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Filthy Animals
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.
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.
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 22, 2021
620 people are currently reading
30470 people want to read
About the author
Brandon Taylor
21 books1,706 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Brandon Taylor is the senior editor of Electric Literature's Recommended Reading and a staff writer at Literary Hub. His writing has received fellowships from Lambda Literary Foundation, Kimbilio Fiction, and the Tin House Summer Writer's Workshop. 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.
Brandon Taylor is the senior editor of Electric Literature's Recommended Reading and a staff writer at Literary Hub. His writing has received fellowships from Lambda Literary Foundation, Kimbilio Fiction, and the Tin House Summer Writer's Workshop. 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.
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February 14, 2021These are meticulously written, melancholic stories. Taylor is a phenomenal writer and captures frailty and longing and the overwhelm of being alive, beautifully. The strongest stories are the interconnected ones which are uncomfortable and fascinating and full of interesting tension. But as a whole, a lot of these stories sound the same, feel the same. There is a lot of name soup and a lot of similar characters. And that’s fine. Let’s be real. I do it too in my fiction. We like what we like as writers. But the collection would have been stronger if it felt more like 11 distinct stories instead of 1. Well worth a read.
![Profile Image for s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1735525095i%2F6431467._UX200_CR0%2C11%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
November 30, 2022
I loved this book so much I made something to demonstrate what loving a good book is like. Watch it here (TikTok) or here (Instagram).
Brandon Taylor’s writing is a brilliant gift we don’t deserve. This is an incredible collection of linked stories that examine the ways trauma and violence function as both intake and output into people and those they interact with. The writing is so crisp and perfect, really pulling you into these stories as if an emotional participant in the goings on of these young lives. It becomes an excellent examination on modern life and relationships, with much of the insight surrounding queer, Black individuals as they navigate society.
Brandon Taylor’s writing is a brilliant gift we don’t deserve. This is an incredible collection of linked stories that examine the ways trauma and violence function as both intake and output into people and those they interact with. The writing is so crisp and perfect, really pulling you into these stories as if an emotional participant in the goings on of these young lives. It becomes an excellent examination on modern life and relationships, with much of the insight surrounding queer, Black individuals as they navigate society.
August 29, 2021
“You know how sometimes an animal will chew its arm off to get loose if it’s desperate enough?”
This title beckoned to me from the new book shelf at the local library. It had been sitting there for about a month before I borrowed it, the first person to do so. What a shame it had been neglected amongst the rest of the shiny new novels. We all have our personal favorites, but I often want to beg my fellow readers to try something else on that shelf for a change – please! You might be surprised at what can happen when you veer off your beaten track now and then. I often need to remind myself of this as well! I’m keeping a watchful eye turned towards author Brandon Taylor from here on out.
This is a collection of short stories, with several of them interconnected with one another. Most of them are intimate but without being explicit. They each highlight a search for love and connection in a world that is often disapproving, judgmental, and sometimes violent. There is a conflict between a higher understanding of ourselves and those around us versus our base, animal instincts and behaviors. For those stories that are threaded together, three main characters reappear. Charles and Sophie are in an open relationship when Lionel, a young man with a history of suicide attempt, meets them at a potluck dinner party. Lionel is sexually attracted to Charles, but Sophie offers a promise of perhaps a true friendship. My heart ached for fragile Lionel as he coped with his private torments along with his navigation into these new, sticky relationships.
“He hated that vertiginous feeling of things ending. That sense of the world dropping off under his feet.”
My only regret is that I couldn’t follow him about a bit longer as his self-realization seemed to be expanding. But Brandon Taylor offers some other unrelated, short yet stunning whoppers in this little collection. The title story, “Filthy Animals” was raw and brutal. What happens when we cling to the memory of a childhood friend, but that friend has now gone beyond our reach, no matter how desperately we want to grasp onto the old times? People grow at different rates, perhaps become unrecognizable to us. Violent behaviors may even be laid bare.
“They’re always in the thick of violence. It moves through him like the Holy Ghost might… There was some other god, then, a god for whom the spilling of blood was a prayer, an act of devotion. And they’ve been praying to that god their whole lives.”
There’s nothing cheery about any of these offerings, despite the attraction I had towards them. Other stories deal with cancer, death, broken familial relationships. One story brought a bit of hope and a smile. “Anne of Cleeves” highlights the burgeoning self-awareness of a young woman. Things get interesting when her new lover asks her to point to which Henry VIII wife she most identifies with.
Filthy Animals made me squirm. It made me gasp. And it made me think. I reflected on our vulnerabilities and emotional states of mind juxtaposed with our sensual, if not sometimes desperate and savage natures. What causes certain behaviors to flare up in one person but not in another? Why do some repress their urges and others do not? Is it nature or nurture? It’s an age-old question but one I never grow tired of considering.
“We never are who we once were.”
This title beckoned to me from the new book shelf at the local library. It had been sitting there for about a month before I borrowed it, the first person to do so. What a shame it had been neglected amongst the rest of the shiny new novels. We all have our personal favorites, but I often want to beg my fellow readers to try something else on that shelf for a change – please! You might be surprised at what can happen when you veer off your beaten track now and then. I often need to remind myself of this as well! I’m keeping a watchful eye turned towards author Brandon Taylor from here on out.
This is a collection of short stories, with several of them interconnected with one another. Most of them are intimate but without being explicit. They each highlight a search for love and connection in a world that is often disapproving, judgmental, and sometimes violent. There is a conflict between a higher understanding of ourselves and those around us versus our base, animal instincts and behaviors. For those stories that are threaded together, three main characters reappear. Charles and Sophie are in an open relationship when Lionel, a young man with a history of suicide attempt, meets them at a potluck dinner party. Lionel is sexually attracted to Charles, but Sophie offers a promise of perhaps a true friendship. My heart ached for fragile Lionel as he coped with his private torments along with his navigation into these new, sticky relationships.
“He hated that vertiginous feeling of things ending. That sense of the world dropping off under his feet.”
My only regret is that I couldn’t follow him about a bit longer as his self-realization seemed to be expanding. But Brandon Taylor offers some other unrelated, short yet stunning whoppers in this little collection. The title story, “Filthy Animals” was raw and brutal. What happens when we cling to the memory of a childhood friend, but that friend has now gone beyond our reach, no matter how desperately we want to grasp onto the old times? People grow at different rates, perhaps become unrecognizable to us. Violent behaviors may even be laid bare.
“They’re always in the thick of violence. It moves through him like the Holy Ghost might… There was some other god, then, a god for whom the spilling of blood was a prayer, an act of devotion. And they’ve been praying to that god their whole lives.”
There’s nothing cheery about any of these offerings, despite the attraction I had towards them. Other stories deal with cancer, death, broken familial relationships. One story brought a bit of hope and a smile. “Anne of Cleeves” highlights the burgeoning self-awareness of a young woman. Things get interesting when her new lover asks her to point to which Henry VIII wife she most identifies with.
Filthy Animals made me squirm. It made me gasp. And it made me think. I reflected on our vulnerabilities and emotional states of mind juxtaposed with our sensual, if not sometimes desperate and savage natures. What causes certain behaviors to flare up in one person but not in another? Why do some repress their urges and others do not? Is it nature or nurture? It’s an age-old question but one I never grow tired of considering.
“We never are who we once were.”
June 22, 2021
So 2021 is going to be another year with a Brandon Taylor book on my best-of list. In years to come, these stories will be classics; what a pleasure to read them when they’re brand new.
In Filthy Animals, every other story (or, every story with a one-word title) is part of an interlinked, novella-length narrative circling Charles and Sophie, two dancers in a open relationship, and Lionel, a man who becomes involved with them. The other stories are standalones, but they have a sense of shared concerns, portraying young people – in their teens and twenties – navigating intimacy, desire, cruelty, loneliness.
As in Real Life, Taylor’s writing hums with some power beyond what books normally possess, causing me to lie awake thinking about his prose, like I’m a teenager and it’s someone I have a crush on. I took the time to read the stories carefully, pausing and taking notes after finishing each one. Filthy Animals most reminded me of Salinger’s For Esme—With Love and Squalor – not what the stories are, particularly, but how I felt reading them.
Discovering a new favourite writer at the beginning of their career is a unique delight. I can’t wait to read everything else Taylor is going to write. I especially can’t wait to see how/what he will write about older characters.
