The Late Americans

Navigating love and ambition in a changing world

Brandon Taylor author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:9th May '24

Should be back in stock very soon

This paperback is available in other editions too:

The Late Americans cover

A group of friends confronts their futures while navigating relationships in The Late Americans, exploring love, ambition, and connection in a changing world.

In The Late Americans, readers are introduced to a group of friends and lovers navigating the complexities of their lives in a university town. Seamus, Fyodor, Ivan, Noah, and Fatima find themselves at a crossroads, grappling with the pressing questions of their futures. As they explore their individual desires and relationships, they confront what it truly means to connect in a world marked by uncertainty and change.

The narrative unfolds as these young adults engage in a series of intimate interactions, prompting them to reflect on their values and aspirations. Each character's journey reveals the challenges of balancing work, love, and artistic ambition while seeking fulfillment. The story deftly captures the essence of youth, as the characters wrestle with the question of what it means to stake a life on various pursuits, including dance, poetry, and personal relationships.

The Late Americans offers a poignant exploration of contemporary life, highlighting the struggles and triumphs of its characters. With a mix of humor and heartache, the novel showcases the beauty of human connection amidst the chaos of modern existence. As the characters navigate their intertwined lives, readers are invited to ponder their own definitions of success and belonging in an ever-evolving world.

Assures and deepens Taylor's position as one of the most accomplished, important novelists of his generation. He is undoubtedly on to something expansively new in his sense of what the contemporary novel can do * Guardian *
I loved The Late Americans and its funny, merciless, brilliant portrayal of the beauty and pointlessness of art, and the absurdity and horror - and occasional transcendence - of being a person. Magnificent -- Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Romantic Comedy
Brandon Taylor's third book is the most dazzling example of his sharp pen and keen observations of human nature... Taylor develops his characters so precisely, they feel like close friends: recognisable, sometimes infuriating, and always worth following to the book's last page * Harper's Bazaar *
Taylor is a sharp chronicler of the body. In The Late Americans, the body is an instrument and an archive, vulnerable to the complicated violence of pleasure and work -- Raven Leilani, author of Luster
Taylor's most accomplished book, a panorama of youth in the era of late capitalism * Guardian *
Elegant... Taylor has a Chekhovian generosity that enables him to convey character with something like tenderness... The relationships move like an eighteenth-century quadrille, at once restrained and spritely... Taylor's vision is unsparing, but never bleak -- Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children
Sensitive and unflinchingThe Late Americans is thoroughly contemporary * Financial Times, *Books of the Year* *
The Late Americans is remarkable. If you're going to write about art, the folly of pursuing it and the irrefutable power of it, you should probably do it well. Taylor does it truthfully and beautifully * Financial Times *
Brandon Taylor has both a classic sensibility, expansive and elegant, and a razor-sharp ability to speak to the contemporary moment. The Late Americans is a full expression of his singular talent -- Emma Cline, author of The Girls
A dizzying plunge into the lives of young people making art in America in the era of survival capitalism, grappling over the big questions like they're fighting over a gun. Deep within their ambitions, their pettiness and lust, is the meaning and even grandeur they seek - and whether or not his characters ever find it, Brandon Taylor has. A bravura performance on the edge of a knife -- Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

ISBN: 9781529922073

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 21mm

Weight: 220g

320 pages