Filthy Animals

"It's a busy time," the host said in a way that wasn't entirely not passive aggressive. Lionel turned his head a little out of reflexive guilt, and the host's dry lips grazed the corner of his mouth.




"Thank you," Lionel said.




"It's good to see you. Let's talk tonight. Catch up. It's been forever."




"Yeah, let's."




A few of the guests sat around on mismatched chairs and on the floor, holding plates of damp vegetables and grains. The improvised nature of the gathering diluted the strangeness he felt standing there alone, because although he was clearly a latecomer, the rest of them didn't seem to belong to one another in the way that friends sometimes could. There was no operating logic to their association that he could see. They were all awkward, anxious strangers in the host's living room. He waved to them, and they waved back. Their having seen him and his having seen them moved him.




Lionel felt alive, in the world.




The larger, noisier contingent of guests assembled their food in the kitchen. Lionel waited his turn, watching as they pirouetted and collided. They touched the smalls of each other's backs and shoulders. Men and women. They hugged and kissed and pressed against each other. Looped arms and hooked thumbs into each other's pockets. They poured wine and spooned things onto each other's plates. The loud whack of plastic trays and the tinkle of ice, the hiss of seltzer. As they finished and squeezed by Lionel, he saw that they were about his age, twenty-four, or a little older. They smelled like tobacco and bright, vegetal things-orchids, hydrangeas. They said hey and hi and excuse me, and he stepped back to let them pass.



When the kitchen was empty and everyone had settled down to eat, Lionel made his own plate of baked asparagus, brown rice, kale salad. He leaned against the flaking yellow counter and pushed the food around until it had all been drawn across and through itself. The kitchen was humid, redolent of people and their colognes, shampoos, lotions. But the open window let in a shaft of cold, clear air. The wind whistl

quality that is wholly earned. . . . Emotionally rich but also physically grounded. . . . Filthy Animals allows its characters to crawl out into the open and learn to love. Los Angeles Times
 
Brandon Taylor is as good as Sally Rooney on the micro-tensions and evasions of sexual desire, particularly among men. Almost every sentence he writes is a wonder. The Times (UK)

[These] stories feel almost like slices of life, but the everyday is heightened by the intensity of the characters longing, desire, anger and, above all else, passion. . . .  Taylor s characters are beautiful messes, with their flaws, uncertainty, and mistakes making them all the more intriguing and real. Associated Press

"Taylor writes with incredible clarity and precision about the lives of people in small university towns, and how they are never as quaint or idyllic as those on the outside might imagine. . . . [his] writing. . . [creates] a refuge from the beastly terrors of marginalization an untamed, unruly, ecstatic wilderness. The Nation

A probing short story collection that grapples with societal expectations and transgressions . . . a luminous exploration of identity, mental health, and sexuality. BuzzFeed

Impressive . . . The cloistered world of student life offers Taylor the perfect canvas for the emotionally charged interplay between an insular cast. Most significantly though, these stories provide further evidence that intimacy is Taylor s great subject. Financial Times

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. I promise, you will find yourself somewhere in this book. And it will make you glad to have been chosen out of the world. Little Village (Iowa)

Filthy Animals touches on the soft underbelly of human existence, showing the animalistic qualities we all share. How we all struggle to make meaningful connections, have a sense of dignity and deal with pain. Seattle Times

[These stories] all paint a picture of the simultaneous beauties and woes of life: a craving for intimacy, a secret desire for love masked by an indifference toward it, and the lasting effects of pain on present-day life. Cosmopolitan

Gorgeous. Barrie Hardymon, NPR

The stories in this collection pulse with life. Neither cold nor detached, these stories are suffused with a warmth and humanity that recalled for me the uncanniness of Raymond Carver, the empathy of Alice Munro, and the meticulous irony of Chekhov. Los Angeles Review of Books

Resonant and poignant. . . . Taylor writes about relationships like a modern E. M. Forster, poking and prodding at the places where the connection is thinnest, and observing what happens when people madly attempt to shore it up. Vulture

