The Late Americans
by Brandon Taylor· 2023
A tale of sex, politics and volatile journeys of self-discovery in Iowa City. In the shared and private spaces of Iowa City, a loose circle of lovers and friends encounter, confront and provoke one another in a volatile year of self-discovery.
At the group’s centre are Ivan, a dancer turned aspiring banker who dabbles in amateur pornography; Fatima, whose independence and work ethic complicate her relationships with friends and a trusted mentor; and Noah, who ‘didn’t seek sex out so much as it came up to him like an anxious dog in need of affection.’ These three are buffeted by a cast of poets, artists, landlords, meat-packing workers and mathematicians who populate the cafés, classrooms and food-service kitchens of Iowa City, sometimes to violent consequence. Finally, as each prepares for an uncertain future, the group heads to a cabin to bid goodbye to their former lives – a moment of reckoning that leaves them all irrevocably altered.
The Late Americans is a novel of intimacy and precarity, friendship and chosen family, following young men and women at a crossroads.
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A tale of sex, politics and volatile journeys of self-discovery in Iowa City. In the shared and private spaces of Iowa City, a loose circle of lovers and friends encounter, confront and provoke one another in a volatile year of self-discovery. At the group’s centre are Ivan, a dancer turned aspiring banker who dabbles in amateur pornography; Fatima, whose independence and work ethic complicate her relationships with friends and a trusted mentor; and Noah, who ‘didn’t seek sex out so much as it came up to him like an anxious dog in need of affection.’ These three are buffeted by a cast of poets, artists, landlords, meat-packing workers and mathematicians who populate the cafés, classrooms and food-service kitchens of Iowa City, sometimes to violent consequence. Finally, as each prepares for an uncertain future, the group heads to a cabin to bid goodbye to their former lives – a moment of reckoning that leaves them all irrevocably altered. The Late Americans is a novel of intimacy and precarity, friendship and chosen family, following young men and women at a crossroads.