---
In ‘Potluck’, Lionel attends a party, his natural awkwardness concealing a far more serious trauma in his recent past. He meets a couple, Charles and Sophie, and seems to have chemistry with both of them, so that when someone follows Lionel on his way home and calls his name, the reader is unsure which of them it will turn out to be. I sensed a coldness here that I have seen some others talk about detecting in Real Life, something I felt was completely nullified by the sheer depth of Wallace’s character in the novel; at the same time I think the coldness may be intentional, reflecting the numbness Lionel still carries with him.
‘Little Beast’ opens with an absolute nightmare of a babysitting scene, so palpable I wanted to recoil from it. The narrator is Sylvia, who while navigating this job is thinking about how she's ‘blown up her life’, which is not elaborated on (at least not explicitly), though some other elements of her story are. My initial reaction was to believe that I disliked this story, but after sitting with it for a while I realised that I disliked what it depicted, found it tangibly oppressive, and the reason I felt that way was because it was so effectively described.
With ‘Flesh’ I came to the realisation that the stories are linked, as here we meet Charles again, taking a dance class the morning after he met Lionel. (You might be thinking, the very first words of the blurb call it ‘a group portrait’! But truth be told I didn’t read the blurb before I wanted the book or before I started the book. After Real Life, I would’ve read anything with Brandon Taylor’s name on it, sight unseen.) A scene that captures the ripples of tension and desire among the dancers, and the dynamics of a relationship.
Things I wrote down while while reading ‘As Though That Were Love’: The spaces between words. Needing to reread dialogue to understand what is not being said. The way sentences are juxtaposed. Taylor is so good at scenes that go on longer than they seem they need to. Me thinking, this character is a cruel man, and then someone in the story says it. Towards the end, strongly reminiscent of Joel Lane – the sex, the darkness. Almost a horror story.
With ‘Proctoring’, it begins to seem that Lionel is the protagonist of the book. Here we find him working, then meeting Sophie again. The story has a perfect opening paragraph and so many lines I want to quote. There’s so much here about intimacy – being outside it or within it. Taylor writes awkward moments so well, really captures how they feel rather than simply what they consist of.
In ‘Filthy Animals’, Milton heads out to a party with his friends, knowing that soon he will be heading off to an ‘enrichment program’ at the insistence of his parents. This is a story that suits its title – dirty and bloody. Is it an accurate portrayal of American boyhood, red in tooth and claw? I don’t know; I’ve never been a boy. But it feels like one. I kept thinking about this story later, all its menace and murk.
‘Mass’: After a routine visit to the doctor, Alek – one of the dancers from Charles’s class – is told he needs to have a biopsy. The news prompts him to reminisce about his family; he isn’t close to them. Again there is both brutality and softness here; the tyranny of perfectionism, the complications of love.
‘Anne of Cleves’ has another perfect opening paragraph. More perfect sentences. I’m running out of ways to say ‘the writing is perfect’. Marta and Sigrid are on a date, awkward at first, later comfortable; it flows outwards from there. Something about loneliness. Something about how love transforms you. Making me think about how a moment in a story can make you dislike a character, but it’s merely a moment; in reality it would be nothing.
‘Apartment’: Lionel, Charles and Sophie again, our pivotal trio, dancing around one another. This is a situation that becomes something else, or no, is morphing all the time, twisting so that Lionel can’t get his bearings. Unsure where to stand with this one. A lot of uncertainties, intimations of threat, of meanness.
‘What Made Them Made You’ is about Grace, who is sick and staying with her grandfather. Like many characters in this book, she is thinking about what family means, what human connection means, how they are the same, how they are different. This was a story I couldn’t find my footing with at first; when I did, it was magnificent.
‘Meat’ is a final story about Lionel, Charles and Sophie. It has a lot of tense, ambiguous moments; intimacy as unbearable suspense. It didn’t go how I wanted it to. This is not particularly helpful to say in a review, but it made me think about a few books I’ve read recently which I haven’t found satisfying in different ways, and how this story does many of the same things that made me ambivalent about them, yet I feel so differently about it. I really believe in the people Taylor writes, and when they take paths I wouldn’t choose for them, I understand that they are acting not as an author’s puppets, but as real people would act.
I received an advance review copy of Filthy Animals from the publisher through Edelweiss.
TinyLetter | Linktree
In Filthy Animals, every other story (or, every story with a one-word title) is part of an interlinked, novella-length narrative circling Charles and Sophie, two dancers in a open relationship, and Lionel, a man who becomes involved with them. The other stories are standalones, but they have a sense of shared concerns, portraying young people – in their teens and twenties – navigating intimacy, desire, cruelty, loneliness.
As in Real Life, Taylor’s writing hums with some power beyond what books normally possess, causing me to lie awake thinking about his prose, like I’m a teenager and it’s someone I have a crush on. I took the time to read the stories carefully, pausing and taking notes after finishing each one. Filthy Animals most reminded me of Salinger’s For Esme—With Love and Squalor – not what the stories are, particularly, but how I felt reading them.
Discovering a new favourite writer at the beginning of their career is a unique delight. I can’t wait to read everything else Taylor is going to write. I especially can’t wait to see how/what he will write about older characters.
---
In ‘Potluck’, Lionel attends a party, his natural awkwardness concealing a far more serious trauma in his recent past. He meets a couple, Charles and Sophie, and seems to have chemistry with both of them, so that when someone follows Lionel on his way home and calls his name, the reader is unsure which of them it will turn out to be. I sensed a coldness here that I have seen some others talk about detecting in Real Life, something I felt was completely nullified by the sheer depth of Wallace’s character in the novel; at the same time I think the coldness may be intentional, reflecting the numbness Lionel still carries with him.
‘Little Beast’ opens with an absolute nightmare of a babysitting scene, so palpable I wanted to recoil from it. The narrator is Sylvia, who while navigating this job is thinking about how she's ‘blown up her life’, which is not elaborated on (at least not explicitly), though some other elements of her story are. My initial reaction was to believe that I disliked this story, but after sitting with it for a while I realised that I disliked what it depicted, found it tangibly oppressive, and the reason I felt that way was because it was so effectively described.
With ‘Flesh’ I came to the realisation that the stories are linked, as here we meet Charles again, taking a dance class the morning after he met Lionel. (You might be thinking, the very first words of the blurb call it ‘a group portrait’! But truth be told I didn’t read the blurb before I wanted the book or before I started the book. After Real Life, I would’ve read anything with Brandon Taylor’s name on it, sight unseen.) A scene that captures the ripples of tension and desire among the dancers, and the dynamics of a relationship.
Things I wrote down while while reading ‘As Though That Were Love’: The spaces between words. Needing to reread dialogue to understand what is not being said. The way sentences are juxtaposed. Taylor is so good at scenes that go on longer than they seem they need to. Me thinking, this character is a cruel man, and then someone in the story says it. Towards the end, strongly reminiscent of Joel Lane – the sex, the darkness. Almost a horror story.
With ‘Proctoring’, it begins to seem that Lionel is the protagonist of the book. Here we find him working, then meeting Sophie again. The story has a perfect opening paragraph and so many lines I want to quote. There’s so much here about intimacy – being outside it or within it. Taylor writes awkward moments so well, really captures how they feel rather than simply what they consist of.
In ‘Filthy Animals’, Milton heads out to a party with his friends, knowing that soon he will be heading off to an ‘enrichment program’ at the insistence of his parents. This is a story that suits its title – dirty and bloody. Is it an accurate portrayal of American boyhood, red in tooth and claw? I don’t know; I’ve never been a boy. But it feels like one. I kept thinking about this story later, all its menace and murk.
‘Mass’: After a routine visit to the doctor, Alek – one of the dancers from Charles’s class – is told he needs to have a biopsy. The news prompts him to reminisce about his family; he isn’t close to them. Again there is both brutality and softness here; the tyranny of perfectionism, the complications of love.
‘Anne of Cleves’ has another perfect opening paragraph. More perfect sentences. I’m running out of ways to say ‘the writing is perfect’. Marta and Sigrid are on a date, awkward at first, later comfortable; it flows outwards from there. Something about loneliness. Something about how love transforms you. Making me think about how a moment in a story can make you dislike a character, but it’s merely a moment; in reality it would be nothing.
