It's Hard to Be an Animal — Robert Isaacs

For readers of Shark Heart and Hollow Kingdom, a funny, magical, and tender debut novel following a lonely, conflict-averse man whose sudden ability to understand animals sends him on a wild romp around NYC, and ultimately helps him discover his own voice.  Strolling through Central Park on a blind date with the hilarious, irrepressible Molly Bent, Henry Parsons feels hopeful for the first time in years. He’s even daring to wonder if he and Molly might have a future together... when a migratory warbler, the sweetest of little birds, tells him to f*** off.  A gentle soul, troubled enough by the unkindness of fellow humans, Henry tries to brush the moment aside as a hallucination.  But soon he’s hearing voices everywhere:  dogs mocking their owners, sparrows fat-shaming each other, police horses profiling attendees at a street fair — even a pontificating, misogynistic snake.  The man who never speaks up for himself is now besieged by animals who do. When (inevitably) he overhears three rats discussing a corpse in the New York subway, he lets it slip to Molly. She’s keen to investigate, and Henry’s desperate for a second date, so he follows her nervously into an abandoned tunnel under the West Fourth Street Station.  There, sure enough, they find a body... and the murderers find them. Cue the most terrifying week of this cautious man’s life.  Inspiration and courage arrive, unexpectedly, from a pair of feuding betta fish and the neighbor’s yapping Pomeranian — whose wisdom will transform both Henry and Molly forever.