An anim at edd ebut
The Animators is a story of female friendship, a creative career frenzy and the secrets that can shatter us all. Two 18- year- olds meet at a private East Coast College, both on scholarship. Kentucky born and bred Sharon Kisses is determined, thoughtful and shy while her counterpart, Mel Vaught, from the backwaters of Florida, is bold, brash and confident. Quickly they become best friends, bonding over their shared interests: classic comics, dysfunctional families, and their wildly talented drawing abilities.
Fast- forward 10 years later and the two are an award- winning animator duo living and working in New York City. “It’s been an eightweek, 10- city promotional tour since Florida, a blur of more soursmelling rental cars and threadbare hotel comforters, the feeling of never having slept enough and always having eaten too much. I’m not in great shape. Sore, chunky from our time on the road, ass melding to the driver’s seat of a low- end Chevy, sepia- toothed from smoking too much, slamming McGriddles and Mountain Dews from the grief of it all, promoting Nashville Combat, which has been called both a ‘ regional psychodrama’ and ‘ token manipulation’ by critics.
“It’s been discussed as a class struggle piece, a piece of fourth- wave feminism, dark comedy worthy of an Oscar, a gross failure, a triumph. We have been condemned and applauded and we don’t much care either way: We nearly piss ourselves every time we see ourselves in print…”
Following the success of their first full length feature animation, Sharon and Mel are on the brink of their next accomplishment when tragedy strikes. Self- doubt, deteriorating health and cracks in their relationship start to form: harrowing yet funny, the personal lives of our protagonists unravel.
Everything comes to a head when a long- buried secret rises to the surface, hastening a reckoning like no other. The more you read, the deeper you go; gutsy and intense; Kayla Rae Whitaker’s debut novel is exceptionally good.