‘Apartment’: Lionel, Charles and Sophie again, our pivotal trio, dancing around one another. This is a situation that becomes something else, or no, is morphing all the time, twisting so that Lionel can’t get his bearings. Unsure where to stand with this one. A lot of uncertainties, intimations of threat, of meanness.
‘What Made Them Made You’ is about Grace, who is sick and staying with her grandfather. Like many characters in this book, she is thinking about what family means, what human connection means, how they are the same, how they are different. This was a story I couldn’t find my footing with at first; when I did, it was magnificent.
‘Meat’ is a final story about Lionel, Charles and Sophie. It has a lot of tense, ambiguous moments; intimacy as unbearable suspense. It didn’t go how I wanted it to. This is not particularly helpful to say in a review, but it made me think about a few books I’ve read recently which I haven’t found satisfying in different ways, and how this story does many of the same things that made me ambivalent about them, yet I feel so differently about it. I really believe in the people Taylor writes, and when they take paths I wouldn’t choose for them, I understand that they are acting not as an author’s puppets, but as real people would act.
I received an advance review copy of Filthy Animals from the publisher through Edelweiss.
TinyLetter | Linktree
March 3, 2021
Loved it - Taylor has accomplished something quite interesting here, with alternating stories filling in a 36 hour period for an intriguing set of characters in Madison. The non-connected pieces are often really good (I especially liked "Anne of Cleves"), and the collection's high points (the last story, the story "Proctoring") present the sweeping pleasures of a novel with the intimacy of the short story form.
July 15, 2021
These connecting stories were powerful, evocative, and deeply felt.
Brandon Taylor sure knows how to capture the tiny fragments of peoples lives while elevating hopes, regrets, dreams and musings.
The stories combine insights into how and why
each character behaves the way they do—in a world that can be unforgiving-to-thyself.
Themes include loneliness, vulnerability, fears,
the fragility of mental health, the powerful need to ‘control’ - (a character who had experienced bulimia knew this first hand)….
Most…..
….the need and desire for intimacy in our lives….
This topic is so real — so deeply profound — it’s a topic that could never be explored enough.
Brandon goes where few go…
… includes dialogue that is witty and smart…uncomfortable as well…. by the perplexities and haunting of the human conditions
….[suicide thoughts rape, pedophilia, sex are enveloped inside these stories]
I have so much respect for Brandon Taylor….for writing about both delicate beauty and torturous suffering….
reminding many of us — we are not alone — even when it feels like we are…
and for being able to acknowledge — gifts we’ve been given from our parents - lovers - friends - and community….even when feeling unworthy.
Brandon Taylor sure knows how to capture the tiny fragments of peoples lives while elevating hopes, regrets, dreams and musings.
The stories combine insights into how and why
each character behaves the way they do—in a world that can be unforgiving-to-thyself.
Themes include loneliness, vulnerability, fears,
the fragility of mental health, the powerful need to ‘control’ - (a character who had experienced bulimia knew this first hand)….
Most…..
….the need and desire for intimacy in our lives….
This topic is so real — so deeply profound — it’s a topic that could never be explored enough.
Brandon goes where few go…
… includes dialogue that is witty and smart…uncomfortable as well…. by the perplexities and haunting of the human conditions
….[suicide thoughts rape, pedophilia, sex are enveloped inside these stories]
I have so much respect for Brandon Taylor….for writing about both delicate beauty and torturous suffering….
reminding many of us — we are not alone — even when it feels like we are…
and for being able to acknowledge — gifts we’ve been given from our parents - lovers - friends - and community….even when feeling unworthy.
March 20, 2022
for once having the presence of mind to actually review each short story in a collection!
1: potluck
i'm really into this writing so far. immediately i would compare it to sally rooney, which is the highest praise i can give a writing style. a lot of astute observations and cutting turns of phrase to characterize common behaviors in a new way
(i just sent this thought to s.penkevich, who is far smarter and a significantly better writer than me, and he affirmed it and said taylor is an admirer of rooney's. i'm just writing all this because i feel wise.)
still. the ending few pages didn't hit as hard as the rest of it, to the point that i wish i could have magically removed a certain chunk.
rating: 4
2: little beast
kids are spooky and life is hard.
rating: 4
3: flesh
we return to the characters from the first story and, true to form, this felt more like a chapter than a story.
then the end was good, but still. not enough!!!
rating: 3
4: as though that were love
people do be hurting each other.
rating: 3.5
5: proctoring
ok...appearing that every other story returns to the same group of characters. let's try this one on for size!!
i feel like i can't decide whether i want fewer stories from this world or i want a whole novel in it? i think i'm just unhappy regardless. inherently.
rating: 3.5
6: filthy animals
title story title story title story!!!!
holy moley.
"Milton thinks again of all the homes and all their interchangeable lives and wishes it were as simple as stopping at someone else's door, knocking, and switching places with the version of himself who lived there. If only he could enter into another version of his life, one in which things have not gone as horribly awry - if only he could pass from this world into the next or into the next."
and
"What he wants is not to maim himself but rather to pry open the world, bone it, remove the ugly hardness of it all, the way one might take the spine from a deer or a fish or some other animal snared."
when a beautiful theme (the need to escape from being surrounded by violence, but you are imbued with violence) is beautifully written (see above), what more can you ask for.
i love when a title story is a standout.
rating: 4.5
7: mass
aaaaand same world, different characters in it (who were already mentioned). we keep up the every-other pattern. nevertheless we persist. we beat on boats against the current.
et cetera.
a little more obvious than the others, maybe.
rating: 3
8: anne of cleves
this one just feels close to my heart, i think.
and also very good.
rating: 4.5
9: apartment
the relationship between these three recurring characters is à la conversations with friends, but instead of growing more interesting to me over time, it's getting significantly less so.
bummer.
rating: 3
10: what made them made you
this is a book mostly about the ways that men are violent to each other, and grow up and live within that cycle and environment, so this depiction of how that impacts women was needed (and good!).
rating: 4
11: meat
final story, and it's back with our gang of bozos.
not my favorite but that's not so surprising.
rating: 3
overall
the best thing a short story collection can be is greater than the sum of its parts, and this is certainly that.
would recommend for: sally rooney stans, people who like lit fic about terrible women and are willing to see the same theory applied to men.
rating: 4
-----------------
currently-reading updates
not sure what i'm in the mood to read so who's to say it isn't short stories
-----------------
reading books by Black authors for Black History Month!
book 1: caste
book 2: business not as usual
book 3: the color purple
book 4: the parking lot attendant
book 5: kindred
book 6: wrapped up in you
book 7: the boyfriend project
book 8: a song below water
book 9: filthy animals
1: potluck
i'm really into this writing so far. immediately i would compare it to sally rooney, which is the highest praise i can give a writing style. a lot of astute observations and cutting turns of phrase to characterize common behaviors in a new way
(i just sent this thought to s.penkevich, who is far smarter and a significantly better writer than me, and he affirmed it and said taylor is an admirer of rooney's. i'm just writing all this because i feel wise.)
still. the ending few pages didn't hit as hard as the rest of it, to the point that i wish i could have magically removed a certain chunk.
rating: 4
2: little beast
kids are spooky and life is hard.
rating: 4
3: flesh
we return to the characters from the first story and, true to form, this felt more like a chapter than a story.
then the end was good, but still. not enough!!!
rating: 3
4: as though that were love
people do be hurting each other.
rating: 3.5
5: proctoring
ok...appearing that every other story returns to the same group of characters. let's try this one on for size!!
i feel like i can't decide whether i want fewer stories from this world or i want a whole novel in it? i think i'm just unhappy regardless. inherently.
rating: 3.5
6: filthy animals
title story title story title story!!!!
holy moley.
