Animal Spirit: Stories

by Francesca Marciano

Centered in Rome but transporting us into worlds as varied and alluring as they are emotionally real, Francesca Marciano’s stories paint landscapes that are populated—vividly, hauntingly—by from violent seagulls and starlings circling the evening sky in exhilarating formation to magical snakes and a tiny dog on the side of a deserted road.
 
In unforgettable, cinematic frames, events unfold, especially in the lives of women. An affair ends painfully at a dinner table, an actress’s past comes crashing down on her during an audition, an unhappy wife seeks respite in a historic palazzo sublet. Two starkly different couples imagine parenthood during a Greek island holiday and a young girl returns from rehab, deciding to set out anew with a traveling circus. A man in crisis draws his ex-lover deep into the New Mexico desert.
 
With spellbinding clarity, the six masterly stories in Animal Spirit inhabit the minds and hearts of Marciano’s characters. They chronicle deeply human moments of realization and recognition, indelible instants of irrevocable change—epiphanies sometimes sparked by our connection with animals and the primal power they show us.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Italy, Italian Literature, Cultural, Animals, Anthologies

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2020

About the author

Francesca Marciano is an Italian novelist and a screen writer. She has lived in New York and in Kenya for many years. To date she has written three novels and two collections of short stories : “Rules of the Wild”, listed as one of the NYT notable books of the year, ”Casa Rossa”, “The End of Manners”, “The Other Language” shortlisted for the Story Prize in 2014 and "Animal Spirit". She’s currently living in Rome.

Reviews

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

Short story collections can sometimes be hit and miss with me, several gems and a few that are forgotten as soon as I close the book. Francesca Marciano’s new collection, Animal Spirit, contains only six short stories but each is exquisitely crafted, solid and memorable. This was the second collection of hers that I have read, the other being the superb The Other Language, a finalist for The Story Prize. I can now officially say that she is one of my favorite authors working in short fiction. It is high time I check out her novels.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Is there a shared brain that connects us all if we listen carefully to one another, an instinct that allows us to move in sync, without hurting one another, toward a safer place?”

This is the core theme behind Animal Spirit, a collection of six short stories mostly set in Rome, mostly involving the interconnections between humans and animals or humans and their animal spirit. From hawks and falcons to snow-colored snakes and adorable puppies, the stories leverage animals to tackle the very human tenets of commitment, betrayal, loss, and growth.

In the first, Terrible Things Happen To Us, a couple involved in an illicit affair – both married – experience a seismic shift in their relationship when the woman loses her husband. We see the effect of this shift from all perspectives, including innocent participants – the man’s wife and both of their children.

“There Might Be Blood” focuses on a woman who is on a temporary break from her unhappy marriage, who must deal with aggressive sea gulls who take over her terrace. She hires a sea gull remover with a hawk to chase them away, but the avian aggression lays bare her own rage and thirst for revenge.

In the eponymous story, two couples – one an established gay couple and the other a new heterosexual pairing – experience insights and transformations in their relationship when they share a Greek Island holiday and all co-parent an adorable lost puppy.

Other stories deal with a happily married woman who goes on a sojourn to New Mexico to help her bipolar ex-lover, a woman just out of rehab who follows a snake-charmer and joins a circus, and a film director in Rome who happens across an actress who inadvertently was responsible for his older sister’s death years ago.

Although her first collection, The Other Language, is stronger, Animal Spirit is still a very enjoyable and well-written grouping of stories. My attention never wavered.

[Story · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid collection of stories, filled with relatable characters facing relatable dilemmas. I enjoyed the international settings, the author's descriptive powers and the compelling nature of the conflict each character is working through. In places, these stories felt a little unfinished and the prose a little unpolished so it wasn't my favourite book from Marciano. I'd still recommend it for those who like realistic short stories without the kind of magical realism that is prevalent in so many short story collections today.

[sylvie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved every short story in Animal Spirit. Francesca Marciano is a talented writer. This is such an elegantly written book. Joy and heartache are handled with an unsentimental pen, and touch your senses with human understanding.

