Unlike other pieces of pop culture and art that revel in the what (the violence, the rage, the revenge), Animal is concerned with the why-it is a novel that is concerned with making us aware of all the reasons the what happens.

Yes, there is revenge, there is a reckoning, and there is a killing, but they seem secondary. To a certain extent, it is, but it also feels reductive to label Animal as such. By all indications-the book jacket, the blurbs, the marketing- Animal is a feminist revenge killing tale. I am interested in what a writer like Lisa Taddeo has to say, what she has to tell us with her debut novel Animal. But I would like to think it comes from a place of listening first before speaking, because that’s what we need to do: listen. I do understand that there is also a bit of irony in my argument: I am, after all, afforded this space and asking you to listen to what I have to say. I am thinking of the man who thought to explain the importance of Rebecca Solnit’s book to her without realizing she was the author I am thinking of politicians that deem it their place to tell BIPOC demonstrators what they should be satisfied with as they protest for their right to a life free from systemic racism and terror the men who throw tantrums at having to wear face coverings in the thick of a pandemic, and question the push for vaccinations under the guise of “my body my choice”-oblivious to their inane irony. I realize that I am speaking in broad terms, generalizing all straight white men (and I am not trying to evoke a response of #notallmen, because, of course). Their work seems to be in service of shaping the world in their image alone, working to cling onto power even though their relevance continues to shrink. Too often, too many suck the oxygen out of discourse leaving no space for others to speak and reducing everything down to another version of mansplaining. As a cisgender white male, I am least interested in what cisgender white males have to say.

Book animal by lisa taddeo