Book Reviews

Brandon Taylor Filthy Animals

RIVERHEAD BOOKS

When 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 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 you as its own.” This is Jesus’ admonition to his disciples about the opinions of the world against them. “Instead,” John 15:19 concludes, “the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.”

The stories in Filthy Animals are all of people who have been chosen out of the world, who are in many ways hated by the world—but Taylor’s choice to quote only the first half of the verse is an echo of the longing threaded through the book. These are exemplary people; all of the characters stand out for one reason or another, the smartest or the most talented in their fields. But they seem to seek a sense of normalcy, some whiff of belonging. They crave connection, are not ready to embrace that which sets them apart.

Which, I suppose, is to be expected of 20-somethings scrambling to define their place in the world. But to boil this book down to post-collegiate stress disorder, to distill it to only the angst of early adulthood, would be a deep disservice. Taylor has crafted a raw slice of humanity that will catch you in its synaptic wordplay and release you into its emotional resonance. I promise, you will find yourself somewhere in this book. And it will make you glad to have been chosen out of the world. 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 nathan Timmel of revenge-seekers all ready to We Are 100 go out with a bang to get back at RED OAK PRESS folks who have hurt the ones they love. They’ve all been brought

At the center of an otherwise together by the mysterious tightly drawn plot, We Are Cassandra, who the reader dis100, the March 2021 debut novel covers early on is an advanced AI from Iowa City comedian Nathan being puppeted by Josh Hodges, Timmel, there is a hole big enough not just the founder of The 100, to drive a truck through. A key ele- but also a member. ment of the story hinges on the Big There’s no mystery to We Are Bad’s ability to monitor the FBI as 100, per se. It’s more a fun game they explore the computer of one of cat and mouse. But what’s of his minions, through a piece most compelling is the challenge of software that should have been of who to root for. The feds are wiped when the computer was cleverly drawn, with great characterization. But The 100 aren’t FILTHY ANIMALS IS UnFLInCHInG In ITS GROUnDED VIEWS OF RELAenacting petty revenge against everyday people. They’re taking out the people who you, the TIOnSHIPS AnD InTROSPECTIOn. reader, want to see get theirs. One THESE ARE nOT CHARACTERS, THEY murders a prosecutor who refuses ARE PEOPLE, WHOLE In A WAY THAT to pursue rape cases, including IS ALMOST JARRInG. his daughter’s (who, it’s implied, later killed herself). Another kills a GoFundMe huckster who cashed destroyed before the crime. The in on the house fire that killed perp who’s singing says it’s toast his family. And Hodges’ planned but offers to help another way—af- targets are the worst of the worst, ter which the FBI proceeds to his leaving you with that unsettling home and his computer. feeling of hoping he succeeds as I start with this because I know they all race the clock. that some readers are likely to be Timmel’s comedy chops are evput off by it. But I’m going to be ident throughout, with adroit bandead honest: I didn’t care a bit. ter worthy of an X-Files episode. We Are 100 reads like a fast-paced The pop culture references are a action movie, and I likewise care little much and tie it distinctly to very little about the plot holes its moment (Chamberlain’s obendemic in that genre. I’d men- session with Silence of the Lambs tion them in a review, sure, like I might hold up; the story about the mention this here. But they don’t Blockbuster she rented it from, take away from my enjoyment. It not so much), but all told, it’s a doesn’t matter as a reader by what deliciously fun page turner worth convoluted means the Big Bad grabbing for your backyard sungets his intel on the FBI agents; bathing or vacation read. And it’ll you still get that satisfying thrill make you think a little, too. when he uses it to toy with them. —Genevieve Trainor