"Milton thinks again of all the homes and all their interchangeable lives and wishes it were as simple as stopping at someone else's door, knocking, and switching places with the version of himself who lived there. If only he could enter into another version of his life, one in which things have not gone as horribly awry - if only he could pass from this world into the next or into the next."
and
"What he wants is not to maim himself but rather to pry open the world, bone it, remove the ugly hardness of it all, the way one might take the spine from a deer or a fish or some other animal snared."
when a beautiful theme (the need to escape from being surrounded by violence, but you are imbued with violence) is beautifully written (see above), what more can you ask for.
i love when a title story is a standout.
rating: 4.5
7: mass
aaaaand same world, different characters in it (who were already mentioned). we keep up the every-other pattern. nevertheless we persist. we beat on boats against the current.
et cetera.
a little more obvious than the others, maybe.
rating: 3
8: anne of cleves
this one just feels close to my heart, i think.
and also very good.
rating: 4.5
9: apartment
the relationship between these three recurring characters is à la conversations with friends, but instead of growing more interesting to me over time, it's getting significantly less so.
bummer.
rating: 3
10: what made them made you
this is a book mostly about the ways that men are violent to each other, and grow up and live within that cycle and environment, so this depiction of how that impacts women was needed (and good!).
rating: 4
11: meat
final story, and it's back with our gang of bozos.
not my favorite but that's not so surprising.
rating: 3
overall
the best thing a short story collection can be is greater than the sum of its parts, and this is certainly that.
would recommend for: sally rooney stans, people who like lit fic about terrible women and are willing to see the same theory applied to men.
rating: 4
-----------------
currently-reading updates
not sure what i'm in the mood to read so who's to say it isn't short stories
-----------------
reading books by Black authors for Black History Month!
book 1: caste
book 2: business not as usual
book 3: the color purple
book 4: the parking lot attendant
book 5: kindred
book 6: wrapped up in you
book 7: the boyfriend project
book 8: a song below water
book 9: filthy animals
January 22, 2023
❀ blog ❀ thestorygraph ❀ letterboxd ❀ tumblr ❀ ko-fi ❀
4 ¼ stars
Taylor has gone and done it again. My poor heart can't take this.
This may not sound like a compliment but I believe that Brandon Taylor has a real knack for making his readers feel uncomfortable and complicit by the violence—both physical & emotional—and cruelty that punctuate his narratives. It just so happens that I have a strange, *ahem* masochistic, fondness for these types of anxiety-inducing stories. Taylor excels at writing about things, people, and situations that are bound to make you feel uneasy, exposed even. Throughout this stunning collection of short stories, Taylor demonstrates time and again just how inexorably intertwined our fears and desires are. Taylor reveals the double-edged nature of desire, showing just how often we want that which we are (or should be) afraid of. Within these stories, Taylor explores and challenges the relationship between violence and intimacy, cruelty and compassion, attraction and repulsion, happiness and sorrow, pleasure and pain. Taylor’s characters are painstakingly human, from their murky and unspoken desires/fears to their seemingly perennial indecisiveness. More often than not Taylor’s characters are not ‘nice people’, but, then again, who wants to read exclusively about ‘nice people’? The characters populating Taylor’s stories are messy, confused about what/who they want, unsure of themselves and others. They can be ugly, to themselves, to one another. Their ability to hurt other people doesn’t make them any less human, if anything, I found that it made them all the more believable.
Taylor navigates self-loathing, loneliness, and longing against ordinary backdrops. Yet, while the environments and scenarios that we encounter in these stories are firmly grounded in realism, the ‘mundane’ trappings of Midwestern life that seem to characterise these narratives belie just how complex, emotionally wrought, and exacting these stories truly are.
Taylor’s style is deceptively functional, clinical even. He’s brutally concise when it comes to detailing his characters’ surroundings, appearances, and emotions. And it is because his prose is habitually so unsparing that makes those brief lapses into tranquillity feel all the more precious. However rare, those brief glimpses of hope and kinship that we do get are truly touching.
As with Real Life, many of these stories are set in or around the academic world and once again Taylor articulates just how insular it can be. College is no safe haven however and the pressure to succeed often feels like a burden. There are many instances in which characters try to outdo one another, be it through personal or academic achievements, and we witness just how petty and competitive academia is.
Most of these stories focus on Black queer characters and Taylor once again examines the intersection between sexuality and race. His characters often struggle to reconcile themselves with their identities and are often caught between opposing urges and desires. They seek to form meaningful connections but they are mostly unsuccessful. The relationships within these stories are hindered by unresolved tensions, veiled insults, hurtful barbs, real and perceived slights. Many of these relationships are unhealthy, seeming to bring more pain and suffering than not. Yet, we see that sometimes that is why certain characters decide to pursue certain people as Taylor repeatedly blurs the line between love and hate, passion and violence.
‘Potluck’, ‘Flesh’, ‘Proctoring’, ‘Apartment’, and ‘Meat’ are interlinked stories revolving around Lionel, a Black grad student who in recent times attempted suicide, and two white dancers, Charles and Sophie, who are in an open relationship. At a party, Lionel and Charles seem to form a connection of sorts. Lionel is clearly ill at ease, especially given that the host of the party seems intent on making a move on him. With painful clarity, Taylor delineates Lionel’s anxieties and insecurities, and we understand why he would find Charles’ attention to be tempting. Lionel finds himself entangled in Charles and Sophie’s fraught relationship, and it is not always clear who is playing who or who wants whom. My heart really went out to Lionel and it was incredibly saddening to read of how this couple is trying to involve him in their ongoing drama.
In one story we read of a babysitter who is exhausted at her young charge, in another a young man’s old wounds are reopened, and in yet another, we witness a boys’ night out that quickly spirals into violence. A running motif, quite fitting given the collection’s title, is that of characters being compared or feeling like ‘beasts’ and ‘animals’. Many seem to struggle with their ‘wilder’ impulses, at times they even attempt to tamp their own desires down. But, as we see over and over again, they are often unsuccessful. Hence the violence and cruelty.
Last but not least, Taylor’s dialogues. They are startlingly realistic. From the tentative quality of certain exchanges to the stop-and-start rhythm animating many of the characters’ conversations.
Fans of Real Life should definitely get their hands on Filthy Animals as this proved to be just as brilliant. From Taylor’s quietly cinematic style to his nuanced portrayal of human frailty, Filthy Animals is a terrific collection. If I was pressed to choose a favourite, I would probably go with ‘Anne of Cleves’.
As I touched upon earlier on, these stories are far from happy, yet, I was nevertheless enthralled by Taylor’s ability to capture with such authenticity and depth such a wide spectrum of emotions.
4 ¼ stars
Taylor has gone and done it again. My poor heart can't take this.
“[S]adness drenched them. Sadness at leaving. Sadness at going back to their lives. The sadness of knowing it would never again be this perfect, this easy.”
This may not sound like a compliment but I believe that Brandon Taylor has a real knack for making his readers feel uncomfortable and complicit by the violence—both physical & emotional—and cruelty that punctuate his narratives. It just so happens that I have a strange, *ahem* masochistic, fondness for these types of anxiety-inducing stories. Taylor excels at writing about things, people, and situations that are bound to make you feel uneasy, exposed even. Throughout this stunning collection of short stories, Taylor demonstrates time and again just how inexorably intertwined our fears and desires are. Taylor reveals the double-edged nature of desire, showing just how often we want that which we are (or should be) afraid of. Within these stories, Taylor explores and challenges the relationship between violence and intimacy, cruelty and compassion, attraction and repulsion, happiness and sorrow, pleasure and pain. Taylor’s characters are painstakingly human, from their murky and unspoken desires/fears to their seemingly perennial indecisiveness. More often than not Taylor’s characters are not ‘nice people’, but, then again, who wants to read exclusively about ‘nice people’? The characters populating Taylor’s stories are messy, confused about what/who they want, unsure of themselves and others. They can be ugly, to themselves, to one another. Their ability to hurt other people doesn’t make them any less human, if anything, I found that it made them all the more believable.
“There were a million tiny ways to make someone feel bad about something that didn’t involve saying anything directly.”
Taylor navigates self-loathing, loneliness, and longing against ordinary backdrops. Yet, while the environments and scenarios that we encounter in these stories are firmly grounded in realism, the ‘mundane’ trappings of Midwestern life that seem to characterise these narratives belie just how complex, emotionally wrought, and exacting these stories truly are.
“He had come up against the thing that felt most frustrating about this—the inability to articulate simply what he felt or what he wanted.”
Taylor’s style is deceptively functional, clinical even. He’s brutally concise when it comes to detailing his characters’ surroundings, appearances, and emotions. And it is because his prose is habitually so unsparing that makes those brief lapses into tranquillity feel all the more precious. However rare, those brief glimpses of hope and kinship that we do get are truly touching.
