{"product_id":"the-dominant-animal-stories-9780374538293","title":"The Dominant Animal: Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of 2020 by \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian, Southwest Review, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"[The stories] are short, but their mood and imagery are lasting, and reflective of brutal truths of the commerce of human civilization . . . chilling, finely tuned pieces on power and survival.\" --\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA collection of innovative and ambitious short stories from a visionary young literary artist \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Dominant Animal\u003c\/i\u003e--Kathryn Scanlan's adventurous, unsettling debut collection--compression is key. Sentences have been relentlessly trimmed, tuned, and teased for maximum impact, and a ferocious attention to rhythm and sound results in a palpable pulse of excitability and distress. The nature of love is questioned at a golf course, a flower shop, an all-you-can-eat buffet. The clay head of a man is bought and displayed as a trophy. Interior life manifests on the physical plane, where characters--human and animal--eat and breathe, provoke and injure one another. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith exquisite control, Scanlan moves from expansive moods and fine afternoons to unease and violence--and also from deliberate and generative ambiguity to shocking, revelatory exactitude. Disturbances accrue as the collection progresses. How often the conclusions open--rather than tie--up. How they twist alertly. \u003ci\u003eNo mercy, \u003c\/i\u003ea character says--and these stories are merciless and strange and absolutely masterful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKathryn Scanlan\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of Aug 9--Fog. Her work has been published in NOON, Fence, Granta, and The Paris Review. She lives in Los Angeles.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"MCD X Fsg Originals","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50649791758610,"sku":"9780374538293","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_77e94363-024a-41d9-806b-b09b49160866.jpg?v=1733273887","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-dominant-animal-stories-9780374538293","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}