Reviews

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  • “It is a joy to encounter a new short story writer with the bite and sparkling freshness of Hannah Tinti…Animal Crackers builds steadily, story by story, introducing us to a writer who has stepped off the safe ground and into realms that promise even more excitement in the years to come.”—LA Times
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  • “Marvelously strange… there’s terrific beauty and pathos in each of these sharp stories.”—Entertainment Weekly
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  • Tinti revisits the familiar territory of the American short story–troubled homes, dysfunctional families and peevish marriages–but gives it a shot of grotesque vigor through these connections to the animal kingdom. They’re tart and unnerving with a delicious shuddder of gothic.”—The Guardian
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  • Tinti knows how to take advantage of the short story form…fresh, unsentimental, yet surprisingly affecting little gems.”—Bitch Magazine  
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  • “Tinti’s tales are morbidly funny and incredibly sharp, evoking a bizarre morality that would leave Aesop sleepless with worry.”—Orlando Weekly 
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  • “An impressive and engaging debut from an author who has no fear of sticking her neck out.”—Bookreporter.com 
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  • “Her stories present a disquieting menagerie of behavior that may prompt the reader to wonder who belongs in a cage and who doesn’t.”—The Sydney Morning Herald (UK) 
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  • “Fantastic…Tinti’s individual stories display so much craft and creativity that the strings rarely show…the more complex narratives resemble fractal patterns, with neatly crafted metaphors that repeat on several levels.”—The Onion (AV)
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  • “An astounding voice…Animal Crackers is absolutely dazzling.”—The Anniston Star 
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  • “Tinti’s stories are peopled with hitmen, housewives, kids, artists, hunters and fugitives so oddly familiar that they take root in your subconscious like old friends. Their inner dialogues, revealed in plots that twist so effortlessly they rarely distract, deliver insights and surprises that make you wonder how well you actually know the people around you…Animal Crackers will pull you back for multiple re-reads, providing sustenance long after the first taste.”—Columbus Alive
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  • “Immensely talented…her eleven tales of human/animal lore are packed with zoological factoids and anthropomorphic observations, not a single one of them lacking in powerful narrative punch.”—San Diego Union-Tribune 
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  • “A writer on the move.”—People
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  • “Tinti is a very smart young writer and … [Animal Crackers] is by way of a calling card. It would be easier to say that she is at her best when at her coldest – an account of a domestic murder – or when at her most surreal – a story about some giraffes who go on strike – but the truth is that she is simply talented.”—Time Out London (UK)
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  • “In Animal Crackers, Tinti opens the door to a darkness we all fear and bravely steps forth to meet it.”—The Charlotte Observer 
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  • “Refreshingly original, bold and accomplished.”—The Glasgow Herald (UK)
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  • “Animal Crackers collects eleven tales that walk the tension-wire line between magical realism and modern suburban gothic…she’s good, she’s very, very good and worthy of the “writer to watch” accolades that Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and other bookselling giants have been piling at her feet.”—Baltimore City Paper
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  • “Tinti writes a sharp, snappy, deadpan prose that shifts easily between black, knockabout comedy and a more tender form of irony. This is a witty, lively and inventive collection of stories.”—The Daily Telegraph (UK)
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  • “Ambitious and imaginative.”—Pages
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  • “Animal Crackers is a gruesome yet surprisingly captivating read. Each bone-chilling plot pulls us in, leaving us unable to renounce the glimpse of our dark side that Tinti so expertly portays.”—The Columbia Spectator
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  • “Tinti boldly parses primal emotions in her stealthy short stories, which, like cats’ paws, conceal weapons of great precision…[her] fables are dark and wily, grim yet morbidly fascinating exposures of both our animal selves and our uniquely human psychoses.”—Booklist
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  • “Funny, off the wall, economical and bright with inventive language…From the first line of the first story I was entranced…buy this collection, and you will have animal fun all day and in your dreams at night.”—The Leeds Guide (UK)
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  • Strange, beguiling, and utterly original…[Animal Crackers] pulls you into a brand new literary world.”—Elle.com
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  • “One beautiful, mournful grace note after another.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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  • “These stories not only entertain, they startle, and they illuminate.”—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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  • “… her style recalls Flannery O’Connor; the stories embedded with incidental Gothic details…[and] considerable writing skill.”—The Independent (UK)
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  • “Striking… highly original… gorgeous”—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review
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  • “Every story is well wrought and cleverly crafted… this volume will interrupt your thoughts and invade your sleep… highly recommended.”—Library Journal, starred review
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  • “Imaginative, macabre, funny and poignant…Hannah Tinti is a writer to watch.”—The Arizona Republic
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  • “Like Edgar Allen Poe and Patricia Highsmith, Tinti has a brilliant feel for the uncanny, how it can turn situations inside out and drape our lives in mystery”—Time Out New York
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  • “The vignettes show off Tinti’s gift for the quick study. They also establish her theme of animals as the secret sharers of humanity, the unwitting repositories of our desires and fears.”—New York Times Book Review
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  • “The clearly talented Tinti isn’t afraid to take risks.”—Kirkus Reviews
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  • A “Face to watch”—LA Times
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    Advance praise for Animal Crackers:

    “Hannah Tinti is not just a masterly writer—though her wondrous debut certainly proves her to be that. No, what really floors you is the span, the variegation of her gifts. This book reads like a first-class greatest hits compilation, the work of many distinct, enviable virtuosi. Animal Crackers ushers in the arrival of a giant.”
    —Darin Strauss, author of Chang & Eng and The Real McCoy

    “These are marvelous stories. Hard-edged, big-hearted, they glitter and gleam with a rare clarity of vision. Hannah Tinti is a generous and enormously gifted writer. She will make you see the world differently.”
    —Dani Shapiro, author of Family History and Slow Motion

    “Exhibiting a range and control unusual for a young writer, in Animal Crackers Hannah Tinti offers nearly a dozen tales: sweetly macabre, adroitly surprising. You’d be crackers yourself not to indulge.”
    —Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked, Mirror, Mirror, and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

    “A whimsical cross between the Dr. Doolittle books and Life Of Pi. Original and funny, but also tough, touching, shocking and enthralling.”
    —Stephen Dixon, author of Frog, Interstate, and I

    “Hannah Tinti is who you want around a campfire or on a long road trip. The stories in Animal Crackers will make your head spin, your skin crawl, your heart jump.”
    —Helen Ellis, author of Eating the Cheshire Cat