Lucy is a senior in college struggling to quell the effects of a sexual assault when she gets a glimpse into a different plane of existence—one that is more wild, physical, animal. Unable to shake the experience, she moves away from home, breaks up with her long-term boyfriend, stops speaking to her mother, and starts dating a dynamic man with a terrifying violent streak.
As she changes cities, friends, and partners, an otherworldly existential force thrums in the back of her mind. It urges her to reject the ordinary, but also reminds her that she is alone in the world. She feels it in the ocean while deep-sea diving, in the cold silences from her mother, in the unknowing gaze of the man she thought would be her soulmate.
We follow Lucy over the course of a decade, witnessing moments of both horrific pain and quotidian happiness. The years pass by seamlessly, bringing her to the edge of her twenties and back to an altered, barren version of her childhood home, where she must finally come to terms with the fear that being human itself might mean feeling alone, and wild, and unknowable.
An epic and transformative novel following a young woman as she navigates three distinct romantic relationships, reckons with the false promise of family intimacy, and seeks connection with the sublime and natural worlds.
"This is a book that is a caliber above and beyond what we have come to expect from the young-twenties-girl-bildungsroman. There’s men, yes, and sex, a lot of it, and yearning to be understood, and for power and a place in the world, but A Real Animal is about the wild, deep, feral core of those themes . . . The book has this feeling about it, like there’s so much within the pages that’s just bursting to get out: a violent and powerful urge for something, for more survival, for more agency, to express one’s pain, to feel better. A Real Animal is as raw and visceral as an open-mouthed scream: you hear it in your bones. You can see its teeth."
Julia Hass, Literary Hub
“A powerhouse. Atwood’s book is simply one of the best books I’ve read since I started covering books. She perfectly writes the turbulent time when one finishes college and enters “adulthood” – whatever that means.”
Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful
“A coming-of-age tale of Homeric Odysseian proportions, A Real Animal is a typhonic stunner of a debut. If Lily King wrote the screenplay for an Ari Aster film, it would look ALMOST something like A Real Animal, but it is also totally original. Not one to miss.”
The Southern Bookseller Review
"Perhaps even more impressive than Atwood’s ability to hook readers is how clearly the beginning of A Real Animal outlines the novel’s scope and focus on love and violence, nature and instinct, selfhood and family . . .A beautiful and unflinching look into pain, healing, human nature, and what it means to be a person . . . Sharp, memorable, and wrought with a kind of stark honesty that makes for an instantly compelling character. A magnificent debut."
Devyn Andrews, Chicago Review of Books
“A young woman navigates her desires in the wake of a sexual assault in the propulsive and stunning debut from Atwood…Readers will be held captive by Lucy’s exciting voice”
Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
“Atwood’s debut is a refreshing take on what it means to come of age in a world that feels both unpredictable and stagnant.”
Library Journal, STARRED review
“Lucy’s human life is painted in exquisite detail, relatable for all, which grounds the magical realism without missing a beat, making for a cathartic and innovative construction.”
Booklist