Brief synopsis: Sharon gets out of small-town Kentucky on a scholarship to study art in New York. There she meets Mel. From there, the story truly begins. Mel and Sharon get along together as partners creating animations, and after their first big feature film lands them a grant, events start to really turn their world around. Those events land them back south, where forces threaten to tear them apart.






I was honestly surprised with how much I loved The Animators. I know nothing about art or animations. I mean, yeah, I watch Bob's Burgers, but literally know nothing about animation - but truly, that didn't make a difference in my love for this novel. There was oddly a lot of stuff in this book that really shocked me just for irony.

The author's name is the main reason I picked it up, even though I've heard some amazing things about this book since its release last year. Her name is Kayla Rae Whitaker, which is really similar to my Kayla Whitter (also, my dad's name is Ray). Next, there's a chapter named Starla, which was one of my best friends in high school, and truly not a common name. Then there's a chapter about waspers, which is what I thought wasps were called until a year or so ago. It was just a lot of weird little things that pulled me into this book more and more with every single chapter.

Mel reminded me of my high school sidekick, who I was basically attached to at the hip. Don't get me wrong - my high school best friend had more redeeming qualities than Mel - but something was definitely there.

The writing of this novel was really spectacular. And though I would almost classify this as a coming-of-age type story (even though the main character is in her early 30s), there were a few twisty pieces that really threw me a shock.

I was really impressed with the character development, and I really didn't know what to expect from the Animators, but I'm super glad I read it.



My Goodreads Rating: ★★★★★