PositiveNew York Times Book ReviewAn engaging tale that doesn’t gloss over the extreme adversity and restrictions Robinson faced as a woman of much ambition and few means ... The book trails off somewhat, glossing over Robinson’s later marriage to a man who spends all her money ... The absence of other voices — readers, colleagues, friends — makes it difficult to gauge what sort of influence she actually wielded. At times Listen, World! reads less like biography than a heavily annotated, if enjoyable, memoir ... Still, much like her devoted audience, one does not tire of spending time with Elsie Robinson, nor stop wondering how many other women, with equally compelling tales, have also been lost to history.
Kayla Rae Whitaker
PositiveThe New York Times Book Review...[an] unusual and appealing debut ... There’s been no shortage in recent years of narratives exploring the complicated and often intense friendships that develop between women. But in “The Animators,” Whitaker has given us something we rarely see: a relationship between two women that also revolves around business and art ... The Animators covers familiar debut-novel territory: the search for identity, the desire for success, the bewildering experiences of small-town misfits leaving home for the bright lights of New York City. But Whitaker turns these motifs on their heads simply by changing the direction of the road and populating it with women ... If The Animators suffers from the debut novelist’s curse of trying to do too much, Whitaker’s obvious talent with dialogue and establishing a sense of place prevents it from feeling weighed down. Also, the intensity of the working relationship between these two flawed women keeps the momentum of the novel alive.
