City Beasts

February 9, 2015
In these pages, Kurlansky (Salt), known for his masterful ability to weave compelling and epic world histories through the lens of a single food or commodity, turns to fiction. The tales share what the subtitle promisesâanimals who become characters in their own right, inserting themselves into people's lives and sometimes taking on tremendous, if not unintended, significance in the process. In âThe Gloucester Whale Cod," a man from a respected lineage of Italian fishermen in a coastal Massachusetts town risks his pride and his life to keep an enormous whale cod from market. In âMiami," the disgruntled Yoni is an Orthodox Jew who takes to feeding the crocodile in his backyard, wondering how to interpret the creature's arrival while he sheds his religious observance. When an exotic bird from Guatemala escapes from the Bronx Zoo and buzzes the Central Park boathouse in âOdd Birds in New York," local birdwatchers go to extreme lengths to watch. While the stories are original and often entertaining, there's also a tidiness and methodical quirkiness that come to feel predictable, illustrating Kurlansky's true strength remains with his nonfiction.

January 1, 2015
Prolific author Kurlansky is mostly known for his nonfiction, often writing about the history of exploitation of wildlife and other natural resources. To address the issue of wild animals dwelling among humans, however, he has written 14 suspense-filled short stories. In each, the fates of humans and animals are bound together, though the people may not even notice the crows, coyotes, or alligators that study them. Kurlansky includes elements of magic in some stories, such as in Gloucester: The Science of Happiness in North Shore Frogs and San Sebastian: Begona and the Bear. A perfect crime may occur in Miami: The Alligator Teeth of an Unknown God. The very real conflict between ranchers and conservationists permeates Idaho Locavores: A Trilogy of the Sawtooth Wolf. In these stories, readers will be torn between cheering for the animals and for the humans. It is an eat-or-be-eaten world. Be careful going out at night.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)