Animal

Reviews / Votes

One of my favourite authors of all time -- Dua Lipa Few writers can match Taddeo's swagger on sentence-level. She has a knack for the unexpected, shocking phrase that feels nonchalantly tossed, like dynamite to a fire * The Globe and Mail * A compulsive read. Taddeo's prose glitters with all the dark wit and flashes of insight that readers and critics admired in Three Women . . . Like Coel's I May Destroy You, Animal is unafraid to wrestle with big questions about sexual empowerment and consent, and doesn't pretend to have found neat answers * Guardian * American Psycho for the #MeToo generation * The Times * Propulsive, fiercely confident . . . Joan's voice is so sharp and magnetic that the reader will follow her anywhere * New York Times * Joan's fury feels fitting, in a new age of righteous rage and brave honesty in female-driven and female-penned art, from Promising Young Women and I May Destroy You, to Raven Leilani's Luster * Harper's Bazaar * An explosive, visceral story about childhood trauma, sexual violence, sisterhood and grief. In vivid, unforgiving prose, Taddeo charts the fate of its unforgettable antiheroine, Joan * i * A raging, funny and fierce thriller with a protagonist whose life force, against extraordinary odds - always in the gaze and sometimes the grasp of predatory, abusive men - is a thing of wonder * Financial Times * This summer's most-hyped book and more than lives up to the buzz . . . A dark, disturbing masterpiece, full of righteous female rage - every word roars right off the page * Red * A fever dream of a read . . . Intense, disturbing and provoking, it's also a book that's filled with humanity, sensuality and, in the end, love and hope . . . Read, give to your friends and discuss at length * Stylist * Wow. Dark, hypnotic and horrifying, with a central protagonist in Joan who demands your deepest empathy despite every transgression, it's brilliantly written and expertly done. I loved it -- Harriet Tyce, bestselling author of Blood Orange and The Lies You Told An outstanding novel, unnerving but brilliant -- Samira Ahmed, BBC Radio 4 Front Row I don't think there is a writer alive who writes about the interior lives of women with the raw truth and intensity [Taddeo] does . . . Fearless, sexy, brutal and just forensically observed. She is extraordinary -- Jojo Moyes Raging, hilarious and utterly addictive * Daily Mail * Scorching, unforgettable, stunningly beautiful, Animal blew my mind and has left me reeling -- Clover Stroud [An] audacious debut novel * Evening Standard * Reeling. Stunned. It is ablaze with rage and beauty. You've captured all the rage every woman has been suppressing her entire life. Mary Gaitskill eat your heart out -- Sam Baker Riveting . . . Propulsive, erotic, emotional . . . Joan is almost impossible to look away from on every page * Kirkus Reviews * The best way I can think to describe Lisa Taddeo's first novel is "like if Joan Didion got into hard drugs and carried a switchblade everywhere." Sun-parched, sinewy, and hostile (in a good way) * Harper's Bazaar * A riveting, visceral examination of trauma and rage told by a writer whose prose lights a match and burns up the page. Joan is an unforgettable antiheroine. I don't think I'll ever stop thinking about her. -- Elizabeth Day