by Justin Torres
At a spare 125 pages, this novella tells the story of three boys growing up in rural New York. Their is father a Puerto Rican who is hard and sometimes cruel to both the boys and their mother. Their mother who was only a child herself when she gave birth to each of the, is desperately lonely and can...
We the Animals is a story of three "half-breed" (white/Puerto Rican) brothers that grow up in a poor family in upstate New York.It's the story of dealing with their mother and father through their tumultuous marriage and abusive household, while showcasing the relationships both in good and bad ligh...
Pros:--Beautiful writing. Just gorgeous.--Each chapter is its own story; each can stand alone--It's a very quick readCons:--The standalone nature of the chapters precludes a cohesive, linear narrative. We're given snapshots only, leading to a somewhat disjointed story with an unclear timeline.--The ...
Very well written and worth the read. Loved the fact that Torres allowed readers to explore the spaces between the words rather than filling it with the dribble that most pub houses require to build word count.
Yes, it's well written. But I was conscious all the time that I was reading A Work of Art—that the story of these three boys growing up had been filtered and refined retrospectively by the eye, ear, and pen of the youngest, the "I" at the core of its largely first-person-plural narration. There's no...
A slim book that carries it's weight well.
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. There are times when the writing seems forced, clumsy or uninformed. In one story, The Lake, the b...
The first person plural voice works well in this novel, giving life to three brothers who are often left to their own devices and are rarely shielded from their parents' difficulties. The spare style leaves much to the reader's imagination, as though the author trusts us to fill in the blanks. I was...
5 stars for the sheer brilliance of the writing. Due to be published in September 2011, so I won't say too much here now. Read in manuscript on Kindle. Searingly powerful vignettes from childhood. The size of this work is in inverse proportion to the penetrating intensity it delivers.
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