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violetturtledove's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I mistakenly thought from the description of this story as a 'fairytale' it might be a bit too cute and saccharine. It is not. The best fairytales are actually a mix of magic and horror, and so is this book. And although I have no personal experience I believe the same could be said for motherhood!
You've got to suspend your disbelief for this one and not ask too many questions. Is the narrator reliable? How much of this is literal and how much is metaphor? Is this our world seen through a different lens, or do different rules apply here? How do we reconcile Tiny's experiences with the reactions of those around her (are they overreacting at something slightly out of the ordinary, or being shockingly calm in the face of a medical marvel?). The morals of the story, and the balance of magic and horror, changes quite a bit depending on how literally you take it.
Does the owl-baby represent a trans child, a disabled child, an autistic child? All of these fit in some ways but not others. Some of the details of the book may recall some of these experiences, but it's not a straightforward allegory of anything more specific than 'letting your child be themself'. Or maybe just 'this is what being a parent is like'. In the words of the author 'the child in the novel is an owl'.
It's sweet but also very unsettling, and I felt frustrated on Tiny's behalf as her opinions are constantly ignored, her feelings dismissed and her actions misinterpreted. And fair warning (hopefully not too much of a spoiler in a book about an apex predator), there's a lot of animal death. But if you can handle these aspects it's well worth reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
astridrv's review against another edition
A poetic exploration of motherhood, what it means to connect, support, depend, love, defend, fight, accept, change, cherish.
How do we talk, how do we see, how do we understand, how do we care for in a world so entangled with norms and in lives so defined by primordial co-dependency? Those were the questions I found within this tale about ableism, queerness and normativity dashed with magical realism and wilderness. Sometimes a bit too didactic, and maybe a bit repetitive when there was so much to explore, but overall successful at repeatedly stabbing me in the heart.
Still want listen to the music at the end of the book, but here are some quotes :
"Is this what it means to be a mother, then? To be in constant, irrational conflict with one's own child? To be constantly challenged by the stubborn will of a creature who doesn't respond to logic or reason, and who always wins?"
"The feeling is something like fear, but it isn't fear. It's more like an acknowledgement that he is going to die one day. (...) He can't stop thinking about how his body is not much more than a bag of water, waiting to be broken."
"I'm not sure I like it, but I listen very carefully because I want to believe in you, and before long I'm falling forward into a sound-world of your making."
"He's all fired up. A week ago, you were a hopeless case to him, and of no interest at all, and he did everything possible to avoid remembering that you existed because he hated the feeling of being powerless to change you. But now your father has hope."
"And as I watch you eat that rat - the fresh offal hanging down from your beak - I truly understood, maybe for the first time, what it means to be a mother. One day you won't need me, Chouette. It's only natural. The day will come when you feast upon my liver and fly away, leaving the rest of me for the scavengers. It's a wonder that any woman ever agrees to be a mother, when the fruits of motherhood are inevitably conflict and remorse, to be followed by death and disembowlement."
"He is convinced that there is a perfect dog-child in you somewhere. He just needs to keep poking holes in you until the holes are so big that a perfect dog-child can crawl right out of your body."
"To your father I am a box that needs to be opened on his way to helping you, and it doesn't really matter to him if he finds the key to me, or if he needs to smash me open with a hammer."
"Is life nothing more than a continuous retreat from our own true selves, as we're hammered into shape (...)?"
"Life is, in fact, a battle, and the pursuit of goodess is a fragile aspriation when survival calls for ruthless cruelty, especially from mothers."
"I come to a startling realization: that the world is populated not only by dog-people, but by all kinds of people, by cow-people and wolf-people, armadillo-people and cat-people, toad-people and nomads, and small town librarians; (...) They're waiting at bus stops, and peering out car windows, and crossing in crosswalks. They're embracing in optimistic, joyful celebration of their love for one another. They're selling melons and cabbage. They're digging ditches."
"And maybe my heart lightens a little, and maybe not."
How do we talk, how do we see, how do we understand, how do we care for in a world so entangled with norms and in lives so defined by primordial co-dependency? Those were the questions I found within this tale about ableism, queerness and normativity dashed with magical realism and wilderness. Sometimes a bit too didactic, and maybe a bit repetitive when there was so much to explore, but overall successful at repeatedly stabbing me in the heart.
Still want listen to the music at the end of the book, but here are some quotes :
"Is this what it means to be a mother, then? To be in constant, irrational conflict with one's own child? To be constantly challenged by the stubborn will of a creature who doesn't respond to logic or reason, and who always wins?"
"The feeling is something like fear, but it isn't fear. It's more like an acknowledgement that he is going to die one day. (...) He can't stop thinking about how his body is not much more than a bag of water, waiting to be broken."
