"Hebe Uhart's characters are made of an almost palpable material. They
are alive, and they seem to emerge from the page to tell us, 'This one
here is me, that one over there could be you.'" -- Alejandra Costamagna,
The Paris Review
*"*Reading Hebe Uhart we laugh a lot, although we are never sure if what
we've read is just a joke, because in her words there is also, above
all, precision and wisdom . . ." -- Alejandro Zambra
Hebe Uhart's Animals tells of piglets that snack on crackers, parrots
that rehearse their words at night, southern screamers that lurk at the
front door of a decrepit aunt's house, and, of course, human animals,
whose presence is treated with the same inquisitive sharpness and
sweetness that marks all of Uhart's work.
Animals is a joyous reordering of attention towards the beings with
whom we share the planet. In prose that tracks the goings on of
creatures who care little what we do or say, a refreshing humility
emerges, and with it a newfound pleasure in the everyday.
Watching a whistling heron, Uhart writes, "that rebellious crest gives
it a lunatic air." Birds in the park and dogs in the street will hold a
different interest after reading Uhart's blissful foray into playful
zoology.