Read it, even if short stories isn't your usual fare

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so glad I took a chance on this story collection. Of course, I was smitten by the gorgeous cover but these six stories are beautifully written. A lovely discovery. 4.5 stars

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read and loved all but one of the authors books, always giving us a hard look at the realities of life, and the frailty of the human spirit.
I normally do not go for short stories as I find it is hard to get a thorough read on the characters, but in this case I found it interesting to she how she developed the stories, keeping us guessing and how the animals in the stories, to me, became a catalyst for change in one of her characters.
A great mix of scenarios and places, to bring her stories to reality.
I really enjoyed the book and cannot wait for something more from this author.
I absolutely love the cover of this book.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for a copy of this book.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really solid short story collection by an author with an interesting narrative voice. Longer review later.

[Ronny · Rating 3 out of 5]

HERMES

[Shannon A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely captivating in a subtle & sublime way. Marciano is a master.
I didn't want to put this book down; nor did I want any of her stories to end.

I stayed up way too late (Early?) to finish this new collection.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Francesca Marciano's writing so much. This collection of stories is exquisite, and the titular "Animal Spirit" is my favorite.

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were fine. Very interesting, despite not being my favorite genre for short stories. I did like the way Rome was featured in several of them-- it gave the stories a very strong sense of place.

[Jenna M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the short story collection I have been looking for all year. Love.

[Joanne Serling · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite writers, Marciano writes about men, women and love (and lust) like nobody else and I always finish her books in a day or two. This collection was no different. And yet despite the quick reading experience, the stories have stayed with me for weeks. An unforgettable journey into the hearts and minds of flawed and lovable characters.

[Cherise Wolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second story collection by Marciano that I've read this month. Six longish stories mostly set in Rome. In one, a married woman having an affair with a married man is suddenly widowed, told from multiple perspectives -- the widow, the married lover, his wife, her children -- the story is deeply layered; in another, a New York woman discovers her husband is having an affair and decamps to Rome and finds herself seeking out a falconer to rid her terrace of hostile seagulls; in another, a famous film director in Rome to cast for a movie he's shooting there, meets the girl, now a woman, who caused a death in his family. Intriguing and compelling.

[Paola R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some writers that resonate with me the most came to me by chance. Francesca Marciano is one of them. I came across Rules of the Wild many years ago during a trip to Boston. I don't recall where the book was, but I know I didn't purchase it​ (oddly enough, another beloved writer, Joan Didion, came to me the same way: I found The Year of Magical Thinking in 2005 on a bookshelf in a tiny bed and breakfast in Tulum, Mexico - the book came home to New York with me ...). I started reading Rules of the Wild, and it immediately enraptured me. I then discovered that a new novel ​by the same author ​would come out shortly after. That was Casa Rossa, a novel that would become one of my all-time favorite books. I read and reread it in both Italian and English several times through the years. As an Italian living in New York City, feeling bicultural, it resonated with me. It's also written perfectly ​and ​cinematically (Marciano is also a screenwriter in Italy)​, evoking the 20th century in Italy​ in such a vivid manner I fell in love with the characters, the setting, the story, everything. I read everything she has published so far, and in each book, I find recurrent themes (the death of a parent, sisterhood,​ ​Greece in the summer, Kenya, Taos in New Mexico, Rome, of course).
The common thread ​in the stories in this collection is​ these raw emotions that flow ​through​ the characters, ​who are all at a pivotal point in their lives (each in different geographical regions, as it was with the previous story collection, "The Other Language," which I also really liked), and each story features an animal that, in a way, represents the emotion, often hidden within and from ​the character​; these are ​somewhat primordial emotions that we all have​ but of which we're often unaware. I found the "animal" theme fascinating and ​enjoyed some stories more than others (The Callback, Indian Land, and Animal Spirit were the most poignant​ to me).

I gave it four stars because nothing can be as good as Casa Rossa.

[Celeste Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wish i could read these stories in italian. the opening story about an affair, daughters from both sides and a shocking denouement at a restaurant is eye popping but cinema real.