"I'm not sure I like it, but I listen very carefully because I want to believe in you, and before long I'm falling forward into a sound-world of your making."
"He's all fired up. A week ago, you were a hopeless case to him, and of no interest at all, and he did everything possible to avoid remembering that you existed because he hated the feeling of being powerless to change you. But now your father has hope."
"And as I watch you eat that rat - the fresh offal hanging down from your beak - I truly understood, maybe for the first time, what it means to be a mother. One day you won't need me, Chouette. It's only natural. The day will come when you feast upon my liver and fly away, leaving the rest of me for the scavengers. It's a wonder that any woman ever agrees to be a mother, when the fruits of motherhood are inevitably conflict and remorse, to be followed by death and disembowlement."
"He is convinced that there is a perfect dog-child in you somewhere. He just needs to keep poking holes in you until the holes are so big that a perfect dog-child can crawl right out of your body."
"To your father I am a box that needs to be opened on his way to helping you, and it doesn't really matter to him if he finds the key to me, or if he needs to smash me open with a hammer."
"Is life nothing more than a continuous retreat from our own true selves, as we're hammered into shape (...)?"
"Life is, in fact, a battle, and the pursuit of goodess is a fragile aspriation when survival calls for ruthless cruelty, especially from mothers."
"I come to a startling realization: that the world is populated not only by dog-people, but by all kinds of people, by cow-people and wolf-people, armadillo-people and cat-people, toad-people and nomads, and small town librarians; (...) They're waiting at bus stops, and peering out car windows, and crossing in crosswalks. They're embracing in optimistic, joyful celebration of their love for one another. They're selling melons and cabbage. They're digging ditches."
"And maybe my heart lightens a little, and maybe not."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder
imrereads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow! What an incredible story, written so beautifully and melodically. I want to echo the quotes on the cover of ny edition, calling it magnificent, a marvel, and sublime.
This is the story of a mother (Tiny) and her child (Chouette), her owl-baby, this little one with her strange apparence, who will never learn to walk or talk and causes chaos wherever she goes. Her mother loves her for who she is while the father want to try any and every treatmwnt available to make her better (or rather make her normative — because underneath the strange magical realism we find a story about parenting a non-normative child.)
This is a strange and queer book about fierce motherly love, disability and ability, and breaking free from expectations. It opens with this wonderful passage:
"I dream I'm making tender love with an owl. The next morning I see talon marks across my chest that trace the path of my owl-lober's embrace. Two weeks later I learn that I'm pregnant.
You may wonder: How could such a thing come to pass between a woman and an owl?
I, too, am astounded, because my owl-lover was a woman."
This is the story of a mother (Tiny) and her child (Chouette), her owl-baby, this little one with her strange apparence, who will never learn to walk or talk and causes chaos wherever she goes. Her mother loves her for who she is while the father want to try any and every treatmwnt available to make her better (or rather make her normative — because underneath the strange magical realism we find a story about parenting a non-normative child.)
This is a strange and queer book about fierce motherly love, disability and ability, and breaking free from expectations. It opens with this wonderful passage:
"I dream I'm making tender love with an owl. The next morning I see talon marks across my chest that trace the path of my owl-lober's embrace. Two weeks later I learn that I'm pregnant.
You may wonder: How could such a thing come to pass between a woman and an owl?
I, too, am astounded, because my owl-lover was a woman."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, and Blood
readingpicnic's review against another edition
5.0
I was hooked by the first page! Such weird and captivating writing that I finished it in one day. Such a heartbreaking story about the isolation of motherhood coupled with having a disabled child that her husband wants to “fix” (autism speaks vibes). I love how she never gave up on her owl daughter and that she understood that there was nothing to fix about her daughter; that the world needs to be fixed to be a more accessible and accepting place for Chouette. I loved the queerness of this book as well, in all its many layers. Overall, a stellar book. This is like The Fifth Child if the mom hadn’t been ableist also.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
vishnork's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Abortion
alyssapusateri's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, and Abortion
Minor: Cursing, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting
i'm not really sure how to tag this considering there is such a mix of metaphors or what i thought were metaphors... i don't even knowbillcbentley's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Body horror
ada_elisabeth's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Welcome back to my Hot Takes on Random Books! This one was absolutely wild.
I do not know what to make of this book. It's surreal, it's confusing, yes. But it's also oddly enchanting? The writing was very good-- although some people have critiqued Claire Oshetsky's unique writing style in this novel, I loved it. However, that was pretty much the only thing that I loved. I read the first one hundred and forty pages ravenously, thinking that Chouette would be another easy five-star book. But by page one sixty, my excitement had worn off and I was beginning to dislike the story. Ten pages later, I was once again enthralled, but by page two hundred, I was back to loathing it. While there were a few high points between page two hundred and the end, I overall did not enjoy most of it, which is a shame because the rest of the book was fairly decent.
