{"product_id":"the-animal-room","title":"The Animal Room","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Animal Room\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Acampora reminds her readers that humans are never far removed from their wild roots . . . Fans of Karen Russell's short fiction and readers who enjoyed the suburban drama of Tom Perrotta's \u003ci\u003eLittle Children\u003c\/i\u003e (2004), Celeste Ng's \u003ci\u003eLittle Fires Everywhere\u003c\/i\u003e (2017), or the tight-knit community explored in Elizabeth Strout's \u003ci\u003eOlive Kitteridge\u003c\/i\u003e (2008) will savor Acampora's latest. Wielding scalpel-sharp wit and a cool aloofness, Acampora brings her unique perspective on the American suburb to \u003ci\u003eThe Animal Room\u003c\/i\u003e.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e (starred)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Acampora imagines a small town and its memorably conflicted inhabitants as indelibly as Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge stories and as intricately woven as Jennifer Egan's \"Goon Squad\" cycle.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e (starred)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Intelligent and shimmering.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublisher's Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Transcendent. In this dazzling panoply of intersecting lives and stories, Acampora explores our relationship to the animal in all its forms and throws into profound relief our great and tragic humanity. A marvelous feat of imagination and empathy.\"--\u003cb\u003eMona Awad, author of \u003ci\u003eBunny\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Animal Room\u003c\/i\u003e is an epic novel cut into sections and scattered along a trail for readers to gather up. It appears initially to be a collection of stories about the connections between humans and animals. Each story, however, proves to be part of an intricately-realized overstory of remarkable scope and depth. Every life, every being, from the rescue dog to its rescuers, proves to be interrelated in ways only the writer, and the reader, are able to see. It's a stunning accomplishment.\"--\u003cb\u003eMichael Cunningham, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Hours\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Piercing and unsettling, the stories in \u003ci\u003eThe Animal Room\u003c\/i\u003e stalk through small-town Connecticut--the wild pressing against fences and windows, the feral lurking beneath the neighborly. With precision and dark wit, Acampora exposes a community where class tensions and primal instincts coil in uneasy proximity: the civilized veneer has always been thin here, and something is scratching at it from both sides. These sentences are tensile and gleaming--Acampora is a major talent.\"--\u003cb\u003eKimberly King Parsons, author of \u003ci\u003eWe Were the Universe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Wonder Garden\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Like Wharton, Acampora seems to understand fiction as a kind of elegant design. As characters reappear in one story after another, Acampora reveals herself as a careful architect . . . [\u003ci\u003eThe Wonder Garden\u003c\/i\u003e] accomplishes great depth of characterization, in no small part because Acampora doesn't shy from the unpalatable . . . There is a barbed honesty to the stories that brushes up against Acam¬pora's lovely prose to interesting effect. Often a single sentence twists sinuously, charged with positive and negative electricity.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Acampora is a brilliant anthropologist of the suburbs . . . [\u003ci\u003eThe Wonder Garden\u003c\/i\u003e] is reminiscent of John Cheever in its anatomizing of suburban ennui and of Ann Beattie in its bemused dissection of a colorful cast of eccentrics. But Acampora's is entirely her own book . . . Acampora's ability to lay bare the heartaches of complex individuals within an utterly unique imaginative world is worthy of high praise.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In 13 sharply drawn linked stories, Acampora reveals the complexities beneath the polish and privilege of a prosperous Connecticut town.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Acampora's stories show that an Anna Karenina principle still applies: . . . Add well-drawn characters, interesting plots, cultural zingers and dead-on critiques of consumerism and Acampora delivers a page-turner.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Beautifully realized, understated \u0026amp; unsettling.\"--\u003cb\u003eJoyce Carol Oates on X\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Hundred Waters\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Questions of the pursuit of art, stagnation, youth and aging, and how to exist on a planet that is, increasingly, made up solely of emergencies, are grounded in the richness (no pun intended) of Sylvie and Louisa's characters. And, as in \u003ci\u003eThe Paper Wasp\u003c\/i\u003e, Acampora's descriptions of the strangeness of artworks are not to be missed.