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Expanding My Reading Horizons
I gravitate towards thrillers, romance novels, or contemporary fiction featuring strong female leads. What can I say, I know what I like. But, I really try to shake things up and read formats and books that don’t fit into my normal realm. It’s good for the brain, and it’s a great way to expand our worldview.
One format I typically don’t ever pick up: short story collections.
I know I’m not the only one, they typically aren’t bestsellers. The first short story collection I ever read was Palo Alto by James Franco. I’ll admit, it was bad. He should stick to writing films, and I thought that I should stick to reading novels. So, I did that until this month when I picked up a copy of Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor.
I’ve been following Taylor on twitter for some time (his account is great if you’re into the literature and academia thing), so I wanted to support him. I read his debut novel Real Life earlier this year and thought I’d give his short stories a chance.
I’m happy to report that I’m not writing off short story collections. Read my review below!
Synopsis
At the core of the short story collection are a series of linked stories exploring the stories and love affairs of three characters, each suffering in their own inner turmoil. These interconnected stories are surrounded by the tales of a nanny, a group of teenagers, and young adults dealing with death and love. What each of the stories share is a dichotomy of love and violence.
What I Liked
The linked stories helped me get through this. It was nice flipping to a new story and having the familiarity of characters introduced earlier. While I didn’t know them well, it was comforting to know the names and small backgrounds. I also enjoyed how the stories focused on the different perspectives of the characters, allowing for the reader to slowly get to know each one.
I have an appreciation for the way Taylor is able to depict emotions. Outside of Rooney, I haven’t read many writers who have the ability to so crisply describe how a character feels in the moment. This is a quality that adds so much depth to writing that is often lacking in the romance and thrillers I generally gravitate towards.
Along with his description of emotions, the depiction of scenes is incredible. Taylor so easily and with few descriptions drops the reader directly into the middle of the scene with the characters. I often found myself on the snowy Wisconsin streets or in the Appalachian mountains right alongside the characters.
While I could understand the emotions and place myself with the characters, this often came with a clear sense of unease. While it made me feel uncomfortable at times, I think Taylor writes this way on purpose. I have to put that in the what I liked section because, again, this is not a sensation that every writer has the ability to do well. And with Taylor’s writing, you almost need to be in that place of unease to understand what he’s trying to say.
The stories all cover themes of love, self-loathing, anxiety, and violence. I think each story reveals how human these emotions are, and how these emotions can reside together. As humans we are perfectly capable of feeling anxious and joyful, happy and violent, self-conscious and understood. We are not bound to just one emotion, something that makes us so complicated.
What I Didn’t Like
I found I didn’t like the characters in most of the stories. For the most part, they were shitty people. And while I can understand the complication of emotions and empathize with their situations, I found a lot of the characters to be self-absorbed. I felt that if they could stop thinking about themselves, get out of their head, that they might solve some of their issues.
I also felt that the theme of violence was at times unrealistic. For the most part, the characters and the situations are realistic. I found the aspect of violence, however, to be a little far fetched. Maybe I live in a world of butterflies and rainbows, but it seemed that each character had an affinity for violence. Young adults would lash out and bite someone, teenagers are bashing in skulls for fun, and a character would look at someone and imagine inflicting violence. This was unsettling in a way that had me questioning: God, what terrible thing did the author experience? I think the aspect of violence was slightly overused and overplayed.
Overall
Filthy Animals is a collection of stories that explore the nature of violence and love and the complexity of human emotions. Taylor’s writing so crisply describes human emotions and depicts scenes, dropping the reader into the middle of everything. The reader can’t help but admire his ability to evoke a sense of uneasiness and empathy. Many of the stories are linked by common characters, making this a great collection to pick up if you are new to short story collections. The reappearing characters remind me of the characters from Taylor’s debut novel Real Life. While I found most characters to be unlikeable and the aspect of violence overused, I would recommend this read if you’re looking for something different and out of your norm. Grab your copy on Bookshop!
Kelliemarie Mash 