Editorial Content for The Animators
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Reviewer (text)
It can be rare to find novels that showcase the kinds of collaboration that make certain types of art possible. There are exceptions, to be sure --- Michael Chabon’s THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY, for example, or Chip Kidd’s THE CHEESE MONKEYS and its sequel, THE LEARNERS --- yet it seems that most of the time the artist is depicted as creative but also isolated.
In THE ANIMATORS, however, debut novelist Kayla Rae Whitaker depicts a true creative partnership, one in which each member contributes something essential and also gains both ideas and energy from the other, resulting in a product far stronger and more compelling than anything they could have produced independently. This doesn’t rule out the “tortured” part, though --- far from it --- but it does illustrate a different model for artistic production and the creative process.
"Perhaps surprisingly, given the novel’s title and its boldly colorful book jacket, THE ANIMATORS takes readers to some very dark places. But it also offers some really inspirational, even downright joyful, depictions of what it feels like to lose oneself in a creative endeavor..."
Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses meet when they are undergraduates at an exclusive liberal arts college in upstate New York. Both visual arts majors, they bond over their shared affection for animation --- not the mainstream Disney stuff but edgy, underground cartoons --- and over their similar backgrounds. Sharon hails from a small town in rural Kentucky and was the only one in her high school class to leave the state for college; Mel is also from the South, raised by a neglectful single mother who was continually in trouble with the law.
After a brief introduction to the two young women, the novel fast forwards more than a decade. Mel and Sharon are now in their early 30s, about to receive a prestigious fellowship to allow them to work on their next animation project. Their first feature film, based largely on Mel’s childhood and her troubled relationship with her mother, has been a hit on the festival circuit, and everyone is eager to see what these creative and talented ladies will do next. Mel and Sharon are casting about for their next big idea when they receive word that Mel’s mom is dead, killed in a prison fight. When they travel to Florida so that Mel can identify the body, their trip starts a series of journeys, both literally through Sharon’s childhood geography and figuratively through her childhood memories, potentially plumbing some dark incidents as well as more recent traumatic events for their next animation project.
Along the way, Whitaker (and Sharon, who narrates the novel) considers some fundamental questions that will resonate with anyone who has made art: What are the ethical implications of mining your own life story to make art? What about other real-life figures whose stories get co-opted in the service of art? Is it possible to continue making art if your primary muse, your inspiration and your foil, is no longer there to bounce ideas off of?
Perhaps surprisingly, given the novel’s title and its boldly colorful book jacket, THE ANIMATORS takes readers to some very dark places. But it also offers some really inspirational, even downright joyful, depictions of what it feels like to lose oneself in a creative endeavor and ultimately makes the argument that art is worthwhile, even essential, although we may not always understand what drives us to create it.
Teaser
In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo: Sharon is quietly ambitious but self-doubting, Mel is brash and unapologetic, always the life of a party. They spent their 20s ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature and stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success comes doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. When the only other partner Sharon has ever truly known --- her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy --- reappears, long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.
Promo
In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo: Sharon is quietly ambitious but self-doubting, Mel is brash and unapologetic, always the life of a party. They spent their 20s ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature and stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success comes doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. When the only other partner Sharon has ever truly known --- her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy --- reappears, long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.
About the Book
She was the first person to see me as I had always wanted to be seen. It was enough to indebt me to her forever.
In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo, the friction of their differences driving them: Sharon, quietly ambitious but self-doubting; Mel, brash and unapologetic, always the life of the party. Best friends and artistic partners since the first week of college, where they bonded over their working-class roots and obvious talent, they spent their 20s ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Working, drinking, laughing. Drawing: Mel, to understand her tumultuous past, and Sharon, to lose herself altogether.
Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature, which transforms Mel’s difficult childhood into a provocative and visually daring work of art. The toast of the indie film scene, they stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success come doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. Sharon begins to feel expendable, suspecting that the ever-more raucous Mel is the real artist. During a trip to Sharon’s home state of Kentucky, the only other partner she has ever truly known --- her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy --- reenters her life, and long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.
A funny, heartbreaking novel of friendship, art and trauma, THE ANIMATORS is about the secrets we keep and the burdens we shed on the road to adulthood.
Audiobook available, read by Alex McKenna
