavior.
Check out the excellent docudrama, now showing on Netflix: American Animals .

[Alison ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a bonkers story. to hear this in eric’s own words…it’s a double-edged sword. Because, i mean, his words are true if we believe them to be true. he could be lying, he could be completely and flawlessly telling these events to the best of his recollection and ability. i do wish he included more specific details about the planning, but…that’s exactly what’s to be expected of the reader to want, right? that’s what’s both endlessly terrifying and alluring about this story to me, and something the film does really well too - There is no fully-assembled version of American Animals. Each of those four guys has a different version of what happened. And that’s exactly what makes it so strange and captivating to me

[Mojo Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun to read as someone who’s really interested in this case and a fan of the movie American Animals. It was interesting to get more insight into Eric’s perspective, along with details and scenes that didn’t make it into the movie. He’s not the most amazing writer, but he still writes a solid and engaging true crime story that becomes a real page turner. This story will continue to fascinate me forever, especially as someone who’s about the age these guys were when they committed the crime. I’m actually going to be visiting both the real location where it happened in Lexington, Kentucky and the filming location for the movie in Charlotte, North Carolina on an upcoming road trip.

[Duncan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a typical college-boy novel, full of the usual college-boy shit: who fights whom, who steals what from whom, who got laid by whom. Eventually the author and his two friends decide to steal rare books and sell them to get rich, and eventually get the sort of outcome you'd expect. Ho-hum. The writing and plotting are what you'd expect from a college dropout who was never interested in college per se to begin with. I suppose it's as good a way to kill a weekend as any, but I find myself wishing I'd never opened the book to begin with.

[Krista | theliterateporcupine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This college memoir felt like it was written in a hurry. The plot intrigued me, but the timeline was all over the place and the writing style was middle-school level.

Eric Borsuk recounts his college days and the attempted heist of Audubon folios and other rare books from the Transylvania University Museum/Library for 12 million dollars from a shady character. Naturally, it hilariously backfires and their forced to deal with the consequences.

Fast-paced, Amusing, but Confusing, I was hoping for something a little more in this memoir.

[Nicole Korczyk · Rating 2 out of 5]

You start reading American Animals and you think it is the story of how three friends pulled a specific book heist. It's really more about disaffected teens dropping out of college, taking lots of drugs, and sort of accidentally committing crimes. Like maybe a mix between Catcher in the Rye and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Which I'm sure appeals to a very particular kind of boy but I'm not a boy.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best thing I can say about the book is that it is short. The author portrays himself as a poor misguided teen, but one who quotes Latin and reads Ulysses. There are better articles about this crime out there. The author doesn’t know the difference between printed books and manuscripts. He doesn’t mention the librarian’s injuries or the damage to the Audubon. He simply tries to paint himself in the best possible light. He feels no remorse for the crime, and treats it like a prank gone wrong.

[Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched the film before reading the story, which was about 3 years ago. I was very fascinated with the story and the motives behind the heist, and I firmly believe hearing the events of the story being told from another member’s point of view is really eye opening and is a great example of what it means to be a part of this life and how our experiences mold into the greater creation of who we became.

[Jason Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
Quick, easy read.
As always sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!!!
My one complaint about the book is how it ended...
He doesn’t give any details on their sentencing, the trial, or prison.
I am interested in seeing how everything was portrayed in the movie. Will have to check that out soon.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit-I thought this was fiction. I mean, these guys are so stupid-Larry, Curly and Moe could have skipped some of the mistakes our protagonists make. It wasn't until I finished that I learned that these kooks actually did pull the heist, sort of. A quick read and made me realize that my college antics were tame in comparison.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this after listening to a podcast that described the crazy robbery of rare books from a college library. The story is interesting and I liked getting more details behind the planning and execution of this odd crime. However, there was also enough bad language and some odd digressions in the book to bring it down a few stars in my rating.

[Leah Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot relate in the slightest to any of these characters, but that’s what made it so interesting for me to read! They orchestrated some pretty bad things and made a lot of terrible (drugs included) choices. I was disappointed in the ending; I was hoping for more details in the aftermath of the theft. It was a quick read, but can't say it was one of my favorites.

[Kyra Sloane · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was really bummed with how this book turned out. the story has so much potential, and as a heist-story LOVER, i was very disappointed with the writing and pace of this book. just as you think it's going to get good, it ends. the synopsis on the back makes it sound so great, and then, meh. :(