{
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    "language": "en-US",
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  "title": "It’s Hard to Be an Animal",
  "subtitle": null,
  "slug": "its-hard-to-be-an-animal",
  "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com/ike-baker/its-hard-to-be-an-animal",
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  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Robert Isaacs",
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  "language": "en_GB",
  "original_title": null,
  "original_language": null,
  "first_published": "2026-06-04",
  "genres": [
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      "heading": "Fiction: literary and general non-genre"
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    {
      "code": "FL",
      "heading": "Science fiction"
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      "heading": "Fantasy"
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  "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/grand-central-publishing/robert-isaacs/its-hard-to-be-an-animal_978-15-3877-328-4.jpg?v=2026-04-27%2000%3A44%3A23",
  "description": "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.",
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      "title": "It’s Hard to Be an Animal",
      "subtitle": null,
      "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com/ike-baker/its-hard-to-be-an-animal/9781538773284",
      "publisher": "Grand Central Publishing",
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      "medium": "paper",
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      "isbn": "978-15-3877-328-4",
      "pages": null,
      "published": "2026-06-04",
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  "characters": [],
  "chapters": []
}