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Audiobooks > Fiction >  Literary > We the Animals

Download We the Animals Audiobook

We the Animals Audiobook, by Justin D. Torres Extended Sample Click for printable size audiobook cover
Author: Justin D. Torres Narrator: Frankie J. Alvarez Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Format: Unabridged Audiobook Delivery: Instant Download Audio Length: Release Date: September 2011 ISBN: 9781481546096
3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 3.00 (5,661 ratings) (rate this audio book)
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An exquisite, blistering debut novel

Three brothers tear their way through childhood—smashing tomatoes all over each other, building kites from trash, hiding out when their parents do battle, tiptoeing around the house as their mother sleeps off her graveyard shift. Paps and Ma are from Brooklyn—he’s Puerto Rican, she’s white—and their love is a serious, dangerous thing that makes and unmakes a family many times.

Life in this family is fierce and absorbing, full of chaos and heartbreak and the euphoria of belonging completely to one another. From the intense familial unity felt by a child to the profound alienation he endures as he begins to see the world, this beautiful novel reinvents the coming-of-age story in a way that is sly and punch-in-the-stomach powerful.

Written in magical language with unforgettable images, this is a stunning exploration of the viscerally charged landscape of growing up, how deeply we are formed by our earliest bonds, and how we are ultimately propelled at escape velocity toward our futures.

Download and start listening now!

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Quotes & Awards

  • “Frankie Alvarez fits himself invisibly inside this mess of a household so that you feel the confusion, appetites, passions, and disasters of these five people as they crash together and rip apart. At first the young narrator has the point of view of a small child. He experiences himself as part of a mass of brothers, a ‘we.’ Adolescent by the end, he knows that he is separate and learns the devastating difference this makes. Alvarez unobtrusively and artfully serves a stunning text.”

    AudioFile

  • “A novel so honest, poetic, and tough that it makes you reexamine what it means to love and to hurt…as well as what it means to become a man.”

    O, the Oprah Magazine

  • “A gorgeous, howling, coming-of-age novel that will devour your heart.”

    Vanity Fair

  • “Relates such an affecting story of love, loss, and the irreversible trauma that a single event can bring to a family.”

    New York Times Book Review

  • “The best book you’ll read this fall…rumbles with lyric dynamite. It’s a knock to the head that will leave your mouth agape. Torres is a savage new talent.”

    Esquire

  • “A dark jewel of a book. It’s heartbreaking. It’s beautiful. It resembles no other book I’ve read.”

    Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

  • “About a different sort of family and a narrator’s discovery of how he is both a part of them and apart from them…Exhilarating…Upon finishing, readers might be tempted to start again, not wanting to let it go.”

    Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

  • “Intriguing and beautifully written.”

    Publishers Weekly

  • “Highly recommended.”

    Library Journal

  • “We the Animals snatches the reader by the scruff of the heart, tight as teeth, and shakes back and forth—between the human and the animal, the housed and the feral, love and violence, mercy and wrath—and leaves him in the wilderness, ravished by its beauty. It is an indelible and essential work of art.”

    Paul Harding, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

  • “In language brilliant, poised, and pure, We the Animals tells about family love as it is felt when it is frustrated or betrayed or made to stand in the place of too many other needed things, about how precious it becomes in these extremes, about the terrible sense of loss when it fails under duress, and the joy and dread of realizing that there really is no end to it.”

    Marilynne Robinson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

  • “Some books quicken your pulse. Some slow it. Some burn you inside and send you tearing off to find the author to see who made this thing that can so burn you and quicken you and slow you all at the same time. A miracle in concentrated pages, you are going to read it again and again, and know exactly what I mean.”

    Dorothy Allison, New York Times bestselling author

  • “We the Animals is a gorgeous, deeply humane book. Every page sings, and every scene startles. I think we’ll all be reading Justin Torres for years to come.”

    Daniel Alarcon, author of Lost City Radio and War by Candlelight

  • “We the Animals marks the debut of an astonishing new voice in American literature. In an intense coming-of-age story that brings to mind the early work of Jeffrey Eugenides and Sandra Cisneros, Torres’ concentrated prose goes down hot like strong liquor. His beautifully flawed characters worked their way into my heart on the very first page and have been there ever since.”

    Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
  • Amazon Best Books of the Year: Top 20 & Top 10 in Debut Fiction, 2011
  • One of the Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2011 in Debut Fiction
  • A Huffington Post Best Book of 2011
  • A 2012 RUSA Notable Book: Fiction
  • A New York Times bestseller
  • Finalist for the Indies Choice Book Award for Book of the Year: Adult Debut
  • Selected for the September 2011 Indie Next List
  • A Washington Post Notable Book of 2011
  • A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2011

Listener Reviews

Write a Review
  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Jane | 2/10/2014

    " This is an excellent, heartbreaking book. There were times I got lost in the story and missed the poetic beauty of the book and other times I got lost in the poetry and missed the story, but it kept me interested and moved the entire way through. So many scenes and lines will stay with me for a long, long time, perhaps especially as a mother of my own 6 1/2 year-old boy, "and then I was seven". "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Christy | 1/30/2014

