LO C A L B O O KS
Brandon Taylor Filthy Animals RIVERHEAD BOOKS
W
hen Brandon Taylor read an excerpt from Filthy Animals (out June 22) as part of the Mission Creek Festival Duos programming at the end of April, I was riveted. His language is made to live like that, off of the page, as much poetry as prose. But it is just as compelling in print, and the 11 stories that form this collection are a joy to devour. Filthy Animals is unflinching in its grounded views of relationships and introspection. Taylor draws characters like he’s channeling Tom Stoppard, revealing them in their conversations, projecting them off the page like they’re standing beside you. These are not characters, they are people, whole in a way that is almost jarring. The lead voice throughout is Lionel, a mathematics graduate student whose recent suicide attempt has left him in limbo, no longer in his program but not ready to take a next step to something new. He is a shatterstorm of anxiety, in a way that makes me, personally, feel more than a little called out. He balks at conversation; when people ask him questions, he answers with a burning eloquence—in his mind, and then rejects himself and gives verbal answers that are short, self-deprecating and/or noncommittal. He is ur-awkwardness. And in later stories in the book, when he finally (occasionally) says what he is thinking, it feels like you are being borne with him into some
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new negotiation with reality. Other stories take the perspectives of people in Lionel’s sphere of influence, some intimate, some tangential. Still others lay on the outskirts of it all, seemingly unconnected but all caught in a swirl of language and longing that makes them kin to each other. The collection begins with a quote from the Bible: “If you were of the world, the world would love Nathan Timmel you as its own.” This is Jesus’ We Are 100 admonition to his disciples about RED OAK PRESS the opinions of the world against them. “Instead,” John 15:19 t the center of an otherwise concludes, “the world hates you, tightly drawn plot, We Are because you are not of the world, 100, the March 2021 debut novel but I have chosen you out of the from Iowa City comedian Nathan world.” Timmel, there is a hole big enough The stories in Filthy Animals to drive a truck through. A key eleare all of people who have been ment of the story hinges on the Big chosen out of the world, who Bad’s ability to monitor the FBI as are in many ways hated by the they explore the computer of one world—but Taylor’s choice to of his minions, through a piece quote only the first half of the of software that should have been verse is an echo of the longing wiped when the computer was threaded through the FILTHY ANIMALS IS UNFLINCHING book. These IN ITS GROUNDED VIEWS OF RELAare exemplaTIONSHIPS AND INTROSPECTION. ry people; all of the THESE ARE NOT CHARACTERS, THEY characters ARE PEOPLE, WHOLE IN A WAY THAT stand out for IS ALMOST JARRING. one reason or another, the smartest or the most talented in destroyed before the crime. The their fields. But they seem to seek perp who’s singing says it’s toast a sense of normalcy, some whiff but offers to help another way—afof belonging. They crave connecter which the FBI proceeds to his tion, are not ready to embrace that home and his computer. which sets them apart. I start with this because I know Which, I suppose, is to be that some readers are likely to be expected of 20-somethings scramput off by it. But I’m going to be bling to define their place in the dead honest: I didn’t care a bit. world. But to boil this book down We Are 100 reads like a fast-paced to post-collegiate stress disorder, action movie, and I likewise care to distill it to only the angst of very little about the plot holes early adulthood, would be a deep endemic in that genre. I’d mendisservice. Taylor has crafted a tion them in a review, sure, like I raw slice of humanity that will mention this here. But they don’t catch you in its synaptic wordplay take away from my enjoyment. It and release you into its emotional doesn’t matter as a reader by what resonance. I promise, you will find convoluted means the Big Bad yourself somewhere in this book. gets his intel on the FBI agents; And it will make you glad to have you still get that satisfying thrill been chosen out of the world. when he uses it to toy with them.
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And We Are 100 is one satisfying little thrill after another. The novel follows the story of Susan Chamberlain, a veteran FBI agent who keeps turning down promotions in order to stay in the field, and Michael Godwin, a rookie getting his first field experience under her wing. They’re investigating an explosion that they quickly learn is tied to a network of revenge-seekers all ready to go out with a bang to get back at folks who have hurt the ones they love. They’ve all been brought together by the mysterious Cassandra, who the reader discovers early on is an advanced AI being puppeted by Josh Hodges, not just the founder of The 100, but also a member. There’s no mystery to We Are 100, per se. It’s more a fun game of cat and mouse. But what’s most compelling is the challenge of who to root for. The feds are cleverly drawn, with great characterization. But The 100 aren’t enacting petty revenge against everyday people. They’re taking out the people who you, the reader, want to see get theirs. One murders a prosecutor who refuses to pursue rape cases, including his daughter’s (who, it’s implied, later killed herself). Another kills a GoFundMe huckster who cashed in on the house fire that killed his family. And Hodges’ planned targets are the worst of the worst, leaving you with that unsettling feeling of hoping he succeeds as they all race the clock. Timmel’s comedy chops are evident throughout, with adroit banter worthy of an X-Files episode. The pop culture references are a little much and tie it distinctly to its moment (Chamberlain’s obsession with Silence of the Lambs might hold up; the story about the Blockbuster she rented it from, not so much), but all told, it’s a deliciously fun page turner worth grabbing for your backyard sunbathing or vacation read. And it’ll make you think a little, too. —Genevieve Trainor
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