Kirjahaku

A sweeping novel of one Kentucky family's rise and fall throughout the 1980s--a tragicomic tour de force about love and marriage, parents and children, and the perils of mixing family with business, from the acclaimed author of The Animators It's December 24, 1979, just before closing at Baker-Taylor's discount department store, and Fran (n e Baker) is surveying her domain. Her husband, Fred, is charming customers in the front of the store, while last-minute shoppers in the toy aisle are fighting over the lone remaining Atari. The older Taylor kids are on register, while the younger ones' chaos is contained to the stockroom. All is right in the world as the new decade approaches. With four healthy children and financial stability their own parents could have only dreamed of, Fred and Fran are the picture of the American Dream--rags to riches--with a successful chain of family-owned stores built on years of hard work and long hours. Underneath the surface, however, the business is changing at a breakneck pace, and each member of the family is struggling to keep up. Money is transforming Fred, and the extremes he will go to in order to fit in with the slicked-back high society crowd of Lexington, Kentucky, are embarrassing, if not downright dangerous. Josiah, the oldest son, wants nothing to do with the family business; Sam is seeing things that might not really be there; and Benny and Birdie are growing up with a fraction of the parenting that their older brothers had. Meanwhile, Fran, her family's stable core, is falling for Wendy, a cashier at Baker-Taylor's, risking everything along the way. While trying to maintain the facade of a perfect success story, Fred and Fran learn that in matters of love and money, once it's gone, it's gone--no returns, no exchanges.

"A wildly original novel that pulses with heart and truth . . . That this powerful exploration of friendship, desire, ambition, and secrets manages to be ebullient, gripping, heartbreaking, and deeply deeply funny is a testament to Kayla Rae Whitaker's formidable gifts. I was so sorry to reach the final page. Sharon and Mel will stay with me for a very long time."-Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of The NestNamed one of BookRiot and Entertainment Weekly's Best Books of the Year So FarShe was the first person to see me as I had always wanted to be seen. It was enough to indebt me to her forever.In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo, the friction of their differences driving them: Sharon, quietly ambitious but self-doubting; Mel, brash and unapologetic, always the life of the party. Best friends and artistic partners since the first week of college, where they bonded over their working-class roots and obvious talent, they spent their twenties ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Working, drinking, laughing. Drawing: Mel, to understand her tumultuous past, and Sharon, to lose herself altogether.Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature, which transforms Mel's difficult childhood into a provocative and visually daring work of art. The toast of the indie film scene, they stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success come doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. Sharon begins to feel expendable, suspecting that the ever-more raucous Mel is the real artist. During a trip to Sharon's home state of Kentucky, the only other partner she has ever truly known-her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy-reenters her life, and long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.A funny, heartbreaking novel of friendship, art, and trauma, The Animators is about the secrets we keep and the burdens we shed on the road to adulthood.Praise for The Animators"Unusual and appealing . . . The Animators covers familiar debut-novel territory: the search for identity, the desire for success, the bewildering experiences of small-town misfits leaving home for the bright lights of New York City. But Whitaker turns these motifs on their heads simply by changing the direction of the road and populating it with women."-The New York Times Book Review"A mix of Beaches, Girls, and Thelma & Louise . . . a 'complicated,' 'sensual, sexy,' raw nerve of a 'roller coaster' through a 'tumultuous' friendship . . . If you let this story happen to you, you're gonna love it."-Glamour"The Animators is inspiring in its freshness and its authenticity, one of the most original and raw books I've read in a long time. I look forward to more Whitaker novels to add to my library."-The Dallas Morning News"Suffused with humor, tragedy and deep insights about art and friendship."-People"[A] stunning debut."-Variety"A compulsively readable portrait of women as incandescent artists and intimate collaborators."-Elle

A dazzling story of female friendship, the cost of a creative life, and the secrets that can undo us. At a private East Coast college, two outsiders meet in art class. Mel is brash, brilliant, and wild. Sharon is shy, lovelorn, but ambitious. Together, they become an award-winning animation duo, living and working in Brooklyn, making short autobiographical films. But when the pair decide to base a new project on a long-buried childhood encounter, it forces them to examine the relationships they have with their families, lovers, and even each other.