    " Three boys battle through a poor and violent childhood together with their own brand of love and loyalty. We The Animals is unique and realistic, with a young narrator who is revealed as smart, gay, self-destructive, and crazy. Overall, however, the narrative style didn't really appeal to me. It felt too withdrawn from the insanity of the story, but perhaps that was the author's intent. The narrator stayed on the edges, looking in on his life, in an effort to protect himself from his own childhood, but in the end the effort became too much, and he just snapped. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Beth | 1/14/2014

    " This is a novella about the fierce love of one family in upstate New York. Although their is poverty, beatings, sadness, I haven't read such beautiful descriptions of familial love in a long time. There is nothing bitter in the author's tone. Reading about these three brothers grow up as I watch my own two sons tear around my house make me long for the sibling I never had. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Catherine | 1/12/2014

    " Not what I thought at all! Can't decide if I liked it or not. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Janet | 1/12/2014

    " The book told of an intense and vivid boyhood in a way that i experienced quite viscerally through the simple and effective writing. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Andrea | 1/1/2014

    " Wow. This tiny little book rips your heart out and then stomps on it. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Daria | 12/27/2013

    " Great coming of age story written in beautiful prose. The ending isn't as strong as the rest of the novel, but it's a great read and is also short if you're not looking for a long fiction novel. "

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5 Bana | 11/17/2013

    " not my kind of book "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Barb | 10/12/2013

    " Excellent story of three brothers growing up as a tight-knit unit amidst the hardship of a turbulent home life in Brooklyn. Very well-written and heart-breaking. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Annette | 9/4/2013

    " Tender, raw, spare, honest, gifted writing. He writes most of the book in first person plural, which makes the ending, when he finds his own identity and writes in the first person especially poignent. "

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5 Bethany | 8/28/2013

    " A little too "out there" "

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5 Louise | 8/9/2013

    " Sad, short, mediocre book. A 5 on my 10 scale. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Erikafriedlandernetscape.net | 6/25/2013

    " Smacks of an autobiography. Incredibly well-written - prose is sparse and shocking. Torres is someone to watch. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Liz | 6/20/2013

    " 4.5 stars really. Really awesome writing - paints great pictures. The ending took an odd shift, but I understood why the author did it. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Lonni | 6/9/2013

    " Breath-taking. Brutal. heart-wrenching. Disturbing. Beautiful. Not your typical coming-of-age story. Not your typical prose. Highly recommend. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Kristy | 6/4/2013

    " Raw, beautiful, gritty and phenomenal, Justin Torres' "We the Animals" is a truly unforgettable story. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Melissa | 5/30/2013

    " Felt cut short at the end but otherwise excellent. Torres' prose is spectacular and engages despite there not being much of a plot line. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Robert | 4/23/2013

    " The first two-thirds are engaging and well written, but the last third is sudden and distracting. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Ree | 2/24/2013

    " Well written. Not sure how I feel about this book. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Kim | 2/15/2013

    " great writing, difficult and disturbing story/subject. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Katie | 10/5/2012

    " Beautiful. Sad. Makes you feel childhood all over again. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Laura | 2/26/2012

    " Disturbing and beautiful all at the same time. I feel completely heartbroken. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Todd | 11/13/2011

    " Meh. Could have been so much better. Ended up with a weird ending and an in unimpressionable read. "

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5 Sandy | 11/8/2011

    " I thought this book was terrible. The best thing I can say about it is that it was mercifully short! "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Jordan | 11/4/2011

    " Pellucid prose and crisp imagery are the hallmarks of WE THE ANIMALS, a sequence of vignettes formally reminiscent of Cisneros' THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET and Paley's THE DISTURBANCE OF MEN, Anderson's WINESBURG, OHIO and Hemingway's IN OUR TIME. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Trent | 11/1/2011

    " Beautifully written, but perhaps a little too lyrical for its length and raw subject matter. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Kim | 10/30/2011

    " wow, gripping little book. listened to it on audio and it was amazing "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Kristy | 10/29/2011

    " Raw, beautiful, gritty and phenomenal, Justin Torres' "We the Animals" is a truly unforgettable story. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Edwin | 10/27/2011

    " Good writing, and I got halfway through in about 30 minutes, but not too interested in a depressing story about an abusive father. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Stephanie | 10/27/2011

    " short novel, but really good. bittersweet story. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Jessica | 10/26/2011

    " Just read. Really short. Seems like it needed to be longer to really draw me in. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Hilary | 10/24/2011

    " Short, well written, powerful but disturbing. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Robin | 10/24/2011

    " Coming of age story of three brothers "

About the Author

Justin Torres  grew up in upstate New York. His work has appeared in Granta, Tin House, and Glimmer Train. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he is a recipient of the United States Artist Fellowship in Literature and is now a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. He has worked as a farmhand, a dog-walker, a creative-writing teacher, and a bookseller.

About the Narrator

Frankie J. Alvarez is a film and television actor best known for his roles as a gangster or thug. He has appeared on such television shows as 24, CSI: Miami, and Entourage, among others.