We the Animals, Justin Torres
We the Animals, Justin Torres
1 Rating(s)
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We the Animals

Author: Justin Torres

Narrator: Frankie J. Alvarez

Unabridged: 3 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/01/2011

Synopsis

An exquisite, blistering debut novel Three brothers tear their way through childhoodsmashing tomatoes all over each other, building kites from trash, hiding out when their parents do battle, tiptoeing around the house as their mother sleeps off her graveyard shift. Paps and Ma are from Brooklynhes Puerto Rican, shes whiteand their love is a serious, dangerous thing that makes and unmakes a family many times. Life in this family is fierce and absorbing, full of chaos and heartbreak and the euphoria of belonging completely to one another. From the intense familial unity felt by a child to the profound alienation he endures as he begins to see the world, this beautiful novel reinvents the comingofage story in a way that is sly and punchinthestomach powerful. Written in magical language with unforgettable images, this is a stunning exploration of the viscerally charged landscape of growing up, how deeply we are formed by our earliest bonds, and how we are ultimately propelled at escape velocity toward our futures.

About Justin Torres

Justin Torres is the author of We the Animals, which won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, was translated into fifteen languages, and was adapted into a feature film. He was named a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35,” a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and a Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Granta, Tin House, and The Washington Post. He lives in Los Angeles, and teaches at UCLA.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Will

Harsh, raw, powerful, uplifting, depressing, disappointing, brilliant. This tale of three brothers and their parents is told in the form of 19 chapters or short stories and it will generate a response. Justin Torres - image from WPSU at Penn State There are times when the writing seems forced, clums......more

Goodreads review by switterbug (Betsey)

I usually find something to commend on most every book I read, some aspect that strikes the right note. Sadly, this is one of two books I’ve read (to completion) in the past five years(that was hailed and cooed by the titans of publishing)that I thought was good on social justice but poor on story/w......more

Goodreads review by Fabian

Ok. I get it. I get why three people TOTAL have recommended this one to me. It is the shortest type of experience, the most meaningful for its inherent scarcity-- a novella. It can be read during one dull hour, perhaps two. This way, the author is assured at least ONE TRUE reading of his work, which......more

Goodreads review by Roxane

This is a gorgeous book with fierce ideas. The family is exceptionally rendered and race and sexuality are approached in new ways here. Torres does a fine job of capturing the rambunctious energy of young boys being raised rough by parents who don't quite get it right with their children or each oth......more

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