Just finished these stories and actually they were clearly written in English (the author most luckily lives in rome); they are each remarkable in their telling, although they almost one and all leave you desirous of just a little more. There is one about a woman who gets pulled back into a situation with her ex lover who is on the other side of the earth having a major league bipolar 1 manic episode -and how she gets him out of a psychiatric hold, goes with him to taos new mexico where they get sucked up into his (and its - meaning the pueblo sacred land) energy. she's able to save him at great cost. the depiction of a manic episode and they look, feel, and behave is stunningly well done. Then there's the story of the woman in the midst of a marital breakdown who escapes to rome to figure out her life only to be 'harassed' by seagulls, whereupon she meets a seagull fixer - a falconist (?) who brings out her inner animal energy. Beautiful and visceral. of course, the bipolar story reminded me of one of many many episodes with michael - which seems incredibly long ago (and is long ago) and yet feels all too real still, even over 10 years on. i'd like to read one of her novels next but have no idea which!

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of this collection would seem to suggest that these stories are about animals. Although they haunt these stories, animals are not their primary focus. The animals are there to evoke relational dynamics¬—predator-prey, friend-foe, dominant-dependent, savior-enemy, trusted-betrayer. These stories are instead about how humans seem to have so much difficulty with relationship issues. Yet they come quite naturally to animals. Using remarkably few pages, Marciano succeeds in immersing one into the lives of six interesting, complex and believable women, while never failing to show compassion and understanding for their humanity.

“Terrible Things Could Happen to Us” is about what happens to an extramarital affair when the less dominant partner’s spouse unexpectedly dies. Marciano cleverly employs shifting perspectives and a surprising climax to show the arc of this relationship.

In “The Girl” Marciano uses the cliché of “running away to the circus” to follow a teenage girl’s emotional journey from rural poverty and drug rehab to communion with snakes and circus performers.

Two couples share a vacation cottage in “Animal Spirit.” Marciano explores differences in attitudes toward commitment between the more established gay couple and the younger unmarried heterosexuals. Issues come to head when the group splinters over their decisions about how to deal with a lost puppy.

“Indian Land” is a remarkable blend of madness with environmental protection. A man suffering from a manic episode in New Mexico contacts his former lover in Rome. She travels to his aid. She is awestruck by the natural beauty of the land and, in spite of his obvious mental health issue, comes to understand his obsession with the place.

A woman takes a Roman holiday from her failing marriage in “There Might Be Blood.” She contracts with a falconer to rid her balcony of hyper aggressive seagulls. In addition, she gets a first-hand lesson in how the law of the jungle works and how it may apply to what her situation.

A remarkable coincidence gives an actress insight into the lasting impact of a fatal accident in “The Call Back.” Marciano uses the image of swoops of swallows to highlight the importance of unspoken communication in this last story.

This collection is a real gem because the stories are thoughtful and consistently excellent.

[Emma Linnea · Rating 1 out of 5]

⭐.5/5. Rounded down to a 1.

Honestly, I should have DNF:ed this one, so I feel a bit bad giving it such a bad rating when I know there are people out there who would really enjoy these stories, but hear me out.

This was the synopsis Goodreads provided the book:

Centered in Rome but transporting us into worlds as varied and alluring as they are emotionally real, Francesca Marciano's stories paint landscapes that are populated--vividly, hauntingly--by animals: from violent seagulls and starlings circling the evening sky in exhilarating formation to magical snakes and a tiny dog on the side of a deserted road.

In unforgettable, cinematic frames, events unfold, especially in the lives of women. An affair ends painfully at a dinner table, an actress's past comes crashing down on her during an audition, an unhappy wife seeks respite in a historic palazzo sublet. Two starkly different couples imagine parenthood during a Greek island holiday and a young girl returns from rehab, deciding to set out anew with a traveling circus. A man in crisis draws his ex-lover deep into the New Mexico desert.

With spellbinding clarity, the six masterly stories in Animal Spirit inhabit the minds and hearts of Marciano's characters. They chronicle deeply human moments of realization and recognition, indelible instants of irrevocable change--epiphanies sometimes sparked by our connection with animals and the primal power they show us.

Given the title of the book and this synopsis, I felt a bit cheated when only half of the stories actually contained animals. I thought the stories were going to be a bit more gritty whilst exploring the animal instinct in humans, and I was a bit disappointed when that wasn’t the case. This, however, wasn’t the biggest issue I had with these stories.

