The Late Americans cover art

The Late Americans

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.
Seamus, Fyodor, Ivan, Noah and Fatima are running out of time to decide on their futures, in the new novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of Real Life.
In a university town, a circle of lovers and friends navigate tangled webs of connection while they try to work out what they want, and who they are.
As they test their own desires in a series of relationships, these young men and women ask themselves and each other: what is the right thing to stake a life on? Work, love, money, dance, poetry? And what does true connection look like, in an age of precarity?
‘Funny, merciless, brilliant . . . I loved it’ CURTIS SITTENFELD
‘A constellation of characters shines in [this] campus-set tale of aspiring artists’ Financial Times
‘Intimate, hilarious, poignant . . . A gorgeously written novel of youth’s promise’ Oprah Daily
‘Elegant and razor-sharp’ EMMA CLINE

©2023 Brandon Taylor (P)2023 Penguin Audio City Life Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Urban World Literature Heartfelt
All stars
Most relevant
Taylor can clearly write, but this is a mishmash of underdeveloped ideas about relationships, art and money that never fully cohere. It feels like a book that has been rushed out to fulfil a contractual obligation, rather than out of a clear vision.

This isn't really a novel, more a series of interludes, loosely connected by featuring some of the same characters. However it doesn't work as the themes aren't strong enough to bind them together, and most of the characters are too underdrawn, dull or downright whiny to hold your interest.

Only the Seamus sections have any life or spark. The other characters are too similar and hard to differentiate from one another. The few women characters he includes might as well be men!

The poetry seminars have a dry sense of humour which suggest that a future, possibly less rushed novel, might be worth a look.

Not the great American novel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.