Animal Crackers

I only read one story, How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life, but holy cow does this short story creep up on you! I so want to spill the beans and spoil the ending, but I can't! I must not! Suffice it to say this story will punch you in the gut and you will like it. Our protagonist is a former medical student who starts a wayward relationship with an edgy artist. You know from the first two sentences of the story that her relationship is doomed but what you don't realize (until it's way too late) is that this same woman has serious issues. There is a reason why she is a former medical student. When aforementioned edgy artist abruptly vanishes from her life he leaves behind a red tailed boa constrictor in her apartment...and for show more awhile things are good. Until they aren't. Like medical school, there is a reason why edgy artist Fred says "don't let the snake out of the cage." I'll leave it at that, except to say that when Fred returns for his snake three months later, things are decidedly different at the former medical student's apartment. show less

This collection has a lot going for it: crisp style, inventive situations, quirky characters, and a flair for the magical and absurd. As you all know by now, each story is connected in some way with animals and most are disturbing in one way or another. "Slim's Last Ride," "How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life," "Gallus Gallus," and "Bloodworks" all depict the manifestation of inarticulate misery as sadistic behavior toward domestic animals (including a couple of portraits of the sociopath-in-training). In "Talk Turkey," turkeys embody a state of mind, while in "Preservation" a stuffed bear comes to life as a projection of the main character's fear. "Animal Crackers" and "Miss Walden's Red Colobus" explore some truly unusual show more behaviors prompted by close contact with different animals. This is no collection for Lassie fans.

I found the writing and the narrative to be quite controlled and distancing, perhaps even too much so, as I am left wondering what is the point of some of the stories beyond the depiction of cruelty and/or weirdness. However, there is more to the collection than this familiar theme. "Reasonable Terms" brings three giraffes absurdly to sentient life for a work action which goes somewhat awry in a tragicomic tale of powerlessness. I particularly enjoyed "Home Sweet Home" where Tinti uses a wonderfully inventive narrative strategy and goes much deeper into the mystery of love and hate with her complex and cool tale of suburban infidelity and explosive passion. "Restoration" also reaches deeper with its exploration of a father-daughter relationship nearing its end. "Talk Turkey" is affecting in how it conjures the emotional wake of the events culminating in a prolonged adolescent (un)joy-ride. The final story, "Miss Walden's Red Colobus," is at heart an adventure narrative and is so filled with inventive action in exotic settings, I am looking forward to reading her forthcoming novel, The Good Thief, which promises to be an adventure story as well. show less

In her collection of short stories titled Animal Crackers, Hannah Tinti deftly juxtaposes the innate qualities of the animal world with those of humanity. Like Arthur Bradford’s collection Dogwalker, Tinti presents a selection of dark and forlorn stories musing upon the question of what it means to be an animal, or rather if humans are actually civilized enough to be called animals.

Unlike most of the animals in her stories, there seems to be something just not right about the human species. She skilfully hints around the prevalence of sociopathic behavior in her human characters, suggesting it may be more innate, and thus common, whether exhibited in unattended little boys or refined hitmen, than we would like to admit. We’re more show more interested in self-absorption than the self-preservation exhibited by her non-human characters.

It’s a curious contrast. Her non-human characters, including easily bored pet snakes, wild red jungle chickens of Southeast Asia, mobilized and striking zoo giraffes, Slim the ragdoll white rabbit, and stuffed museum bears exhibit just as much, if not more, personality and civility we would normally expect from ourselves. show less

Contains eleven short stories, which all feature animals, but not in ways I expected at all. The story about a boy who throws his pet rabbit out the window to see if it can fly horrified me. Others struck me as deeply ironic, mysterious and rooted firmly in a graphic, gritty reality. Three giraffes in a zoo pretend to be dead in attempt to force their demands on the zookeeper. A dog innocently walks through a murder scene, the son of a turkey farmer runs away from home with two classmates, a dead kitten is found in the closet of a disturbed boy. My favorite story was that of an artist who is repainting the background scenery of displays in a natural history museum- and through the glass sees the stuffed bear in the hall come show more terrifyingly to life. In many of the stories the animals are victimized or used; mirroring some aspect of the main character's inner nature or circumstances. Even though I find it all disturbing and downright creepy, I'm shelving this book to read again one day, and see if I can't figure out the elusive significance of the animals here.

from Dog Ear Diary show less

A good collection of intriguing and disturbing stories. Out of the stories there were two I thought were dull and unintersting but having enjoyed nine out of the eleven I was pleased to have read them. Animals were a tenuous link for one of the stories but other than this it was an enjoyable few hours of reading. I read a story a night, spreading out the entertainment. I'd happily seek out other work by this author and would be interested to see if she could maintain the quality of writing over a novel as opposed to short stories.

A gripping short story collection. An animal plays a role in each story, though it isn't always the focus of the story. Each story scratches the edge of the strangeness of the human condition, maybe connecting our psychological and emotional needs to our animal nature.

With this collection of eleven stories Tinti has set out to play chilling mind games with her readers and she has certainly succeeded. These are out and out shock horrors and extremely imaginatively written. Each tale is weirdly wonderful but grotesque and will chill you to the bone. Unbalanced adults and children feature in these disturbing tales and will cause you to wonder how well you really know the people around you. Hints of Animal Farm, Dr Dolittle and Life of Pi litter these stories, but take heed - they are not to be recommended to animal lovers!