Exploring the Themes of Abuse, Trauma, and Healing in Animal

And here comes my first book review of 2022 – Animal by Lisa Taddeo. I read this last week; too late to make it into my favorite books of 2021 list, and honestly, I didn’t think it would make the cut. The first 100 pages were excruciatingly slow, and I disliked the choppy writing style. But now that it’s done, Animal is one of the best books I read last year.

What is Animal about?

Joan has spent a lifetime enduring the cruel acts of men. But when one of them commits a shocking act of violence in front of her, she flees New York City in search of Alice, the only person alive who can help her make sense of her past. In the sweltering hills above Los Angeles, Joan unravels the horrific event she witnessed as a child—that has haunted her every waking moment—while forging the power to finally strike back.

~ Synopsys from GoodReads

My Review

Wow! Such a polarizing book! I knew going into this book that it would be an uncomfortable read. My previous experience reading Three Women had prepared me well for Animal.

But despite being in the mind space for it, I still found myself incredibly disturbed. Taddeo knows how to write an unlikeable character.

The book starts with a bang. Joan, our anti-heroine, is enjoying a romantic meal with her married lover when another of her married lovers kills himself in front of them. This incident prompts her to flee to Los Angeles, where she attempts to face her past.

Saying anything more about the plot would ruin the reading experience. All I can say is that Joan is depraved, and it seems like nothing is out of bounds for her! But as you read, you learn why she is this way, and it’s heartbreaking, but at the same time, it makes you think about gender dynamics.

Joan uses the men in her life, but it seems like she is also being used. Her first sexual experience was beyond traumatic to read about, and I can’t imagine how that might influence her way of living.

If you haven’t already got the message, this is an incredibly triggering book. There’s rape, murder, suicide, infidelity, miscarriage, and more. Towards the end, I found the plot hard to believe – surely so many terrible things cannot happen around one person. But if you can let go of that aspect, be prepared to be swept away by intense feelings.

Taddeo also tries to address gender dynamics with this book. In my opinion, this is not as successful as it should be. The men in this book are terrible – all rapey and predatory. Even the seemingly nice guys don’t have any positive attributes; it’s just that they don’t rape/beat/whatever. The book is full of horrible people doing horrible things to each other. The final suggestion seems to be that women should stick together for their well-being (a kind of sisterhood), which was somewhat unsatisfactory to me. The whole thing was not nuanced enough.

Still, despite its flaws, Animal worked for me. It takes some time to gather steam. The book’s first half seems dull and lifeless as Taddeo tries to keep up the suspense for as long as possible. But around the 150-page mark, Taddeo starts ratcheting up the intensity, and midway through the book, I found I couldn’t stop reading and ended up pulling an all-nighter. I think Taddeo is probably going to become one of my favorite authors.