‘The Late Americans’By Brandon Taylorc.2023, Riverbed$28/320 pages You likely wouldn’t want to hang out with cranky characters who obsess about money, bemoan the art they make and live in a place where the winter is brutal and even the elm trees are diseased.
Yet, in “The Late Americans,” acclaimed Black, queer author Brandon Taylor, makes you care about a group of often unlikable, isolated, unhappy people.
These characters smoke too much, cheat on their lovers and are so freaking hard on themselves, their friends and their art. “The Late Americans” is set in Iowa.
Most of the characters are graduate students at the University of Iowa along with some “townies” (people who aren’t students and live in the town).