The Animators

"You know, the voiceover continues, it would be nice if we were defined, ultimately, by the people and places we loved. Good things. But at the end of the day, there's the reality that we're not. Does the good stuff really have the weight that the weird stuff does? What makes the deeper impact—all the ridges and gathers—on who we are? Do we have a choice?”

Based on the cover, the jacket copy, and every other reference I've seen to this book, I was completely unprepared for what was inside. To hear it described as a novel about “female friendship” and road trips, is to do it a grave injustice.

This book was gritty, raw, unflinching in its view of its own characters, shining unflattering light on every nook and cranny of their psyches. There are moments that will leave you deeply disturbed, moments of really dark humor, moments that will make you cry, because, at the end, I felt like I was so with these characters and inside their minds that I knew them.

While the characters themselves are often chaotic, unreliable, and all over the place, I felt that the writing kept it all together. The writing was solid, never really veering off on stylistic flights, but adapting to the necessity of the story and pace at any given time. Would definitely recommend (with trigger warnings).