The Animators

‘An engrossing, exuberant ride through all the territories of love — familial, romantic, sexual, love of friends, and, perhaps above all, white-hot passion for the art you were born to make ... I wish I’d written The Animators.’

-- Emma Donoghue, author of Room and The Wonder

‘The Animators crackles with intelligence; Whitaker’s remarkable ear for dialogue reads as if Aaron Sorkin wrote an episode of Girls. She expertly captures the dynamic that exists between women when they’re alone with each other, when performative parts of femininity dissolve.’

-- Sian Cain * The Guardian *

‘There’s something exciting about The Animators … it’s the confidence of this pacey, passionate novel which really makes you feel that you might be witnessing the dawn of a brilliant career … there is insight in Whitaker’s portrayal of that endlessly complex thing, the simultaneously intense and fragile female friendship.’

-- Jane Graham * The Big Issue *

‘A compulsively readable portrait of women as incandescent artists and intimate collaborators.’

* Elle *

‘The Animators is a heartbreakingly beautiful, sharply funny, arrestingly unforgettable novel about love and genius, the powerful obsessiveness of artistic creation, and the equally powerful undertow of the past. Kayla Rae Whitaker writes like her head is on fire.’

-- Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author of The Great Man

‘Every artist must come from somewhere; this is something you try to outrun, even as home fuels the creative engine. The Animators is a novel about a pair of cartoonists, but it’s also about the complexity of creative friendship, about balance and jealousy, growing into yourself and living with your talent and trying to actually, impossibly get along in this cracked and unjust world. The result is unapologetic and raucous and compulsively readable; it is potato-chip-friendly and deeply, generously wise.’

-- Charles Bock, author of Alice & Oliver

‘[An] outstanding debut … Whitaker skillfully charts the creative process, its lulls and sudden rushes of perfect inspiration. And in the relationship between Mel and Sharon, she has created something wonderful and exceptional: a rich, deep, and emotionally true connection that will certainly steal the hearts of readers.’

* Publishers Weekly (starred review) *

‘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 Whitaker’s formidable gifts. I was so sorry to reach the final page and Sharon and Mel will stay with me for a very long time.’

-- Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest

‘The Animators is a story of female friendship, but one with honesty and bite. Sharon and Mel’s creative partnership defines their relationship as much as their gender and the story is never clouded with sentimentality.’

* Emerald Street *

‘The Animators is about trying to make art, find love and keep sane amongst the chaos of everyday life … Whitaker’s heroes have that cartoon quality of being more brightly coloured and clearly drawn than reality yet so human as to make them utterly absorbing. It hurts when they get hit and you soar when they succeed — more than anything else, you just want to spend more time with them.’

-- Ross McIndoe * The Skinny *

‘An exquisite portrait of a life-defining partnership … [The Animators] creeps up on you and then swallows you whole.’ STARRED REVIEW

* Kirkus *

‘Female friendship has rarely been described so expertly than in this buzzy tale of two pals working on an animated film, the success of which drives a wedge between them.’

* Marie Claire *

‘This bright debut from Kayla Rae Whitaker reworks the familiar buddy novel into a story of two young women united by ambition, artistic talent, and enterprise … A vivid, intensely rendered portrait.’ PICK OF THE WEEK

* The Saturday Age *

‘Suffused with humour, tragedy, and deep insights about art and friendship, this lively novel will make you wish Mel and Sharon's films existed off the page.’

* Who Weekly *

‘I never stopped being surprised by The Animators. Not just by the beautifully and organically engineered twists and turns of its plot, but by its sensitive tracing of the ebbs and flows of the friendship and creative partnership at its heart. Sharon and Mel – the animators of the title – are as brilliantly drawn as two of their own creations, and I felt powerfully invested in them all the way through. If A Little Life made you cry, this is the novel for you.’

-- Simon * Foyles Bookshop *

‘As fresh and unique as it is relatable … Charting the friendship of Sharon and Mel, who become an award-winning animation duo, it weaves in nostalgic elements while engrossing you in their thicker-than-water bond. Funny and moving, it’ll stay with you long after the book is back on the shelf.’ BOOK OF THE MONTH

* Elle Australia *

‘The more you read, the deeper you go; gutsy and intense; Kayla Rae Whitaker’s debut novel is exceptionally good.’

