Ep. 400 We the Animals by Justin Torres — The Stacks Book Club (Mikey Friedman)

The Stacks

Traci Thomas

Literature, Society & Culture, Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

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Summary

It is The Stacks Book Club day, and Page Break founder Mikey Friedman is back to discuss National Book Award-winner Justin Torres's debut novel, We the Animals. Set in rural upstate New York in the 1980s, this coming-of-age novel traces the experiences of three mixed-race brothers bustling through boyhood while navigating the violence and chaos within their household. In our conversation, we chat about what sets this book apart from other coming-of-age stories, how this functions as a sensory novel, and the ways the book explores shame and desire without judgment.

There are spoilers in this episode.

Make sure you listen to the end of the episode to hear what our January book club pick will be!

You can find links to everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks Website: https://www.thestackspodcast.com/unabridged/2025/11/26/ep-400-we-the-animals

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Transcript

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0:00.0	the fragments allow for a really nuanced portrayal of sexuality and of discovering yourself.
0:06.4	We're getting the fragments where those types of memories would stick out to a gay person
0:11.0	more than they would stick out to someone else.
0:13.0	Like the scene where they go into the basement and watch the weird video.
0:17.0	Weird video.
0:18.0	Yeah.
0:19.0	Certainly that would affect a lot of young people, I'm sure at a form of age, but I think,
0:23.1	you know, I can say as a gay person, there's certain memories that I have growing up that
0:27.2	like just really stick with you.
0:29.3	And I think that the fragment approach allows for this almost like kind of like aching
0:34.5	suspicion or like aching feeling to build throughout the book that it's not
0:39.6	just that this narrator has this really tough life and has this really complicated family,
0:43.8	but it's only going to get harder when he has to step into himself in this other way.
0:53.8	Welcome to the Stats, a podcast about books and the people who read them. I'm your host, Tracy
0:57.8	Thomas, and today is the Stacks Book Club Day. I am joined by Mikey Friedman, who is the creator of
1:03.4	Page Break and is back to discuss our November Book Club pick with us, We, The Animals by Justin
1:09.9	Torres. This novel was published
1:11.7	over 10 years before Justin Torres won the National Book Award for his novel Blackouts. It is his
1:16.7	debut. And the book explores the lives of three mixed race brothers in upstate New York trying
1:22.3	to navigate the chaos and violence and tenderness within their household. Be sure to stay tuned to the end of today's episode to find out what our December
1:29.9	book club pick will be.
1:31.7	Everything we talk about on each episode of the Stacks is linked in the show notes.
	...

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