Animal - by Lisa Taddeo

Book Synopsis

From Lisa Taddeo, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and global phenomenon Three Women, comes an "intoxicating" (Entertainment Weekly), "fearless" (Los Angeles Times), and "explosive" (People) novel about "what happens when women are pushed beyond the brink, and what comes after the reckoning" (Esquire).Joan has spent a lifetime enduring the cruelties of men. But when one of them commits a shocking act of violence in front of her, she flees New York City in search of Alice, the only person alive who can help her make sense of her past. In the sweltering hills above Los Angeles, Joan unravels the horrific event she witnessed as a child--that has haunted her every waking moment--while forging the power to finally strike back. Animal is a depiction of female rage at its rawest, and a visceral exploration of the fallout from a male-dominated society.

Review Quotes

"A provocative exploration of what happens when women are pushed beyond the brink, and what comes after the reckoning." -Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire "A propulsive literary thriller . . . Taddeo's debut novel is fearless." -Los Angeles Times "Animal will confirm Taddeo's status as a pre-eminent channeller of women's interior lives. . . . This book is a raging, funny and fierce thriller with a protagonist whose life force, against extraordinary odds-always in the gaze and sometimes the grasp of predatory, abusive men-is a thing of wonder." -Isabel Berwick, Financial Times "With skill and insight, Taddeo examines how the savagery of men fuels female rage. The result is as intimate as it is explosive." -People (Book of the Week) "Like if Joan Didion got into hard drugs and carried a switchblade everywhere." -Keely Weiss, Harper's Bazaar "[A] propulsive, fiercely confident debut novel . . . Joan's voice is so sharp and magnetic that the reader will follow her anywhere. . . . Taddeo's prose glitters. She has a gift for aphorism, the observation that astonishes." -Jennifer Haigh, The New York Times Book Review "Intoxicating . . . It's impossible to talk about Animal without talking about 2019's Three Women. That book, which follows the sexual and emotional lives of women, became the kind of cultural phenomenon that will forever follow Lisa Taddeo. Animal flows out of its predecessor, but where Women deals with the perils of heteronormative gender politics, Animal deals in the ways the system pushes women to the brink; and where Women is in conversation with #MeToo, Animal is in conversation with the anger that follows the reckoning." -Entertainment Weekly "Animal is a viscerally satisfying depiction of female rage and a gripping exploration of what it's like to endure male violence that is both mundane and life-altering." -New York magazine "Astonishing . . .The writing is so engaging on the sentence level that when you sink into the larger argument the Taddeo is making you can't help but feel something akin to awe. Read this one." -Lisa Levy, CrimeReads "Animal growls a feral truth, a promise of revenge, and an untold story of rage, and a reckoning." -Julia Hass, Lithub "Riveting . . . Propulsive, erotic, emotional . . . Joan is almost impossible to look away from on every page." -Kirkus Reviews "Taddeo creates impressive suspense. . . . A provocative novel of sex, love, and rage for readers drawn to psychologically rich, feminist literary fiction." -Booklist "A brilliant if uncomfortable provocation, sometimes messily intense but willing to take risks; likely to stir talk-and argument. . . . For readers, the result is relentless but never wearing, not preachment but real lived pain, and akin to standing in a hurricane with razor blades flying. There's blood at the end-and a glimmer of self-affirmation." -Library Journal "Fearless, sexy, brutal, and just forensically observed." -Jojo Moyes, author of The Giver of Stars "Animal is sprawling id, a carnal and frank account of the uneasy marriage of memory and violence." -Raven Leilani, author of Luster PRAISE FOR LISA TADDEO AND THREE WOMEN: "A breathtaking and important book . . . What a fine thing it is to be enthralled by another writer's sentences. To be stunned by her intellect and heart." -Cheryl Strayed "I can't remember the last time a book affected me as profoundly as Three Women. Lisa Taddeo is a tireless reporter, a brilliant writer, and a storyteller possessed of almost supernatural humanity. As far as I'm concerned, this is a nonfiction literary masterpiece at the same level as In Cold Blood-and just as suspenseful, bone-chilling, and harrowing, in its own way. I know already that I will never stop thinking about the women profiled in this story-about their sexual desire, their emotional pain, their strength, their losses. I saw myself in all of them. Truly, Three Women is an extraordinary offering." -Elizabeth Gilbert "An astonishing work of liter...

About the Author

Lisa Taddeo is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Three Women, which she adapted as a dramatic series on Starz, the novel Animal, and the short story collection Ghost Lover. She has contributed to The New York Times, New York magazine, Esquire, Elle, Glamour, and many other publications. Her nonfiction has been included in the Best American Sports Writing and Best American Political Writing anthologies, and her short stories have won two Pushcart Prizes. She lives with her husband and daughter in New England.