We the Animals

For the 2018 film adaptation, see We the Animals (film).

We the Animals (2011) is the debut novel by American author Justin Torres. It is a bildungsroman about three wild brothers of white and Puerto Rican parentage who live a rough and tumble childhood in rural upstate New York during the 1980s. The youngest brother, protagonist of the story, eventually breaks away from the rest of the family.^[1]

We the Animals

First edition
Author	Justin Torres
Language	English
Genre	Bildungsroman
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date	September 2, 2011
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardcover), audiobook, ebook
Pages	144 pp.
ISBN	978-0-547-57672-5 (hardcover 1st ed.)
OCLC	694830162
Dewey Decimal	813/.6

The novel is semi-autobiographical and is loosely based on Torres's own life growing up in upstate New York.^[2]

Plot

The young, unnamed narrator, a boy, grows up in a tight-knit family with two older brothers, Manny and Joel. His parents, who were teenagers when the boys were conceived, have an abusive and unhappy marriage but still feel love for each other.

In a series of vignettes, the narrator describes how his parents struggle to keep the family afloat and how his father, and eventually his brothers, are abusive towards his mother who is deeply unhappy and longs for a better life.

As the narrator grows up, he senses a difference between himself and his brothers, which is partially caused by his love of literature and partially caused by the fact that he is gay. After his parents discover his journal, which is filled with erotic imaginings and fantasies, the narrator lashes out, violently attacking his parents and sibling, after which he is committed to a psychiatric ward.

Reception

Critical response

We the Animals received generally positive reviews, including warm notices from The New York Times and Kirkus Reviews,^[3][4] and praise from novelists and writers like Michael Cunningham, Dorothy Allison and Paul Harding.^[5]

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2012	ALA Rainbow Book List	Young Adult Fiction	Selection	[6]
	Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence	Fiction	Longlisted	[7]
	First Novelist Award	—	Won	[8]
	Indies Choice Book Award	Debut Author	Honor Book	[citation needed]
	NAACP Image Awards	Debut Author	Finalist	[9]
	Publishing Triangle Awards	Edmund White Award	Finalist	[10]

Influence

Fatimah Asghar acknowledges We the Animals as an influence in her novel When We Were Sisters.^[11]

Film adaptation

Main article: We the Animals (film)

A film adaptation of We the Animals, directed by Jeremiah Zagar, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.^[12]