As with Real Life, many of these stories are set in or around the academic world and once again Taylor articulates just how insular it can be. College is no safe haven however and the pressure to succeed often feels like a burden. There are many instances in which characters try to outdo one another, be it through personal or academic achievements, and we witness just how petty and competitive academia is.
Most of these stories focus on Black queer characters and Taylor once again examines the intersection between sexuality and race. His characters often struggle to reconcile themselves with their identities and are often caught between opposing urges and desires. They seek to form meaningful connections but they are mostly unsuccessful. The relationships within these stories are hindered by unresolved tensions, veiled insults, hurtful barbs, real and perceived slights. Many of these relationships are unhealthy, seeming to bring more pain and suffering than not. Yet, we see that sometimes that is why certain characters decide to pursue certain people as Taylor repeatedly blurs the line between love and hate, passion and violence.
“There, he thought, was a truly horrifying possibility: that he was nothing more than another bit of local weather for the two of them, and that what felt to Lionel like the edge of some great change, a sign of his reacclimation to people, to the world, to the easiness of friendship, was nothing but another thing to them, one more thing that happened and was now over.”
‘Potluck’, ‘Flesh’, ‘Proctoring’, ‘Apartment’, and ‘Meat’ are interlinked stories revolving around Lionel, a Black grad student who in recent times attempted suicide, and two white dancers, Charles and Sophie, who are in an open relationship. At a party, Lionel and Charles seem to form a connection of sorts. Lionel is clearly ill at ease, especially given that the host of the party seems intent on making a move on him. With painful clarity, Taylor delineates Lionel’s anxieties and insecurities, and we understand why he would find Charles’ attention to be tempting. Lionel finds himself entangled in Charles and Sophie’s fraught relationship, and it is not always clear who is playing who or who wants whom. My heart really went out to Lionel and it was incredibly saddening to read of how this couple is trying to involve him in their ongoing drama.
In one story we read of a babysitter who is exhausted at her young charge, in another a young man’s old wounds are reopened, and in yet another, we witness a boys’ night out that quickly spirals into violence. A running motif, quite fitting given the collection’s title, is that of characters being compared or feeling like ‘beasts’ and ‘animals’. Many seem to struggle with their ‘wilder’ impulses, at times they even attempt to tamp their own desires down. But, as we see over and over again, they are often unsuccessful. Hence the violence and cruelty.
Last but not least, Taylor’s dialogues. They are startlingly realistic. From the tentative quality of certain exchanges to the stop-and-start rhythm animating many of the characters’ conversations.
“That’s so funny,” Lionel said. “People say that, We talked. But I don’t remember a single thing we said to each other.”
Fans of Real Life should definitely get their hands on Filthy Animals as this proved to be just as brilliant. From Taylor’s quietly cinematic style to his nuanced portrayal of human frailty, Filthy Animals is a terrific collection. If I was pressed to choose a favourite, I would probably go with ‘Anne of Cleves’.
As I touched upon earlier on, these stories are far from happy, yet, I was nevertheless enthralled by Taylor’s ability to capture with such authenticity and depth such a wide spectrum of emotions.
April 25, 2021
Booker Prize Longlist author Brandon Taylor comes to us in 2021 with a collection of short stories called FILTHY ANIMALS.
The stories in this collection are interconnected so you get different perspectives on what is happening. In some ways it works but overall, it made the collection felt so same. When I think of a collection of short stories it means different distinct stories in one go. I think I was not prepared to read about one character in one story and then hear about them in another. In some ways it made the collection feel bit underwhelming and boring in some instances.
I felt the first story was strong and a great opener, I did enjoy the story called MASS I thought Taylor really captured sibling dynamic. This collection did not do it for me at all- I felt the author should have just done a full story or a novella or just write 11 distinct story.
Yeah…. This did not work.
The stories in this collection are interconnected so you get different perspectives on what is happening. In some ways it works but overall, it made the collection felt so same. When I think of a collection of short stories it means different distinct stories in one go. I think I was not prepared to read about one character in one story and then hear about them in another. In some ways it made the collection feel bit underwhelming and boring in some instances.
I felt the first story was strong and a great opener, I did enjoy the story called MASS I thought Taylor really captured sibling dynamic. This collection did not do it for me at all- I felt the author should have just done a full story or a novella or just write 11 distinct story.
Yeah…. This did not work.
March 29, 2022
I could enumerate flaws in every story in this collection, but you know what? I had great fun reading it anyways, I just enjoy how Taylor evokes atmosphere and empathically crafts complex characters who aim to convey their interior selves to others and themselves - often despite social expectations. "Filthy Animals" is all about human relationships, sex and gender roles. Every other story centers on Lionel, a Black queer man who recently survived a suicide attempt and now enters a love triangle with two dancers, a woman and a man.
This string of stories looses more and more steam and is somewhat anticlimactic, but the descriptions of emotional movements and moods are nevertheless worth reading. In between this main storyline, other short stories introduce different characters who struggle with their relationships and identity, some of them very strong, others less so.
Taylor is just a wonderful author who searches for an accessible voice to tell socially relevant stories and to investigate subtle, often contradictory emotions; his texts always radiate a certain warmth. I can't wait to read his next novel.
(The German edition will be called Vor dem Sprung, so "Before the Jump", which is a shame - the English title is so much better, as the author himself points out: "We all have parts of us that are feral. I think some stories in the book point to this feral nature as a thing to be feared, but there are others that view that as the true state. Becoming animalistic is part of being in tune with oneself.")
This string of stories looses more and more steam and is somewhat anticlimactic, but the descriptions of emotional movements and moods are nevertheless worth reading. In between this main storyline, other short stories introduce different characters who struggle with their relationships and identity, some of them very strong, others less so.
Taylor is just a wonderful author who searches for an accessible voice to tell socially relevant stories and to investigate subtle, often contradictory emotions; his texts always radiate a certain warmth. I can't wait to read his next novel.
(The German edition will be called Vor dem Sprung, so "Before the Jump", which is a shame - the English title is so much better, as the author himself points out: "We all have parts of us that are feral. I think some stories in the book point to this feral nature as a thing to be feared, but there are others that view that as the true state. Becoming animalistic is part of being in tune with oneself.")
July 1, 2021
Boring.
I could not get through this at all. I made it to 49% and threw in the towel.
I've never read any Brandon Taylor, missed the Real Life craze, though I was sent a friendly message informing me not to read Real Life lest I lose my mind.
This reads like Sally Rooney's Normal People and though the show is interesting on television, I could barely get through that book as well. I realize that I can't with the everyday monotony-type stories about people's lives who really have nothing of importance to share with me. If I want to enjoy a conversation about nothing I can always just call a friend on the phone.
The love-triangle, depressive-dancer thing left me like: okay, and? This story was dry, and a little too self-absorbed. I found that it was non-communicative in the dialogue, and read as fake-pensive, which I fucking hate, so I refused to finish.
DNF & moving on.
I could not get through this at all. I made it to 49% and threw in the towel.
I've never read any Brandon Taylor, missed the Real Life craze, though I was sent a friendly message informing me not to read Real Life lest I lose my mind.
This reads like Sally Rooney's Normal People and though the show is interesting on television, I could barely get through that book as well. I realize that I can't with the everyday monotony-type stories about people's lives who really have nothing of importance to share with me. If I want to enjoy a conversation about nothing I can always just call a friend on the phone.
The love-triangle, depressive-dancer thing left me like: okay, and? This story was dry, and a little too self-absorbed. I found that it was non-communicative in the dialogue, and read as fake-pensive, which I fucking hate, so I refused to finish.
DNF & moving on.
August 23, 2021
If there were ever such a thing as a perfect collection of short stories it would be Brandon Taylor's sophomore publication, Filthy Animals.
The collection oscillates between a long-form story of Lionel, a boy coming to terms with his failed suicide attempt, and short stories about a cast of characters, mostly in Madison, WI, coming to terms with the darkness in their own lives. Lionel is a young, gay, Black man adrift in life as he takes time off from his graduate work in mathematics to come to terms with his life, his history of self-harm, and his feelings of worthlessness. At a potluck hosted by a former friend-with-benefits, Lionel meets Charlie and his girlfriend Sophie. As he connects with this couple, Lionel comes to terms with his own sense of worth. And peppered between Lionel, Charlie, and Sophie's stories are the stories of a young woman nannying for wealthy people, two gay lovers living in the country with their goats, and a young woman fighting cancer. Each story is unique, meaningful, and connected.
