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Animal cover art

Animal

By: Lisa Taddeo
Narrated by: Emma Roberts
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Summary

Bloomsbury presents Animal by Lisa Taddeo, read by Emma Roberts.

The first novel from Lisa Taddeo, author of the internationally best-selling phenomenon Three Women.

A 2021 highlight for: Guardian - Sunday Express - Independent - New Statesman - Evening Standard - Cosmopolitan - Red - Daily Mail - Daily Express - The Week - Irish Times - i - The Sun.

I drove myself out of New York City, where a man shot himself in front of me. He was a gluttonous man and when his blood came out it looked like the blood of a pig.

That’s a cruel thing to think, I know. He did it in a restaurant where I was having dinner with another man, another married man.

Do you see how this is going? But I wasn’t always that way.

I am depraved. I hope you like me.

©2021 Woolloomooloo, LLC (P)2021 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Like a series of grenades exploding." (Marian Keyes)

"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, best-selling author of Blood Orange and The Lies You Told)

"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)

What listeners say about Animal

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keep going

it's a tough book to read, it's slow for most of it but damn is it worth it.
A story of a woman's struggle with her relationship to men and her connection with other women.
Parts may be triggering, shocking and down right disgusting but I found overall the story to be wonderful.
somehow the author made it feel so real, I was her, I went through those events and now I just want to hug my Mum.

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9 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Don't bother

I kept listening to this. .even with the narrator's rather irritating voice. I kept hoping it would grip me..interest me...be good...but sadly it was jumbled rambling interspersed with bad sex experiences and men's behaviours....not enough to carry 9 hours ...I have up with 5 hours left.

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6 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Never believe the blurb

If your idea of fictional "handgrenades" or "masterpiece" is the self indulgent memoir of an unpleasant sexually incontinent dysfunctional bore (but beautiful of course) then this is the book for you.
Unbelievable vacuous characters, a plot as stupid as the Goldfinch and every nasty anglosaxon word in the dictionary. And some theft and tedious descriptions of food as well as sex for good measure.
Just a snarkier version of the shopping and f****** novel, the women have to be gorgeous, the men one dimensional, and the sex gratuitous and patronising to whatever gender.
There are a few good lines and sly observations in the first chapters but ultimately it's a tedious depressing lsten, with everything reduced, not to the animal but the greedy, superficial, envious and puerile.
Not a writer you would want to get stuck next to on long haul.

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Dark, well written

Emma Roberts’ reading of this dark story made it worth staying until the end.

The story went too far in places - the wolves scene and the murder…. Jumped the (dark) shark to demonstrate how “depraved” Joan was. For that reason, I would be embarrassed to recommend the book to anyone - which is a shame because I found Joan compelling until then.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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wondrous. I didn't want it to end...

After 3 women which I've now listened to multiple times i was very excited for her novel. I loved it. Her style of writing is exquisite, simply sublime and Emma Roberts narration perfect. I won't give away any spoilers but if you enjoyed 3 women I think you'll love this. if you prefer saccharine and escapism then you probably won't.

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1 person found this helpful

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Spectacular.

Loved every minute if this. Narration was immaculate. Hearing the writer talk about where the subject material came from made sense of its utter realness- the heartbreak, pain, loss and love. Powerful.

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1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Far too long and sensational

I may have liked this book if it was a more abridged version. We read it for book club and it is going to be a tough one to discuss due to the graphic nature of the content, which I felt was mostly unnecessary and designed to shock rather than add to the story. Despite this, I didn’t find it shocking as it almost went too far into the ridiculous.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Different

A slow burner but actually a good story once you get going. Overall I enjoy it and shows the true impact of childhood trauma and how it can filter into adult life.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

My heart aches

I don’t know how I feel except for deep pain and sadness. I almost dropped this book at the beginning thinking it was a cheap trial at sad girl smut, but it was so much more. It was a raw portrayal of a story I could’ve never imagined, such a sad and sorrowful one. I could never relate to what Joan goes through, but there were sentences and instances here and there that came out of nowhere and shed light on feelings I wished to avoid, feelings that gutted me. I’d like to believe that this book will live with me forever, but I know my brain will try to forget how traumatising it has been, but I can confidently say that the feelings I felt listening to this book, and the things I realised will be part of my soul forever.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love this book

I love all Lisa Taddos books. Sometimes really hard to read but always make me think about them months after

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