* Auckland Herald *

‘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 *

‘Smart, funny, and vibrant, beautifully capturing the intricacies of friendship … a vital read.’

* Nylon *

‘[A] tender, lively début … [Kayla Rae] Whitaker’s nimbly created characters are as vibrant as the novel’s title suggests.’

* The New Yorker *

‘Abiding friendships … are rarely portrayed with such nuance and humor as in this first novel, a nimble comedic turn edged with shadow.’

* O: The Oprah Magazine *

‘Memorable, sure-handed, and absorbing.’

* The Boston Globe *

‘Brimming with electricity … Whitaker has crafted one of 2017’s first page-turners.’

* Paste *

‘Well-wrought and evocative … [Mel and Sharon’s] partnership, which is at once fervent and wonderfully unsentimental, gives The Animators its soul.’

* The Washington Post *

‘This novel is the holy grail; it’s the rare novel that explores and examines the deep friendship and professional lives of two women [and] keeps that focus.’

* The Baltimore Sun *

‘Difficult to forget long after finishing the last few pages … [This breakout novel] fills a literary gap, which has been waiting for a tale of millennial female friendship and love without tacky genre borders or stereotypes.’

* Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *

‘Unexpected and nuanced and pulsing with life … Sweeping and intimate … Empathetic but never sentimental; a book that creeps up on you and then swallows you whole.’

* Kirkus *

‘Kayla Rae Whitaker writes breathlessly and beautifully about the power of deep, true friendship and the ways in which people — and friendships — change over the years … Mel and Sharon jump off the page as real, fully formed characters, and spending time with them is a total treat from beginning to end.’

* BookPage *

‘[A] stunning debut.’

* Variety *

‘Whitaker captures the human frailties that beset everyone — jealousy, anger, insecurity, trauma, the search for love — and weaves them into a compelling story of friendship, self-destruction, and salvation.’

* Library Journal *

‘Visceral … utterly compelling … with the nonstop tension of a soap opera.’

* Booklist *

‘Riveting … [The Animators] grabs you by your intestines and doesn’t let go.’

* Interview *

‘Whitaker’s vivid debut traces the lives of friends who bond over their rural Southern upbringings, then become an avant-garde animation duo with a cult following and uncomfortable fame.’

* Entertainment Weekly *

‘The Animators is about obtaining escape velocity and the sometimes painful process of claiming ownership of one’s story and converting it to art … [It’s] nuanced and raw and heartbreaking, true in a way that only the best work of the human imagination can be.’

* Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette *

‘A grand slam home run … You will laugh and cry … Gripping from start to finish.’

* The Fredericksburg Free Lance-star *

‘A vivid, intensely rendered portrait … This bright debut reworks the familiar buddy novel into a story of two young women united by ambition, artistic talent and enterprise.’

* Sydney Morning Herald *

‘A wonderful, heart-squeezing story … about friendship, family, and facing trauma.’

* BookRiot *

‘A beguiling story … Whitaker takes us behind the onionskin drawings and slick celluloid, behind the Brooklyn booze and artsy raves, behind the Kentucky white trash and cheap cigarettes to the personal angst and longing that finds some relief in friendship, love and art.’

* Shelf Awareness *

‘Every artist must come from somewhere; this is something you try to outrun, even as home fuels the creative engine. The Animators is a novel about a pair of cartoonists, but it’s also about the complexity of creative friendship, about balance and jealousy, growing into yourself and living with your talent and trying to actually, impossibly get along in this cracked and unjust world. The result is unapologetic and raucous and compulsively readable; it is potato-chip-friendly and deeply, generously wise.’

-- Charles Bock, author of Alice & Oliver

• Winner of Best Jacket/Cover, British Book Design and Production Awards 2017 (UK)
• Short-listed for Best Debut Goodreads Author 2017 (United States)
• Long-listed for Australian Book Design Awards, Best Designed Literary Fiction Cover 2018 (Australia)