Review by Booklist Review
Tinti boldly parses primal emotions in her stealthy short stories, which, like cats' paws, conceal weapons of great precision. Each tale posits interaction between animals and humans, which, rather than offering cuddly moments, lead to vicious or spooky confrontations. Zoos make perfect theaters for Tinti's creepy and caustic satires. In the title story, an unhappy zoo worker assigned the task of washing an elephant has a dire plan in mind, and in the Animal Farm-like Reasonable Terms, giraffes enact a dramatic protest. A museum of natural history is the setting for Preservation, Tinti's finest, most compassionate, and most richly metaphorical story. A rabbit, rooster, and boa constrictor play pivotal roles in alarming tales on the domestic front, in which ironically prosaic backdrops contrast with shocking acts of cold-blooded revenge and bloodshed. Tinti's fables are dark and wily, grim yet morbidly fascinating exposures of both our animal selves and our uniquely human psychoses. --Donna Seaman Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Animals play the starring roles in Tinti's striking debut collection. In 11 highly original, sometimes gorgeous stories, they are freighted with the symbolic significance of all that is peculiar, cruel and loving in their human counterparts. "Big animals are like big problems," says the title story's zookeeper, but more often, it's people and their complex relationships to themselves and one another that cause the problems. In "Preservation," a young painter charged with restoring murals in a natural history museum's dioramas is haunted by the impending death of her artist father in the form of a stuffed black bear come to life. A woman mourns the loss of her lover while caring for his pet boa constrictor in "How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life." Tinti's weaker stories-"Gallus, Gallus" and "Hit Man of the Year"-read more like parables and lack the psychological realism that makes her wildest notions work so brilliantly. At its best, Tinti's suburban gothic recalls Joy Williams, where violence is domesticated though no less horrifying: a mother commits murder and covers the body with breakfast cereal in "Home Sweet Home," while in "Bloodworks," a father with his own history of cruelty to animals discovers a dead kitten in his son's closet and worries that there is "something in the family blood." A redeeming generosity underlies the harsher realities in these stories, and it is to Tinti's credit that her zookeepers and pet owners, as flawed as they are, are as sympathetic as her wise giraffes and gentle bunnies. Agent, Nicole Aragi. (On sale Mar. 3) Forecast: With rights sold in a dozen countries and Tinti's visibility as the editor of the new, well-regarded One Story magazine, this should make a much bigger splash than most debut collections. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Combining animal symbolism with depictions of animal-human interaction, Tinti (The Good Thief; www.hannahtinti.com) reveals the dark side of human nature in these 11 at-once fascinating and repelling tales originally published in 2004 and newly available on audio. The narration by Laural Merlington (Keeper of the Keys) and Dan John Miller (Good People) is clear, distinct, and accent-free. Merlington's pleasant and flexible voice easily traverses the wide variety of characters. Miller, while stronger on the male voices, also manages well with the female and juvenile voices. One wishes, however, that Merlington and Miller had coread each tale instead of alternating stories, for added impact. A cross between Dr. Dolittle and the works of Dean Koontz and John Saul; for fans of animal stories and American short stories. [The Dial Pr. hc was nominated for a Hemingway/PEN Award.-Ed.]-Laurie Selwyn, formerly with Grayson Cty. Law Lib., Sherman, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
As the title suggests, animals are the connecting motif among the 11 stories here, though newcomer Tinti's real concern lies with damaged human beings. In the title piece, an elephant keeper tempts fate by placing his head under the foot of his elephant--because of his own experience as victim and victimizer. The dog that appears in "Home Sweet Home," sniffing around a dead body, belongs to a murderess who not only kills her husband's mistress but also gets custody of her stepson, who has been unloved by his father. The pain of an absent or abusive father is frequently the underlying theme. In "Talk Turkey," the most involving story here, three unhappy preteen boys run away from home. After an accident on the road, the two with fathers, however imperfect, are rescued by said fathers and pick up their lives; the youngster being raised by his single mother is left behind, never heard from again. The zoo diorama restorer who feels stalked by a stuffed bear in "Preservation" is coming to grips with the impending death of her father, a famous artist but negligent parent. The same bear appears in "Hit Man of the Year," where it becomes a weapon used by a mob killer whose character is defined by his fatherless status and resulting lack of love. Tinti's animals are seldom more that props or metaphors for what's going on within her human characters; an exception is "Reasonable Terms," in which zoo animals go on strike. The two most brutal tales, "Slim's Last Ride" and "Bloodworks," involve children whose attacks on animals are particularly vicious. "Miss Waldron's Red Colobus" comes as a refreshing finale: the heroine, abandoned by her father but followed by his hired detectives, escapes into the African jungle, becomes an explorer of mythic proportions, and has a monkey named after her. The clearly talented Tinti isn't afraid to take risks, but sometimes she pushes her artfulness a bit too self-consciously. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