Basically, Tiny gives birth to an owl-baby having cheated on her husband with her owl-lover. (Not a spoiler, this is all established from the very beginning.) Tiny's husband thinks that the owl-baby, Chouette, can become more like a normal human with a series of therapies, surgeries, and treatments. Tiny wants to leave her owl-baby how it is. If interpreted literally, I would agree with Tiny's father. If there was an option to have my owl-child turned into a normal child, then of course I would take it. If I had chosen to interpret this book in a literal sense, I would have given it one star. However, if the owl-baby is seen as a metaphor for a child who is human, but different from other kids due to something like autism, the book becomes a whole lot better. I won't bore you with all of my thoughts, but I will say this: I think that a mix of what Tiny wants and what her husband wants is okay for Chouette, until she is old enough to express what she wants .
Other than that, this book was just decent. Not a single character was likable, I wanted them all to just shut up and go away. The writing was great, and it almost made up for everything else being mediocre. Also, I do really like the cover. The only other thing I could think of to say is that I didn't understand or enjoy the ending at all. I usually rate a book based on how good I thought the ending was, and this one was very vague, which wasn't my favorite. (view spoiler) I also suspect that Tiny might be gay? (view spoiler)
I would describe this book as surreal, haunting, and enchanting, but I doubt I would ever recommend it to someone. I'm not sure if I'll read Oshetsky's next novel, Poor Deer, but I will continue to follow their reviewer account on Goodreads. 4.25/5 stars, rounded down.
Update from, like, twenty minutes after I wrote this review: I do realize this book is about motherhood, and because I am not a mother, I can't really relate to it. It doesn't change how I feel about it, I just think that this book would definitely hit mothers a little harder than it hit me.
I do not know what to make of this book. It's surreal, it's confusing, yes. But it's also oddly enchanting? The writing was very good-- although some people have critiqued Claire Oshetsky's unique writing style in this novel, I loved it. However, that was pretty much the only thing that I loved. I read the first one hundred and forty pages ravenously, thinking that Chouette would be another easy five-star book. But by page one sixty, my excitement had worn off and I was beginning to dislike the story. Ten pages later, I was once again enthralled, but by page two hundred, I was back to loathing it. While there were a few high points between page two hundred and the end, I overall did not enjoy most of it, which is a shame because the rest of the book was fairly decent.
Basically, Tiny gives birth to an owl-baby having cheated on her husband with her owl-lover. (Not a spoiler, this is all established from the very beginning.) Tiny's husband thinks that the owl-baby, Chouette, can become more like a normal human with a series of therapies, surgeries, and treatments. Tiny wants to leave her owl-baby how it is. If interpreted literally, I would agree with Tiny's father. If there was an option to have my owl-child turned into a normal child, then of course I would take it. If I had chosen to interpret this book in a literal sense, I would have given it one star. However, if the owl-baby is seen as a metaphor for a child who is human, but different from other kids due to something like autism, the book becomes a whole lot better. I won't bore you with all of my thoughts, but I will say this: I think that a mix of what Tiny wants and what her husband wants is okay for Chouette, until she is old enough to express what she wants .
Other than that, this book was just decent. Not a single character was likable, I wanted them all to just shut up and go away. The writing was great, and it almost made up for everything else being mediocre. Also, I do really like the cover. The only other thing I could think of to say is that I didn't understand or enjoy the ending at all. I usually rate a book based on how good I thought the ending was, and this one was very vague, which wasn't my favorite. (view spoiler) I also suspect that Tiny might be gay? (view spoiler)
I would describe this book as surreal, haunting, and enchanting, but I doubt I would ever recommend it to someone. I'm not sure if I'll read Oshetsky's next novel, Poor Deer, but I will continue to follow their reviewer account on Goodreads. 4.25/5 stars, rounded down.
Update from, like, twenty minutes after I wrote this review: I do realize this book is about motherhood, and because I am not a mother, I can't really relate to it. It doesn't change how I feel about it, I just think that this book would definitely hit mothers a little harder than it hit me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
desireewoodwhite's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The idea of the novel was quite intriguing, but I didn’t enjoy the writing style.. so the story and its characters really felt flat and kinda boring even.
Maybe I spoiled the read for myself by constantly comparing this one with Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova, which I absolutely loved!
Maybe I spoiled the read for myself by constantly comparing this one with Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova, which I absolutely loved!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Toxic relationship
freyagee's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Car accident, Abortion, and Abandonment
Minor: Cursing