I had mixed feelings on Lisa Taddeo's "Three Women" and I'm happy to report I enjoyed this much more. While there are some questionable plot choices, Taddeo's writing and the emotional punch that this book carries outweighs any holes I found.

I first read Lisa Taddeo's Three Women as part of a book club. Animal is similarly a book worthy of heated book club discussion. It's also the kind of book that's hard to get through unless I have the accountability of discussing with a group at the end. It does what it sets out to well, it conveys rage, forces visceral feeling, but I wouldn't go through it again.

To be honest I had really high hopes for this book. I loved loved loved Three Women and have recommended it so many times! The synopsis of this book really had me excited. I usually enjoy reading dark books and their equally dark protagonists but this one just missed the mark for me. Three stars for me.

I kinda lost what the actual point of this book was supposed to be almost the entire way through. I’m usually very intrigued by more ‘character study’ type books where not a lot of plot happens but where we are at least invested in some capacity as to what the inner workings of our main character’s mind is. This one just missed the mark for me. It’s very apparent that Lisa Taddeo is a great writer and there were plenty of quotes I loved throughout the book but other than that…I just was lost on what story was being told and why I was supposed to care about it.

I understand that Joan is supposed to be unlikeable, but besides her being sort of depraved and uninteresting - somehow at the same time - I forgot what I was actually meant to be enjoying about the book.

I loved her debut "Three Women" and this book was also phenomenal. The main character, Jane, is such a complex and complicated character. The twists and turns that this book takes you on... the dark places that it goes... you just need to read it yourself to understand all the praise it has gotten.

I struggled to get through this book. It was very slow moving and didn’t really get interesting until the last quarter of the book. The entire book is a drawn out explanation of how Joan ended up the way she is. The book jumps between different time frames from Joan’s childhood and her present day adulthood. Throughout her life she was subject to abuse. She was sexually abused for the first time at age 10. Her mother was cold and detached from her. Her parents both died when she was a child as well. I found the book to be very slow moving, drawn out and repetitive. It tried to use shock and gruesome scenes to gain reader interest.

Animal is a novel of satisfying our primal urges, self-preservation and greed. It is also a novel of feminine strength, soul searching, retribution and, above all, hope. The language of Animal is mostly shocking in its coarseness in portraying the central character’s idea of her life, while the overall theme of the book is one of ‘truth’ and maternal love. The language of the book made me gasp, the quick-fire quips made me laugh while the desolation of loss served to fuel the utter poignancy of what was and what might have been in the life of the protagonist. Absolutely spell-binding and unputdownable!

Highly recommend this book! This was the first book I have read by this author but cannot wait to read more. Such a captivating story line with a unique writing style.

Wow. Just wow. I went into this book with zero expectations, having not loved Three Women, and feeling a little unsure about the plot description being something I'd enjoy. But I was hooked by this book almost immediately. The writing is incredible..
The plot is DARK. This book probably needs about 15 trigger warnings. (Rape, Child Molestation, Suicide, Murder, Mental Illness, to name just a few.). A lot of bad things happen to the MC and she also does some bad things. I don't want to say that this book will make you hate all men, but the men in Joan's life do not make good choices.
The book opens with a terrible thing Joan witnesses as an adult and finally reveals some terrible events from her childhood closer to the end. However, the relationships between the women in the book and the ending somehow still leaves this story on a hopeful note.

Animal by Lisa Taddeo is definitely not for everyone but I was intrigued and could not put this book down. Dark and very powerful. I just reviewed Animal by Lisa Taddeo. #NetGalley

BOOK: Animal
AUTHOR: Lisa Taddeo
GENRE: Fiction
RATING: 8/10
4 stars

This one starts off incredibly strong. Right from the start you're engulfed into Joan's story and feel the female rage radiating from the pages. I was rooting for Joan, truly. She was complex and difficult as a main character, similar to Elle from The Paper Palace, who has experienced some of life's realest and rawest trauma.

This book definitely grew on me the more I read it. I don't often turn away from content warnings and triggers, but I definitely definitely recommend looking into this one before starting it.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.

While the premise of Taddeo's novel was intriguing to me, especially given how much I enjoyed Three Women, I had to quit this one at 16%. There was very little plot happening, and I didn't connect with the character. The main character is talking often to an unknown person, and trying to track down another someone we don't know. For awhile, this kept me motivated to read, but I just can't continue on. I will admit that I'd still like to know what happens between Alice and Joan, and what gets filled in about Joan's life along the way. However, this desire isn't enough for me to keep going. I just wasn't sucked into the writing and the depressing style wasn't captivating, but rather off putting. There are themes of violence and female rage, which themselves are not a turnoff for me, but this just didn't do it.

Lisa Taddeo's narrative is incredible. She truly has a gift for metaphorically splitting the emotions of characters open, and letting us see the gory mess inside.
The premise is based on a woman who flees New York to Los Angeles after one of her lovers shoot himself in front of her. She leaves to find Alice, the one person in her life who can help her remember past events she needs to unpack. But as Taddeo's protagonist arrives in L.A., she realizes nothing will be that simple.

While I really enjoyed and took so much from Taddeo's last book, Three Women, Animal just didn't work for me. Some of the content was quite upsetting and I just couldn't continue at this time. While I appreciate talking about hard things, the dark and sarcastic tone just felt very off-putting. This was a DNF for me.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press for sending me a gifted copy and allowing me the chance to read and review this book.

This wasn't my kind of thing at all. I would describe the writing as.... antiseptic - even I'm not sure what I mean by that but it feels correct. You may not be supposed to like the protagonist but I didn't care about anything that befell her either.

I could not get into this book at all. I appreciate the Netgalley and the publisher for providing the advanced copy for review, but this was not for me. I found there to be little plot to follow along with and I had to force myself to read as far as I did. It just seemed like this book was trying too hard. I hate to rate so low, but this a 1 star ⭐️read for me.

This was a tough read but a good one. I was hooked on the story right away, but found myself wanting more from the ending. Still a fantastic read -- one that we'll recommend to our readers.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This is a tough book. Many, many trigger warnings but very well written. This will not be for everyone so proceed with caution.

I was so excited to read Animal by Lisa Taddeo, but this book was not for me. I ended up DNFing. Thank you to Avid Reader Press/Simon and Schuster for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a ride. With Animal, Lisa Taddeo has clawed into the dark depths that accompany living as a woman in 2021. Raw and visceral.