Filthy Animals is so beautifully and powerfully written that reading it reminded me of why I love reading so much. The issues I had with Taylor's debut novel, Real Life, (mostly about the clunky writing style) are gone in this book. Filthy Animals rips you open and forces you to consider how you view your own worth and whether your own sense of self is tying you up and holding you back. I cannot emphasize this enough: read this book.
The collection oscillates between a long-form story of Lionel, a boy coming to terms with his failed suicide attempt, and short stories about a cast of characters, mostly in Madison, WI, coming to terms with the darkness in their own lives. Lionel is a young, gay, Black man adrift in life as he takes time off from his graduate work in mathematics to come to terms with his life, his history of self-harm, and his feelings of worthlessness. At a potluck hosted by a former friend-with-benefits, Lionel meets Charlie and his girlfriend Sophie. As he connects with this couple, Lionel comes to terms with his own sense of worth. And peppered between Lionel, Charlie, and Sophie's stories are the stories of a young woman nannying for wealthy people, two gay lovers living in the country with their goats, and a young woman fighting cancer. Each story is unique, meaningful, and connected.
Filthy Animals is so beautifully and powerfully written that reading it reminded me of why I love reading so much. The issues I had with Taylor's debut novel, Real Life, (mostly about the clunky writing style) are gone in this book. Filthy Animals rips you open and forces you to consider how you view your own worth and whether your own sense of self is tying you up and holding you back. I cannot emphasize this enough: read this book.
December 6, 2023
2.5 rounded up. Audiobook.
Unfortunately, the only short story I really enjoyed in the collection was ‘Anne Of Cleves’.
Unfortunately, the only short story I really enjoyed in the collection was ‘Anne Of Cleves’.
June 28, 2021
Oh my, I loved this one. It’s so tragic and tender. All of these characters are yearning for some sort of release. There’s so much emotion and devastation and pain and melancholia and depth in these stories. These are quiet stories, but there’s an anxious tension always looming in the peripheral. Taylor sure has his types though: he loves writing about complicated attractions to aloof men, aaaaand his protagonists are mostly brooding loners who feel alienated from the rest of the world. But, hey, if it works it works. IT WORKS.
Bonus: My reading experience was kind of a romantic one: I read it at a picnic, at outside brunch, on the morning of a wedding, in a suit, in my PJs, in just a towel, so this book will definitely linger for those reasons. Not gonna lie, it kind of made me feel like a tragically romantic figure in one of Brandon Taylor’s stories.
Bonus: My reading experience was kind of a romantic one: I read it at a picnic, at outside brunch, on the morning of a wedding, in a suit, in my PJs, in just a towel, so this book will definitely linger for those reasons. Not gonna lie, it kind of made me feel like a tragically romantic figure in one of Brandon Taylor’s stories.
July 16, 2021
4.5 stars
Brandon Taylor's new collection, Filthy Animals , contains beautifully written, powerful, periodically bleak short stories about the human condition and the need for connection.
I’m a short story fan. In the right hands, short stories can wield even greater power than novels and leave more searing memories. Of course, they’re not always good—sometimes they’re gimmicky, too short, or too long—and they can leave you wanting.
But Filthy Animals is really strong. What’s amazing is that in many stories nothing explosive happens yet I felt moved. That’s the beauty of Taylor’s storytelling—he writes about ordinary feelings, events, interactions—but they take on more power.
Several of the stories in the collection (and among my favorites) are interconnected and take place over the course of two days or so. They follow Lionel, a former graduate student dealing with some serious mental health issues, as he finds himself intertwined with Charles and Sophie, a pair of dancers with a unique relationship. I loved the push-and-pull that existed in these stories.
Other stories I enjoyed focused on a woman in her first same-sex relationship, the dynamics between brothers, and a woman trying to keep the peace in her family while dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
Whenever I post about story collections I do hear from many people that have never read any or aren’t fans. This collection is definitely one of the examples of why I love short stories.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2020 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2020.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
Brandon Taylor's new collection, Filthy Animals , contains beautifully written, powerful, periodically bleak short stories about the human condition and the need for connection.
I’m a short story fan. In the right hands, short stories can wield even greater power than novels and leave more searing memories. Of course, they’re not always good—sometimes they’re gimmicky, too short, or too long—and they can leave you wanting.
But Filthy Animals is really strong. What’s amazing is that in many stories nothing explosive happens yet I felt moved. That’s the beauty of Taylor’s storytelling—he writes about ordinary feelings, events, interactions—but they take on more power.
Several of the stories in the collection (and among my favorites) are interconnected and take place over the course of two days or so. They follow Lionel, a former graduate student dealing with some serious mental health issues, as he finds himself intertwined with Charles and Sophie, a pair of dancers with a unique relationship. I loved the push-and-pull that existed in these stories.
Other stories I enjoyed focused on a woman in her first same-sex relationship, the dynamics between brothers, and a woman trying to keep the peace in her family while dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
Whenever I post about story collections I do hear from many people that have never read any or aren’t fans. This collection is definitely one of the examples of why I love short stories.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2020 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2020.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
June 19, 2022
3.5 gay people who are suicidal and southerners who hate their lives
June 27, 2021
I wanted to give Taylor another shot after reading Real Life and finding it vastly overrated, but this is honesty more of the same. I do slightly prefer this, but aside from the linked stories (easily the strongest part of Filthy Animals), it’s a lot of very familiar thematic material to Real Life. Isolation, loss, sexual frustration. Set in the Midwest. All the action taking place over a weekend.
It never reaches its full potential, as many of the stories here feel workshopped to death—there’s no room to just let the writing breathe. Everything has to be full of detailed description and implied meaning. Many readers will likely enjoy this, and I certainly find Taylor a skilled writer, but I continue to be baffled at the overwhelming positive response to his work. 3/5
It never reaches its full potential, as many of the stories here feel workshopped to death—there’s no room to just let the writing breathe. Everything has to be full of detailed description and implied meaning. Many readers will likely enjoy this, and I certainly find Taylor a skilled writer, but I continue to be baffled at the overwhelming positive response to his work. 3/5
November 10, 2022
While it's becoming more one more apparent that I prefer a full novel to that of a short story collection, Brandon Taylor is undoubtedly one of the best writers to have emerged in the last 5 years or so. The good stories here cannot be denied- "Potluck," "Little Beast," "Flesh," "Mass," "Meat" etc- and while I appreciate what he tried to do, I have to stay I wanted more. I wanted more from these characters, more from these ideas. The other stories are mostly decent, but again, I just wish they had a bit more to say. I see that Taylor already has a new novel out next year, so maybe this was just a way for him to flex his literary muscles and do something a bit different. Thankfully none of the stories are bad and they don't overstay their welcome, but I think this would have worked much better as a novel that centers around the story of Charles, Sophie and Lionel.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
December 20, 2020
He's done it again. Thoughts soon.
did-not-finish
August 13, 2021my pre-read thoughts: A short story a day keeps the reading slump away
ISN'T THIS IRONIC GIVEN THE FACT THAT I LITERALLY HIT A READING SLUMP WHILE READING THIS..........
That's basically it. I could have powered through the remaining short stories but the idea of picking ANY book up anytime soon did not sound appealing to me.
Such a shame since the next short story featured a character with my name. +10000 for that alone.
Potluck 0.5 star
somehow I hate every single person in this story and I can't understand why everyone is on Lionel's dick. Leave that poor man alone.
Little Beast 2 stars
bratty kids that touch poop are more entertaining to read about than Sylvia's internal monologue
Flesh 2.5 stars
okay so I don't hate every character. Charles makes an appearance once again and this time he is semi-likable
As Though That Were Love 1 star
i hate the vibe we have created in this short story
Proctoring 3 stars
okay so maybe Lionel as a character is redeemable and this one wasn't as annoying to read
Filthy Animals 1 star
very disturbing
Mass
Anne of Cleves
Apartment
What Made Them Made You
Meat
∙
part of race against time challenge (aka read all 2021 releases before the year ends.)
ISN'T THIS IRONIC GIVEN THE FACT THAT I LITERALLY HIT A READING SLUMP WHILE READING THIS..........
That's basically it. I could have powered through the remaining short stories but the idea of picking ANY book up anytime soon did not sound appealing to me.
