Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

9 reviews

kimothay's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is my first Brandon Taylor read! Short story collections are usually not my favorite because I very much need detailed, direct character development to thoroughly get invested in a story. However, I enjoyed many of the stories in this collection and I’m interested to read more of Taylor’s work. This is definitely a dark read with lots of content/trigger warnings; however, since the main theme of the book is how humans seek connection but resort to violence, it was to be expected. I would have liked to see more character development or addressing of core problems, but overall, I enjoyed the collection. The standout for me was Anne of Cleves. 

Potluck: 4/5

Little Beast: 4/5

Flesh: 3.5/5

As Though That Were Love: 3.5/5

Proctoring: 4/5

Filthy Animals: 3/5

Mass: 2.5/5 

Anne of Cleves: 4.5/5 

Apartment: 3/5 

What Made Them Made You: 4/5

Meat: 3/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Grief, and Outing

serenspace's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Suicide attempt

daffodildyke's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

“the origin of his desire to forgo meat wasn’t environmental or even about the animals really. it was selfish. because the thought of consuming dead things, when he had been so close to dying, when he had wanted to die… was too much”

I think it is very clear that the author can lovingly and realistically create characters, especially queer characters. I think the intimacy created in some of the sex scenes was very palpable and authentic, even if I didn’t personally enjoy some of them or understand what we were getting at with others. 

I particularly liked parts of the exploration of polyamory with Lionel, Charles and Sophie - I liked that it was natural and normalised, and I feel like it had so much potential

but I feel like the moment Sophie asks Lionel to thank her for letting him sleep with Charles, that ruins a lot of the positives of their story. I think it lazily plays into stereotypical understandings of polyamory, and was entirely unnecessary. The way Sophie asks Charles to tell her about his other sexual partners is one thing - as this is done as part of what Sophie enjoys, this is something that excites her - but this weirdly out of character assertion of ownership goes against everything healthy polyamory should be!

 

I found the shortness of some stories jarring when others continued across multiple segments or chapters, and it left me wanting to know more about some of the stories, whilst also somewhat wishing it had just focused on one. I feel like Lionel was very much the character I got to know most, and I am not complaining about that, but it definitely felt unbalanced… which maybe was intentional. I think Lionel, Charles and Sophie could have been the focus of a whole novel and their domination of the collection takes away from some of the other incredibly poignant tales Taylor tells.

As an ace-spec person, maybe reading a book that largely centres on desire and sex was asking for me not to wholeheartedly enjoy it, but alas, the actual sex scenes were probably the most interesting parts of it for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Blood, Medical content, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

samarakroeger's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I loved the Lionel/Charles/Sophie stories — and the structure of the collection meant I was invested in reading the book the whole way through. a few of the other random stories I didn’t really get into very much, but I really liked Anne of Cleves. 

I will read anything Brandon Taylor writes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Outing

anawest's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, and Homophobia

amye's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Racism, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Drug use, and Pedophilia

bella_cavicchi's review

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love this cover and the stories held inside. The writing is slow, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. Well worth a read, as is Taylor's debut, REAL LIFE.

And to keep note: "Filthy Animals" -- the book's namesake -- is by far my favorite story in the collection!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

Minor: Eating disorder

pippyv's review

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Fun main story but the other short stories detracted heavily. The descriptions of the gay women in the one story they featured in, while not entirely inaccurate, were generic and lifeless compared with the standard set by male characters of any sexuality in the rest of the book and overall it was a bit insultingly lazy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Excrement, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

deedireads's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Filthy Animals is, as we expect from Brandon Taylor, a masterful collection of stories; I especially loved the linked ones. This book more than lives up to the hype.

For you if: You like queer short stories and excellent character-driven writing.

FULL REVIEW:

First, thank you to Riverhead for granting me a review copy of this collection on NetGalley! Filthy Animals is one of the most anticipated books of the year, and it absolutely lives up to the hype.

The collection opens with a story about a man named Lionel, who has hit a particularly difficult point in his life, and who meets two dancers in an open relationship at a friend’s potluck dinner. Every alternating story in the collection returns to these three characters, which, strung together, could have even become a novella. I really liked this format, the promise that we will come back and learn more about them, return to the near-tangible tension between them, see what happens next. But all the other stories in the collection are incredible, too, as one would expect from Brandon Taylor.

I feel, now, that I could recognize Taylor’s writing anywhere, just by the level of detail he includes on every page. His writing zooms in on practically everything, which draws meaning and poignancy out of the otherwise mundane. Reading his stories, I feel like I could be an ant inside them, viewing every surface, every facial expression, every moment from close up. And then he zooms out when it comes to dialogue, letting every word ring and echo in hollow space. The result is both quiet and loud.

This is one of those books where I think the back-cover blurb is especially on the nose: “Psychologically taut and quietly devastating,” and “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.” I really can’t sum it up any better than that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Rape

Minor: Pedophilia, Racism, and Terminal illness