Still, while this collection contains several stories with female protagonists, I’d argue Taylor is better at writing about young men, trying to find their place in a world that has such defined ideas about what men should be.
Filthy Animals also feels determinedly less political than Real Life, which was pointedly a novel about race and sexuality here the concerns of his characters, which include a young woman 'who has blown up her life' and two men hesitantly trying to establish the contours of their relationship, are less ideological than existential. Self-loathing, confusion, the sheer intractable reality of the physical self that must always be negotiated: Taylor handles his theme with rare grace and compassion. Taylor is a far more careful, sensitive and probing writer than Ellis, though, and his prose quivers with an emotional hyper-vigilance that at times almost feels alive. together paint a portrait of generational estrangement in ways that, while different in almost every way, put one in mind of early Bret Easton Ellis. is on arguably even more glistening form in his follow up. As such, it speaks to both the anxiety and allure of 'getting back out there.' Read Full Review > Appalling decisions, squirm-inducing acts of aggression and, throughout, demons lurking in the shadows: Filthy Animals makes human contact seem like a thrilling horror story. It’s notable for an author of Taylor’s caliber to depict so unflinchingly these unsanitized queer hookups. highlights another strength of the collection: its handling of queerness, particularly in its physical manifestations. These doses of ferocity add much to the experience of the tamer stories. These intimacies, often cozy, pair splendidly with the uglier, more brutal elements to establish the book’s focus: the feral that lurks under the veneer, the unspoken impulses that can lead people to contort themselves into gruesome shapes.
Taylor has a talent for taking the dull hum of quotidian life and converting it into lyrics. Taken as a whole, the book is a study in rogue appetites, and though the connected story line holds the most gems - and benefits greatly from the same attention to structure that Taylor brought to “Real Life” - the others are not to be missed. stories that range from stellar to pretty good (I’m not sure Taylor is capable of 'bad' writing). Following the success of his much-lauded debut novel, Real Life, Taylor’s first story collection presents sumptuous, melancholic portraits of characters overwhelmed.
Whether Brandon Taylor knows it or not, in Filthy Animals he’s provided a perfect companion piece for our nervous era of reopening.
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