The thing is, I was just so bored throughout the whole thing. Every time I started a new story, I was waiting for something to hook and reel me in, but nothing ever did. The Girl, Indian Land and The Callback had me a bit in the beginning, but it wore off pretty quickly, which was a shame. I also didn’t connect with the writing. Somehow it managed to be descriptive without evoking an atmospheric setting for me, which is something I highly value in books.

The few things I did like weren't worth dragging myself through the rest, unfortunately.

[Michelle McGrane · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I received the opportunity to review Francesca Marciano’s second short story collection ‘Animal Spirits’, I was reading her debut story collection ‘The Other Language’. I have loved Marciano’s keenly-observed, descriptive and elegant writing ever since I read her novel, ‘Casa Rossa’, for which she was the recipient of the Rapallo Carige Prize in 2003.

Enchanting and spellbinding, Marciano’s vividly painted, very different six stories in ‘Animal Spirits’ are set in Italy, New Mexico and on a Greek Island. From screeching seagulls, a flight of swallows and a falcon to a puppy on a Grecian island called Hermes and a seven-foot Burmese python named Snow, the stories are populated with animals, which, at times, lead into the jungle of rage, instinct and desire within each of us, and explore the ways people’s animalistic instincts drive relationships.

This collection is remarkable for its range of emotional registers together with the unsettling atmospheres which surround the characters. An affair ends painfully at a dinner table (‘Terrible Things Could Happen to Us’); a young girl returns from rehab, deciding to set out anew with a travelling circus (‘The Girl’); two starkly different couples imagine parenthood during a Greek island holiday after co-parenting a lost puppy (‘Animal Spirit’); a man in crises draws his ex-lover deep into the New Mexico desert (‘Indian Land’); an unhappy wife from New York seeks respite in a historic palazzo sublet (‘There Might Be Blood’), and an actress’s past comes crashing down on her during an audition (‘The Callback’).

Diving into a good short story is a transformative experience. They are more than just a quick fix of fiction for the time-strapped. When crafted well, they allow us to immerse ourselves in strange minds and foreign worlds.

A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @PantheonBooks for a review copy of ‘Animal Spirits’ in exchange for an honest review.

[Calyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Animal Spirit is such a gorgeous, clear-eyed portrayal of the complexities of the human experience, and in each story, these multitudes of feelings and schemes and plans for the future become tied in with the freedom and simplicity of animals. Animals, and especially birds, are used to refer to inner strength and a return to wildness that's been lost from the human characters.

I adore story collections set in a very specific place, where the setting almost becomes another character or the story itself, not a backdrop used for convenience. Setting many of the stories in Rome or the characters having to go back home to Rome was actually sort of intimate, due to the respect and warmth toward the setting. And using animals as a recurring symbol? That is my Achilles heel.

My favorite stories were "The Girl" and "Indian Land". Those two just really delivered gutpunches and I was--but I wasn't--expecting either of their ends. The characterization and the usage of setting was phenomenal and succinct. Pretty much every single story was a 4 or a 4.5 star story, but the one that felt unfinished was "There Might Be Blood". It was also good, but it felt like it was missing a couple of pages of development or resolution.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pantheon Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Seher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories, that are centered in Rome with landscapes that are populated by animals: from violent seagulls to magical snakes and a tiny dog on the side of a deserted road.

All of the characters are weirdly powerless in their own relationships, unable to negotiate in any way shape, or form, it's through these animals that they gain some control over their situations or are able to articulate their desires. The gulls need to be put down for the woman to regain some control over her life after all her husband's infidelity, the abandoned puppy is a symbol for the sort of domestic bliss each couple is looking for, while the snakes are the power that the girl is looking for.

Each story seemed to elicit a different reaction from me. I hated the mother in Terrible Things Could Happen to Us and her neglect for the sake of love, and while I thought the narrator's description of Teo in Indian Land was beautiful (the sort of complicated, fragile relationship you know you have with someone, that goes beyond love), I despised and pitied Teo at the same time. The Girl and Animal Spirit were fantastic stories, with Animal Spirit my favorite in this book.

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read and review this!

[Jennifer Spiegel]

She's an Italian writer, living in Rome, who has multiple books written in English. That always blows me away. I guess I first encountered RULES OF THE WILD in 1999, and this is my third of hers. I hope to read the others soon?