If Brandon Taylor isn t on your radar, change that immediately. The Booker-nominated novelist is one of the most exciting young writers working today, and his new short story collection, Filthy Animals, is a powerful suckerpunch right in your Feelings. . . . Taylor has a gift for pulling readers into emotionally fraught territory and delivering them to the other side a little battered but better for it. GQ

With a stark and unwavering eye and a deep respect for his subjects, Taylor builds instantly recognizable tales of longing and desire. Elle

A landmark of millennial fiction, revealing an even clearer picture of the expansiveness of Taylor s vision. . . . To describe what exactly Taylor is up to, we ll be needing new terms. Ploughshares
 
Deeply engrossing. [Taylor s] writing is singular. Shondaland

Filthy Animals is a great collection for any diehard novel-readers who are nervous or otherwise skeptical to venture into short story territory. But if you re not afraid of short stories, of a little violence, or of a lot of pain, this is still a collection to keep. Southern Review of Books
 
A magnificent, memorable reading experience. Bay Area Reporter

A queerfully quippy, honest, and heart-healing collection of stories from an erudite, undercover poet who writes with tremendous range and grace. . . . Brandon is an infallible star. Paperback Paris

Incisive and keenly observed, these stories confirm that Taylor is one of our finest chroniclers of intimacy and loneliness. Esquire

Filthy Animals shows off Brandon Taylor s powerful, insightful writing across a series of pieces that each tell their own tale but all tangle with the importance of connecting to others, even when it seems impossible. Town & Country

To read Filthy Animals is to get a crash course in compassion. . . . A collection of stories that fearlessly lay bare the violence of human relationships while revealing the tenderness enmeshed in the brutality. Cero

Sharp and lingering, brutal and tender. San Francisco Bay Times

[A book of] major achievements . . . There are not many writers who represent such a wide range of identities in their fiction, nor are there many who weave them together so effortlessly. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A stunning achievement . . . marked by a pervasive intelligence and empathy, a reminder that even in our despair and isolation, we are not wholly alone. Refinery 29

Full of beautiful writing. BookPage

"There is a deep fear in the publishing world of the 'second book slump,' the idea that the follow-up to a blockbuster hit can never match the original s genius. But Taylor has blown this myth to pieces with [Filthy Animals], with a cast of characters who allow him to explore the dark, vulnerable, and often ugly side of being human and searching for connection." The Daily Beast

Not shying away from scenes of sexuality, violence, and belonging, Filthy Animals is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.   Bustle

Filthy Animals is a powerful look at what it means to strive to live a creative life, the cruelties of families and friends, and the painful realities of longing. Alma

One of the most exciting young writers working today . . . Taylor has a gift to draw readers into an emotionally desolate territory and bring them to the other side. Texas News Today

Empathetically written. . . . Taylor does an impressive job of pulling readers into the lives of complex and relatable people. Glossary Magazine

This collection offers us contexts to think about how fraught longing is, how painful it can be, and why we still yearn for it. Lit Hub

Taylor spins intimate narratives of fraught relationship dynamics and demonstrates a keen sensitivity to his characters fragile mental health. [His] language sparks with the tension of beauty and cruelty. . . . [He] has an impressive range, and his depictions of complex characters trapped in untenable situations are hard to forget. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Brandon Taylor writes with unsparing precision about the blurry territories of fear, longing, violence, and desire. An extraordinary book that rewards, and deserves, keen attention. Karen Russell
 
The characters at the heart of this elegant storm of stories are ablaze with risk and tenderness. Their voices are bright and clear, the contours of their pains and desires sharp and urgent. A profoundly gifted writer. Laura Van Den Berg

A dazzling showcase for Brandon Taylor s formidable talents his fierce intellect, his emotional and linguistic precision, his dry and unflinching humor. He is a writer of rare daring, his fiction a series of revelations. Katie Kitamura

A writer who meets life with a rare combination of will, wonderment, temperament, and vitality. Yiyun Li

Superb work by a writer of extraordinary psychological insight. Joseph O Neill