Such a shame since the next short story featured a character with my name. +10000 for that alone.
Potluck 0.5 star
somehow I hate every single person in this story and I can't understand why everyone is on Lionel's dick. Leave that poor man alone.
Little Beast 2 stars
bratty kids that touch poop are more entertaining to read about than Sylvia's internal monologue
Flesh 2.5 stars
okay so I don't hate every character. Charles makes an appearance once again and this time he is semi-likable
As Though That Were Love 1 star
i hate the vibe we have created in this short story
Proctoring 3 stars
okay so maybe Lionel as a character is redeemable and this one wasn't as annoying to read
Filthy Animals 1 star
very disturbing
Mass
Anne of Cleves
Apartment
What Made Them Made You
Meat
∙
part of race against time challenge (aka read all 2021 releases before the year ends.)
April 24, 2022
This collection of eleven short stories was a mixed bag for me. I found it to be good, but not great. I do have to say the writing is outstanding. The author is beautifully expressive and reaches deep into his characters.
Though the stories are for the most part bleak and offer no real hope, these facts aren’t absolute deal breakers for me. My favorite was “Anne of Cleaves,” a tale about a middle-aged woman’s first romantic experience with another woman. I also really liked “Mass,” a story of a young man with a scary medical issue who tries to reconnect with his estranged brothers. These two stories were the only two that really affected me emotionally and the only two where I really connected with the main characters. The inability of most of the other writings in this collection to evoke feelings in me are most responsible for my “okay” rating. The other thing I didn’t care for was that many of the stories ended with no resolution, leaving me to wonder “wait, what happens next?” I’m not big on open endings.
So, I didn’t get all the feelings I always hope for when I read a book. I also didn’t learn much; I like my books to teach me something new. I did however receive much food for thought while reading this collection, and that, along with the superb writing, do count for a lot. So again, my opinion is mixed. I advise any potential readers to check out several other reviews before deciding it this one is for you or not.
Though the stories are for the most part bleak and offer no real hope, these facts aren’t absolute deal breakers for me. My favorite was “Anne of Cleaves,” a tale about a middle-aged woman’s first romantic experience with another woman. I also really liked “Mass,” a story of a young man with a scary medical issue who tries to reconnect with his estranged brothers. These two stories were the only two that really affected me emotionally and the only two where I really connected with the main characters. The inability of most of the other writings in this collection to evoke feelings in me are most responsible for my “okay” rating. The other thing I didn’t care for was that many of the stories ended with no resolution, leaving me to wonder “wait, what happens next?” I’m not big on open endings.
So, I didn’t get all the feelings I always hope for when I read a book. I also didn’t learn much; I like my books to teach me something new. I did however receive much food for thought while reading this collection, and that, along with the superb writing, do count for a lot. So again, my opinion is mixed. I advise any potential readers to check out several other reviews before deciding it this one is for you or not.
June 1, 2021
Overall, I felt kinda meh about this book. Not necessarily bad, but not particularly memorable either. Giving it 2.5/5 Stars.
March 15, 2021
I read Taylor's short story Anne of Cleves ages ago (which appears in this collection), and I quickly fell in love. In some ways it's a melancholic, heavy story, but there's also a playfulness to it, and I found that tone so refreshing that I was sure that Filthy Animals was going to end up as one of my favorite books of the year.
Instead, this book is unendingly bleak. Anne of Cleves offers a brief respite from the misery, but it's otherwise a weightier collection than I had expected. Every alternating story in this collection follows the same narrative: a depressed Black man named Lionel has just met a white couple at a party, Charles and Sophie, who are in an open relationship; he hooks up with Charles and then gets drawn into their lives. I loved the choice to anchor the collection to a single narrative, and without fail these stories were my favorites and the ones where Taylor most succeeded at accessing the characters' complex emotional landscapes.
The other stories left less of an impression on me, and I think it's because we just don't spend enough time with the characters to fully earn the emotional impact that Taylor is aiming for, and that he nails so well with Wallace's story in Real Life. I finished this a week ago and Lionel's story is really the only one that has stuck in my mind since then.
I still really enjoyed reading this--a discussed, I love Taylor's writing--and I would wholeheartedly recommend it. It's a skillful exploration of the intersection of loneliness, trauma, and intimacy--it just wasn't entirely what I needed it to be. But that is a-okay! Will still devour whatever Taylor publishes next.
Instead, this book is unendingly bleak. Anne of Cleves offers a brief respite from the misery, but it's otherwise a weightier collection than I had expected. Every alternating story in this collection follows the same narrative: a depressed Black man named Lionel has just met a white couple at a party, Charles and Sophie, who are in an open relationship; he hooks up with Charles and then gets drawn into their lives. I loved the choice to anchor the collection to a single narrative, and without fail these stories were my favorites and the ones where Taylor most succeeded at accessing the characters' complex emotional landscapes.
The other stories left less of an impression on me, and I think it's because we just don't spend enough time with the characters to fully earn the emotional impact that Taylor is aiming for, and that he nails so well with Wallace's story in Real Life. I finished this a week ago and Lionel's story is really the only one that has stuck in my mind since then.
I still really enjoyed reading this--a discussed, I love Taylor's writing--and I would wholeheartedly recommend it. It's a skillful exploration of the intersection of loneliness, trauma, and intimacy--it just wasn't entirely what I needed it to be. But that is a-okay! Will still devour whatever Taylor publishes next.
August 10, 2021
The first short story collection with repeat characters I ever read was a momentous one – Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. In my early 20’s, I was impressed with Anderson’s concept of “grotesques” to describe people leading lives of “quiet desperation” (Thoreau’s term), and how he used the autobiographical character George as a common link between many (though not all) stories. I distinctly remember, for instance, a woman embracing her pillow like a lover as she cried -- frustrated and trapped in small-town America. And how Hemingway and Gertrude Stein said Anderson was all that and where it's at. As it turns out, not top of the ladder, but a rung for others to climb.
Similarly, Filthy Animals is an Anderson-like short story collection that wants to be a novel. In this case, the common denominator character is Lionel, a young man late out of the facilities after trying to take his life. In the first story, “Potluck,” he will meet two other repeat characters, Charles and Sophie, who will reappear like the Big and Little Dippers in the night sky. The three or four stories they share form a spread-out core and, though I found their chemistry and conversations a bit trying and repetitive at times, the stories give the collection its ballast and heft.
For the most part, the stories are strong – some more than others. On the stronger side is “As Though That Were Love,” a piece about ex-lovers Hartjes and Simon that offers, in equally strong measures, psychological and physical tension. Reading it, you feel as though something’s at stake, as though something has to give (and, indeed, something does). I like that in a story.
Weaker was “Little Beast,” a story about a young woman watching a well-to-do couple's two children, one a rather passive boy and the other rather frightening girl. She’s the “beast” in question, and she gives her modern-day Mary Poppins more than a run for her money. At times, the story’s little kid exploits trend typical, though, and, in the end, the landing doesn’t quite stick so much as stop.
I wanted to say that Taylor is more of a conversational writer but, as I read on, I noticed some descriptive flairs, too. Just not as strong as all the talking. And yes, these characters – one-timers and repeaters alike – are very much preoccupied with talking and their sexual lives. For some readers that may be a warning. For others, an invitation. In any event, the sex is never gratuitous, but it is ever-present, even when it’s in the background like a Greek chorus in the shadows.
Overall, Taylor is the kind of young writer you might keep an eye on. In all honesty, I didn’t read his novel Real Life, which came out first to much acclaim. And while I may get to it, it'll be a break of some time before I do.
After I reread Winesburg, Ohio, maybe.
3.5/5
Similarly, Filthy Animals is an Anderson-like short story collection that wants to be a novel. In this case, the common denominator character is Lionel, a young man late out of the facilities after trying to take his life. In the first story, “Potluck,” he will meet two other repeat characters, Charles and Sophie, who will reappear like the Big and Little Dippers in the night sky. The three or four stories they share form a spread-out core and, though I found their chemistry and conversations a bit trying and repetitive at times, the stories give the collection its ballast and heft.
For the most part, the stories are strong – some more than others. On the stronger side is “As Though That Were Love,” a piece about ex-lovers Hartjes and Simon that offers, in equally strong measures, psychological and physical tension. Reading it, you feel as though something’s at stake, as though something has to give (and, indeed, something does). I like that in a story.