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLit Hub\u003c\/i\u003e, Best Summer Reads\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A thrilling drama . . . As Gabriel draws both Louisa and Sylvie into his thrall, their lush small town stops feeling quite so staid.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eVogue\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"An intense anthropological look at the suburbs, desire and the secrets people keep.\"--\u003cb\u003eWBUR, \u003ci\u003e5 Books to Cozy Up With This Fall\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In the tradition of territory-marking novelists John Cheever and John Updike, Lauren Acampora expertly captures deep-pocketed suburban restlessness in \u003ci\u003eThe Hundred Waters\u003c\/i\u003e...Through its delicate narrative circuitry and roving point of view, the novel gradually exposes a community that's in crisis without even knowing it.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In this tightly paced novel that echoes Celeste Ng's \u003ci\u003eLittle Fires Everywhere\u003c\/i\u003e (2017), Tom Perrotta's\u003ci\u003e Mrs. Fletcher\u003c\/i\u003e (2017), and A. Natasha Joukovsky's \u003ci\u003eThe Portrait of a Mirror\u003c\/i\u003e (2021), Acampora sets the idealism of youth against middle-age complacency and high-society reservations... With this gem of a novel, Acampora cements herself as a thrilling voice in fiction.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Arresting . . . Acampora achieves a sharp and tense depiction of an illusory and stultifying haven.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Acampora weaves a tale of artistic ambition, climate activism, and the seductive allure of extravagant wealth. Told in the author's signature lush prose... [T]his is an enchanting pool worth sticking your toe into.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"With a fluid writing style and a plot that moves along quickly... Absorbing... Excellent.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLibrary Journal (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Paper Wasp\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Take \u003ci\u003eThe Talented Mr. Ripley\u003c\/i\u003e, cross it with \u003ci\u003eSuspiria\u003c\/i\u003e, add a dash of \u003ci\u003eLa La Land\u003c\/i\u003e and mix it all at midnight and this arty psychological stalker novel is what might result.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A hypnotic tale of codependence that skewers our fascination with gossip and fame.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eO Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \"The Best Books by Women of Summer 2019\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Paper Wasp\u003c\/i\u003e fixes its gaze on one magnetic and increasingly twisted friendship . . . hypnotic and sensual... Acampora's prose has a seductive, pearlescent allure.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eTIME Magazine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Acampora's kaleidoscopic narrative shifts fluidly from Abby's strange, shimmering images to Elise's descent into tabloid erasure, artfully tracking the unexpected power shift between them.\"--\u003cb\u003eBBC.com\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is the Los Angeles of weird cults and day-drunk stars, of struggling documentary filmmakers and mysterious but powerful directors . . . Utterly bizarre and completely bewitching, this twisted, delicious tale will grab you from the first page and hurl you over the edge.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Acampora's linked short story collection, \u003ci\u003eThe Wonder Garden\u003c\/i\u003e, electrified literary critics, and this deeply disturbing, wildly inventive, and completely unpredictable debut novel is sure to do the same. Abby and Elise will be haunting readers' dreams long after the last page.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLauren Acampora\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Animal Room, The Hundred Waters\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The Paper Wasp, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Wonder Garden.\u003c\/i\u003e Her work has won or been nominated for the GLCA New Writers Award, the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, the Story Prize, and the New England Book Award, and she's been named an Artist Fellow in Fiction by The New York Foundation for the Arts. Her writing has appeared in publications such as \u003ci\u003eThe Paris Review, One Story, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e and has been anthologized in \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Short Stories.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/15\/2026 (EAN 9780802167897, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780802167897, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/08\/2026 pg. 1 (EAN 9780802167897, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780802167897, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Grove Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496155250966,"sku":"9780802167897","price":32.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780802167897.jpg?v=1783054284","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-animal-room","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}