You're an Animal (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780593449431)

A tender portrait of four misfits, on the run across Texas, that speaks to those who are left out, those who opt out--and to the wild animal in us all

"Libaire creates a delicious universe at a constant brink of collapse, a universe I never wanted to see end."--Gerardo S疥ano Cdova, author of Monstrilio

It's springtime in Oklahoma, and Ernie, an outcast in a group of outcasts, feels uneasy. Nerves at the abandoned summer camp where he and his fellow oddballs are crashing have been on edge since the arrival of a teenager named Coral, unceremoniously dropped off from her family's minivan one afternoon. Adding to her aura of mystery, Coral doesn't say a word. Ever.

When a drug lab explosion burns the compound to the ground, Ernie, Coral, and the hard-living couple Staci and Ray escape on a pair of motorcycles. Feeling shaky with fear and alive with a new surge of freedom, the four outcasts find a rundown house in rural Texas: It's a place to stay, they tell themselves, for now. Yet to their surprise, over card games and wild strawberries and target-shooting and late-night dancing to ZZ Top on the local radio, a quirky little family forms. At the heart of their new home is Coral, whose silence only amplifies her strange, undefinable power and the sense that she found them for a reason.

But soon, tensions rise, and a mysterious threat begins to materialize--whether it's coming from inside or outside the house still isn't clear. All this crew knows is, now there's something at stake: their chosen family, forged by both loneliness and joy, and bonded by an awkward kind of love.

Author: Jardine Libaire
ISBN-10: 0593449436
ISBN-13: 9780593449431
Publisher: Random House
Language: English
Published: 08/08/2023
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.60w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2023
Publishers Weekly 07/17/2023
Booklist 07/14/2023