Weaker was “Little Beast,” a story about a young woman watching a well-to-do couple's two children, one a rather passive boy and the other rather frightening girl. She’s the “beast” in question, and she gives her modern-day Mary Poppins more than a run for her money. At times, the story’s little kid exploits trend typical, though, and, in the end, the landing doesn’t quite stick so much as stop.
I wanted to say that Taylor is more of a conversational writer but, as I read on, I noticed some descriptive flairs, too. Just not as strong as all the talking. And yes, these characters – one-timers and repeaters alike – are very much preoccupied with talking and their sexual lives. For some readers that may be a warning. For others, an invitation. In any event, the sex is never gratuitous, but it is ever-present, even when it’s in the background like a Greek chorus in the shadows.
Overall, Taylor is the kind of young writer you might keep an eye on. In all honesty, I didn’t read his novel Real Life, which came out first to much acclaim. And while I may get to it, it'll be a break of some time before I do.
After I reread Winesburg, Ohio, maybe.
3.5/5
November 24, 2021
A bunch of interchangeable, melancholic stories that overall sound the same. No distinct characters or events to make them stand out from the rest.
The author should have just written a novella.
The author should have just written a novella.
July 22, 2021
Brandon Taylor does not shy away from difficult topics. Suicide, aggression, open relationships, racial discrimination, cancer - it all and many more can be found in this short story collection. He also is not afraid of punching his readers hard in their stomachs with his carefully selected words and presented events and make their breathing much harder due to instant surge of negative or uncomfortable feelings. It was all pretty visible in his first, Booker shortlisted novel, ‘Real Life’, and it is even more visible in this much more varied collection of short stories. But I strongly appreciate and admire this approach to writing, the desire to present life as it is, not more colorful or brighter, but beautiful and at the same time often painful.
My favorite stories are the ones depicting the thorny love triangle between Lionel, Charles and Sophie. The complex relationship between the three of them unravels at multiple moments in this collection with its deprived of closure final story, suggesting it is not the end, there will be much more happening between those troubled three characters. I also adored ‘Anne of Cleves’ – the story about desperate search for love and being understood, of self-discovery and self-acceptance.
Already after reading ‘Real life’ I put Brandon Taylor among the most interesting new voices of literary fiction. With his recent short story collection he assured me that he will be the one to watch (and read) for a long time.
My favorite stories are the ones depicting the thorny love triangle between Lionel, Charles and Sophie. The complex relationship between the three of them unravels at multiple moments in this collection with its deprived of closure final story, suggesting it is not the end, there will be much more happening between those troubled three characters. I also adored ‘Anne of Cleves’ – the story about desperate search for love and being understood, of self-discovery and self-acceptance.
Already after reading ‘Real life’ I put Brandon Taylor among the most interesting new voices of literary fiction. With his recent short story collection he assured me that he will be the one to watch (and read) for a long time.
September 12, 2021
reading this felt like ~tension in chest, driving in night with windows open, cool winds against your face, thick-heavy air, cold chill from outside turning room bluish, burned morning coffee smell, humid breath on your neck~
its the writing for me, i really love how Brandon Taylor creates cinematic, visceral and such evocative scenes. especially, i love his iconic dinner party scenes and geeking out over maths and science lol. Real Life is one of my all time favorites so i couldn't stop comparing the two in my mind. starting the collection with Lionel who seemed so much like a reinvention of Wallace didn't help. also, i found both the books to be very similar in tone (not that i mind). of all the stories, the standalones were definitely stronger to me- 'Anne of Cleves' being my absolute favorite.
ps~ if you are not subscribed to his sub-stack, you're missing out!!
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Brandon Taylor's writing is everything!! need to sit with this one and think about it without constantly comparing it with Real Life
its the writing for me, i really love how Brandon Taylor creates cinematic, visceral and such evocative scenes. especially, i love his iconic dinner party scenes and geeking out over maths and science lol. Real Life is one of my all time favorites so i couldn't stop comparing the two in my mind. starting the collection with Lionel who seemed so much like a reinvention of Wallace didn't help. also, i found both the books to be very similar in tone (not that i mind). of all the stories, the standalones were definitely stronger to me- 'Anne of Cleves' being my absolute favorite.
ps~ if you are not subscribed to his sub-stack, you're missing out!!
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Brandon Taylor's writing is everything!! need to sit with this one and think about it without constantly comparing it with Real Life
January 8, 2024
The writing style was really solid and the characters definitely had distinctive voices, there were also some pretty interesting scenes but overall the stories and the characters weren't particularly memorable.
June 28, 2021
3,5
Not that extraordinary. I'm sure there are around 687 better story collections out there
Not that extraordinary. I'm sure there are around 687 better story collections out there
June 5, 2023
Real Life was one of my five favourite novels of 2020, and we are in parallel fictional territory here. Lionel, the protagonist in four of the 11 stories, is similar to Wallace insomuch as both are gay African Americans at a Midwestern university who become involved with a (straight?) white guy. The main difference is that Lionel has just been released from hospital after a suicide attempt. A mathematician (rather than a biochemist like Wallace), he finds numbers soothingly precise in comparison to the muddle of his thoughts and emotions.
In the opening story, “Potluck,” he meets Charles, a dancer who’s dating Sophie, and the three of them shuffle into a kind of awkward love triangle where, as in Real Life, sex and violence are uncomfortably intertwined. It’s a recurring question in the stories, even those focused around other characters: how does tenderness relate to desire? In the throes of lust, is there room for a gentler love? The troubled teens of the title story are “always in the thick of violence. It moves through them like the Holy Ghost might.” Milton, soon to be sent to boot camp, thinks he’d like to “pry open the world, bone it, remove the ugly hardness of it all.”
Elsewhere, young adults face a cancer diagnosis (“Mass” and “What Made Them Made You”); a babysitter is alarmed by her charge’s feral tendencies (“Little Beast”); and same-sex couples renegotiate their relationships (Simon and Hartjes in “As Though That Were Love” and Sigrid and Marta in “Anne of Cleves,” one of my favourites). While the longer Lionel/Charles/Sophie stories, “Potluck” and “Proctoring,” are probably the best and a few others didn’t make much of an impression, the whole book has an icy angst that resonates. Taylor is a confident orchestrator of scenes and conversations, and the slight detachment of the prose only magnifies his characters’ longing for vulnerability (Marta says to Sigrid before they have sex for the first time: “I’m afraid I’ll mess it up. I’m afraid you’ll see me.” To which Sigrid replies, “I see you. You’re wonderful.”).
While Real Life brought to mind Virginia Woolf, Taylor’s stories recall E.M. Forster or Thomas Mann. In other words, he’s the real deal: a blazing talent, here to stay.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
In the opening story, “Potluck,” he meets Charles, a dancer who’s dating Sophie, and the three of them shuffle into a kind of awkward love triangle where, as in Real Life, sex and violence are uncomfortably intertwined. It’s a recurring question in the stories, even those focused around other characters: how does tenderness relate to desire? In the throes of lust, is there room for a gentler love? The troubled teens of the title story are “always in the thick of violence. It moves through them like the Holy Ghost might.” Milton, soon to be sent to boot camp, thinks he’d like to “pry open the world, bone it, remove the ugly hardness of it all.”
Elsewhere, young adults face a cancer diagnosis (“Mass” and “What Made Them Made You”); a babysitter is alarmed by her charge’s feral tendencies (“Little Beast”); and same-sex couples renegotiate their relationships (Simon and Hartjes in “As Though That Were Love” and Sigrid and Marta in “Anne of Cleves,” one of my favourites). While the longer Lionel/Charles/Sophie stories, “Potluck” and “Proctoring,” are probably the best and a few others didn’t make much of an impression, the whole book has an icy angst that resonates. Taylor is a confident orchestrator of scenes and conversations, and the slight detachment of the prose only magnifies his characters’ longing for vulnerability (Marta says to Sigrid before they have sex for the first time: “I’m afraid I’ll mess it up. I’m afraid you’ll see me.” To which Sigrid replies, “I see you. You’re wonderful.”).
While Real Life brought to mind Virginia Woolf, Taylor’s stories recall E.M. Forster or Thomas Mann. In other words, he’s the real deal: a blazing talent, here to stay.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
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