A review by marjoleinvanderspoel
Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Brandon Taylor continues to prove his immense skill with this collection of short stories unlike any other such collection I've read. With this collection Taylor proves his breadth as a story teller by branching into many different kinds of lives, whilst maintaining an atmosphere that keeps the collection coherent. The incorporation of an overarching or recurring story about Lionel, Charles and Sophie was cleverly done, and the story itself was wonderfully complex and compelling, reminiscent of Real Life in it's dealing with mental health and academia, something that I appreciated enormously in his debut. In addition I greatly enjoyed "as if that were love" and perhaps my favourite story, "anne of cleves". I only wish we would have gotten a story from Sophie's perspective as I found her to be a much more interesting character than Charles. 
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