I just raved about the last book I read, so it seems odd for me to rave about this one too! But I really think she's a great writer. I won't go nuts, but I think there's this combo worth noting at play in her prose: pretty exotic locales (a holiday in Greece, a shaman-esque experience near Taos NM, the streets of Rome, a traveling circus with Eastern European trapeze artists and the like), very strong writing (good stuff!), and a subtle understanding of people (women?).

She does make you want to be on a terrace on a spring day in Rome . . .

It's got great imagery:
"a cramp like an octopus clutching his lower abdomen"
"Aspen trees are like pastry shops for animals when there's nothing left to eat in the winter."

There's a lot. She doesn't disappoint.

[janne Boswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It took some time to get into the stories, as the Author has a unique writing style, somewhat stern, and matter of fact. But, the stories were engaging and interesting. All of the stories, involve humans and animals. I thought she did an excellent job, making the correlation.
I particularly enjoyed the 2nd story, "There May be Blood". A woman vacationing in Rome, unhappy in her marriage and separated from her husband. She discovers a flock of seagulls living on her terrace, who are threatening and dangerous. She hires a falconer to tame the seagulls and he unwittingly, dies a horrible death. Its clear her rage and spite for her husband leads to the demise of the falconer.
Very well done!
I look forward to reading other works by this Author.

jb
https://seniorbooklounge.blogspot.com/

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Marciano's last story collection but struggled to connect with this one. The stories are all about transient human connection at some level and the struggle to find lasting relationships, whether with friends, lovers, or parents. While I found the themes interesting, I felt like most of the stories had a very diffuse quality and nearly forget them as soon as I finished reading. As an author who has typically been very skilled at conjuring a sense of place, these stories mostly felt like they could take place anywhere and somehow the characters also felt like they could be anyone--unhappy wives, awkward friends, affectionate exes. The one exception was The Girl. That's a great story.

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animal Spirit is a collection of 6 short stories. Marciano’s characters are imperfect and real, unlike characters written for fictional purposes, they are flawed and visceral. The emotional parts are brilliantly imagined with animal characteristics. These are short stories, so don’t expect a definite start and end point. They make the reader think and feel!! The synopsis may make this sound like a magical realism story, but it really isn’t which was a disappointment for me, because I love realism stories/novels. I have to check out more of Marciano’s works

Thank you Pantheon/Double day books and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest opinion.

[isra · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Animal Spirit” leaves you walking away saying “huh”. I fucking loved it. Marciano captured different peoples and their thinking so masterfully. I got pretty upset when some stories ended which is how I knew I was in love. It is a year later and I have been thinking about the collection even know.

This was the first story collection I read. I care very little for story collections and never finished a single story if I tried. But with “Animal Spirit”, I walked away from every story like walking away from a hearty meal. Fulfilling. I realized I was reading only after there were no lines left. An incredible feat.

It is obvious I’m in love with the piece.

[Janie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six spellbinding stories are in Author #Francesca Marciano’s new novel ‘#Animal Spirit ‘.They chronicle
deeply human moments of realization and recognition, indelible instants I’d irrevocable change- epiphanies sometimes sparked by our connection with animals and the primal power they show us.
She has many other books also that look so fascinating. So when your done with this wonderful novel you might take a look.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, #Francesca Marciano and #Penguin Random House

[Terry Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this collection of short stories by Marciano, which explores relationships, longing, loneliness, and marriage and the animal instincts within us. I read Rules of the Wild years ago and loved it, and enjoyed this collection by Marciano nearly as much. Marciano is a master at identifying tensions and unvoiced desires in relationships and exploring how these impact women, in particular. Fabulous sense of place in every story (which span Italy to Greece to USA).

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of short stories will relish this collection of six. They have various settings which are vividly described but all feature animals, if only in cameo. Each story involves a character on the precipice of change. It's a slim volume but perfect to keep by your bedside-read them one at a time. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

[ao_always_reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an amazing collection of stories. This was a joy to read. Each story draws you in and you feel the animal spirit captured, the lure of the unknown, violence, sexuality, companionship, rage and more.

I have not previously spent a lot of time reading a lot of short story compilations, but I am glad I have read this one and encourage you to take the time to read this one too.