Aug 29

Aug 29 Nightbitch

Author: Rachel Yoder
Publisher: Doubleday
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

One day, the mother was a mother but then, one night, she was quite suddenly something else ...

At home full-time with her two-year-old son, an artist finds she is struggling. She is lonely and exhausted. She had imagined - what was it she had imagined? Her husband, always traveling for his work, calls her from faraway hotel rooms. One more toddler bedtime, and she fears she might lose her mind.

Instead, quite suddenly, she starts gaining things, surprising things that happen one night when her child will not sleep. Sharper canines. Strange new patches of hair. New appetites, new instincts. And from deep within herself, a new voice ...

With its clear eyes on contemporary womanhood and sharp take on structures of power, Nightbitch is an outrageously original, joyfully subversive read that will make you want to howl in laughter and recognition. Addictive enough to be devoured in one sitting, this is an unforgettable novel from a blazing new talent.

TL;DR Review

Nightbitch is a wild trip of well-written, feminist magical realism. Rachel Yoder’s depiction of motherhood and the animal that lives inside us rings true, even for those (like me) who aren’t mothers.

For you if: You like weird books and/or literary short stories (it has a similar feel).

Full Review

“This must be what it means to be an animal, to look at another and say, I am so much that other thing that we are part of one another. Here is my skin. Here yours. Beneath the moon, we pile inside the warm cave, becoming one creature to save our warmth. We breathe together and dream together. This is how it has always been and how it will continue to be. We keep each other alive through an unbroken lineage of togetherness.”

The internet has been abuzz about Nightbitch since its release in mid-July, and it’s no wonder why. This was a good one, folks. A weird one in the best way; a smart, deeply metaphorical use of magical realism with prose that cuts like a knife. I read it in a single afternoon.

The novel is about a woman, “the mother,” who used to direct an art museum but is now a stay-at-home mom to a toddler. As she feels her sense of identity slip further away, she notices curious changes to her body that lead to one conclusion: She’s turning into a dog. I don’t want to say much more for fear of spoilers, but what follows goes deep below the surface of reality to comment on motherhood, identity, power, anger, art, and the most animalistic part of our shared humanity.

What’s really noteworthy about this one, I think, is how relatable it is, even for women who are not mothers. I found myself completely immersed, curious, and outraged. And again, the prose was just so good — spiky but smooth, economical but not sparse, flowing and engaging.

If you like literary short stories, especially those that dip into the unreal to comment on the real, I think you’ll like this book. Born out of a single metaphor, it has a similar vibe.