Reviews

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

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stevefraye's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The review blurb on the front cover says "bold" and "bizarre," perfect words to describe this, and meant in the best way.

Content Warnings

ghostmomxoxo's review against another edition

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3.0

I have so many thoughts about this book that it’s almost difficult to articulate… but let’s give it a go.

My main takeaway from this book was that I was left feeling very frustrated and aimless, I think mostly due to the fact that this book should be 100 pages shorter. Yoder does a really great job of expressing the thesis of the story very early on - motherhood is isolating and violent in ways that don’t feel suited for the human experience. The problem is that this thesis statement gets shoved in your face so often that it loses some of its impact. And just in case you missed it while working your way through the story: there is a painfully literal explanation of this concept on the second to last page.

I loved a lot of the writing in this book, and I felt as though I was really able to get inside the head of Nightbitch; Yoder does a really great job of creating these evocative and intense moments to the point where I felt like I was actually present for some of the scenes in the book. Also, I had to put the book down for an entire night because of the second hand embarrassment I got from one scene in particular.

I think Yoder really tried to combine magical realism with horror here, and missed the mark a bit, which is okay! I think the story would have been more enjoyable (at least for me) if she had really leaned in to the horror side of things.

emilyedgar's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

meganeorcx's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Absolutely unlike anything I've read before. I loved the first half of this and how it managed to fill me up with so much rage. I wish the second half had been as powerful, I feel like it became the wrong kind of messy instead. The story was all over the place and not in a seemingly intentional way, the husband's role became less clear, and it was repetitive at times. Also, minus points for that one cat scene because as a crazy cat lady, that was the worst scene I could ever read. I still very much enjoyed the overall book but I wish the ending hadn't been so boring. A book that has so much to say and so much to feel deserves to end with a bang (although I do respect how it ends, it's just less my cup of tea).