*THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAINS SPOILERS*
*CONTENT WARNING: ABUSE, RAPE, MURDER, SUICIDE, MISCARRIAGE*

After the huge success of Three Women, Lisa Taddeo returns with her first novel Animal.

We are with Joan for the entire duration of the novel, back and forth across the timeline of her life, inside her head and outside as spectators.

You can tell since the beginning that the story will be a dark one, and page after page you will stumble upon many different triggers which will be fully revealed as a much sordid story.

I am well aware that the intention is to challenge the readers and make them face all the hard edges of life, but there is a fine line between provocative and pushy and a few times I felt the story diverged towards the latter.

At times the story is a bit too crowded with overly disturbing images, and this might drive the readers away from Joan, leaving them unsympathetic and uncomfortable around her. We don’t always side with the victim, and that’s okay, especially when the victim becomes the oppressor, but I didn’t feel like the story made Joan justice for what she’s gone through.

I appreciated the book but I didn’t love it. I would recommend reading it expecting twisted turns at every page as it doesn’t go easy on any of the triggering topics. You will probably end up disliking all of the characters but that’s fine, they were not written to be lovable, just to be heard.