3.0
The Late Americans
ByPublisher Description
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY VOGUE, ELLE, OPRAH DAILY, THE WASHINGTON POST, BUZZFEED AND VULTURE
“Erudite, intimate, hilarious, poignant . . . A gorgeously written novel of youth’s promise, of the quest to find one’s tribe and one’s calling.” —Leigh Haber, Oprah Daily
The Booker Prize finalist and widely acclaimed author of Real Life and Filthy Animals returns with a deeply involving new novel of young men and women at a crossroads
In the shared and private spaces of Iowa City, a loose circle of lovers and friends encounter, confront, and provoke one another in a volatile year of self-discovery. Among them are Seamus, a frustrated young poet; Ivan, a dancer turned aspiring banker who dabbles in amateur pornography; Fatima, whose independence and work ethic complicate her relationships with friends and a trusted mentor; and Noah, who “didn’t seek sex out so much as it came up to him like an anxious dog in need of affection.” These four are buffeted by a cast of artists, landlords, meatpacking workers, and mathematicians who populate the cafes, classrooms, and food-service kitchens of the city, sometimes to violent and electrifying consequence. Finally, as each prepares for an uncertain future, the group heads to a cabin to bid goodbye to their former lives—a moment of reckoning that leaves each of them irrevocably altered.
A novel of friendship and chosen family, The Late Americans asks fresh questions about love and sex, ambition and precarity, and about how human beings can bruise one another while trying to find themselves. It is Brandon Taylor’s richest and most involving work of fiction to date, confirming his position as one of our most perceptive chroniclers of contemporary life.
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY VOGUE, ELLE, OPRAH DAILY, THE WASHINGTON POST, BUZZFEED AND VULTURE
“Erudite, intimate, hilarious, poignant . . . A gorgeously written novel of youth’s promise, of the quest to find one’s tribe and one’s calling.” —Leigh Haber, Oprah Daily
The Booker Prize finalist and widely acclaimed author of Real Life and Filthy Animals returns with a deeply involving new novel of young men and women at a crossroads
In the shared and private spaces of Iowa City, a loose circle of lovers and friends encounter, confront, and provoke one another in a volatile year of self-discovery. Among them are Seamus, a frustrated young poet; Ivan, a dancer turned aspiring banker who dabbles in amateur pornography; Fatima, whose independence and work ethic complicate her relationships with friends and a trusted mentor; and Noah, who “didn’t seek sex out so much as it came up to him like an anxious dog in need of affection.” These four are buffeted by a cast of artists, landlords, meatpacking workers, and mathematicians who populate the cafes, classrooms, and food-service kitchens of the city, sometimes to violent and electrifying consequence. Finally, as each prepares for an uncertain future, the group heads to a cabin to bid goodbye to their former lives—a moment of reckoning that leaves each of them irrevocably altered.
A novel of friendship and chosen family, The Late Americans asks fresh questions about love and sex, ambition and precarity, and about how human beings can bruise one another while trying to find themselves. It is Brandon Taylor’s richest and most involving work of fiction to date, confirming his position as one of our most perceptive chroniclers of contemporary life.
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Late Americans Reviews
3.0
“In short: THE LATE AMERICANS was a loosely-structured novel following the various students of a prodigious Iowa university (iykyk) and their lives.
In long: ewwwww, David. 🙂↔️ If you want to feel like life is not worth living, this is your book. Queer happiness does not go to this school. Perhaps there is no happiness at all in Iowa.
1. No hate, but the writer was so deeply an “MFA prodigy.” We say nothing like it is in this story. It was mundane, sticky, unfortunate. The characters sound less like 20-year-olds and more like alcoholic smokers with various physical ailments. Every sentence was a veiled euphemism for something else. The dialogue was clipped and unnatural; I’m not sure anyone spoke in more than three sentences at one time. No yappers in Iowa either.
2. I’m so tired of the romanticization of (especially queer) trauma. Life sucks. I get it. But even for the most down and out, there can be glimmers of something more. I was tired of the sexual assault, of the angst, of the general blanket of depression covering the entire thing. Give me some genuine laughter. Put some butter on your bread, man.
It’s not hot to be a compulsive smoker. It’s not hot to be broken. It’s not hot, guys. (It’s cold. Quite chilly.)
3. Who are these freakishly deep dancers/writers/poets and why do they all suck?
4. One of the two female characters experienced assault. One out of two. Come on, man. Really? I know what you were doing, but why did we do it?
5. I get that arts programs can be somewhat slutty—I was a theatre major—but guys, at least TEST every now and again?
Clearly, I was not a fan. I did like the format; interconnected short stories that shed light, little by little, on each character. I appreciated the chapter length.
The cover was cool?
Bitch, I dunno. Not for me, and that’s okay.
Onward! 🤘”
“I love Brandon Taylor’s writing, but this one just didn’t land for me. The individual character studies were strong and a few scenes (the forced blow job in the trailer park, Fatima’s abortion and fight with her advisor, Ivan’s only fans) stood out me, I didn’t ultimately feel that this book did what it set out to.
I think he used a version of “the desire of his animal body” or “the need of his animal body” far too much.”
“I had a tough time with this book. It hit a bit too close to home on the ups and downs of life. These college students are having both the worst and best times, often within hours to days of one another. I’ve had a horrible year, and yet there also have been some extremely positive moments that shine through and give me hope that things can be good once again. I didn’t have a traditional college experience, so I wonder at how similar it would’ve been to these characters if I had. In particular, I envy the friendships, even though they’re incredibly messy and drama filled.”About Brandon Taylor
Brandon Taylor is the author of the novel Real Life, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, and named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and a Science + Literature Selected Title by the National Book Foundation. His collection Filthy Animals, a national bestseller, was awarded The Story Prize and shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. He is the 2022-2023 Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
Other books by Brandon Taylor
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
