Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Chouette

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.

Content Warnings

savvylit's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Chouette is a beautiful and brutal depiction of motherhood, mental illness, toxic marriage, and loneliness. Despite her delusions, Tiny is a main character who is easy to root for. Though she battles with postpartum depression, her absolute love for Chouette is undeniable. In direct juxtaposition, Tiny's husband is a horrible man and a textbook example of toxic masculinity manifest. He belittles all of Tiny's concerns, he ignores all signs that Tiny needs literal help, he doesn't contribute to household chores, he's distant from Chouette, and he thinks he can "fix" his child with invasive procedures. Any time the (unnamed) husband appears in the story, he is infuriating.

Utilizing magical realism, Oshetsky leaves it up to the reader to decide whether or not baby Chouette is an actual owl. I personally am firmly in the camp of readers who believe that this whole tale is a metaphor for the challenges of raising a disabled child. The way that Tiny's in-laws call her "courageous" for raising Chouette, the way that her husband is obsessed with finding medical "fixes"... It's more than clear that Tiny's isolation throughout the novel is due to other people's heartlessness and lack of understanding. The people around Tiny refuse to acknowledge her mental illness before and after her pregnancy. And they refuse to engage with Chouette, choosing to be frightened by her differences.

All in all, Chouette is an emotionally devastating book written in an engaging, lyrical manner. I highly recommend reading this - as long as you are prepared to join Chouette & Tiny as they take on the world alone.

Content Warnings

desireewoodwhite's review against another edition

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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!

Content Warnings

freyagee's review against another edition

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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

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seawarrior's review against another edition

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5.0

Chouette is a wild, lyrical novel I immediately recognized as a metaphor for raising a disabled child, specifically an autistic one. While Oshetsky relating her experience raising her autistic daughter to Tiny raising an owl-baby may seem questionable to some readers, I personally feel drawn to stories that depict trauma through allegorical and impossible means. And while Tiny suffers immensely in raising her daughter, it's Chouette who is in the most danger from a world so repulsed by her that it would dehumanize her in order to alter her natural state.

I gleefully suspended my disbelief while reading this story, relishing in Tiny's devotion to her daughter and Chouette's unembarrassed honesty and wanton destruction. Throughout the book, Chouette's father, who noticeably calls his daughter by the wrong name, refuses to interact with her unless he's found a new medical intervention. While some of these interventions are imagined, others that are briefly mentioned, such as forcing a child to ingest poisonous chemicals, are abuses that have been documented as supposed "cures" for autism: Parents are poisoning their children with bleach to 'cure' autism. These moms are trying to stop it (https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/moms-go-undercover-fight-fake-autism-cures-private-facebook-groups-n1007871). Alternately, Tiny learns what Chouette needs and frenziedly provides it for her, while warring against her private doubts that Chouette's aggressively determined father may be right that she must be profoundly altered in order to exist peacefully in the world. I was moved by the meaning of this story, and exhilarated by its unconventional approach and rich descriptions of the natural world. While this novel may not be understood, much less loved by some readers, I treasured Chouette and its strangeness.

Content Warnings

hotdrinks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

anitra2319's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I did not enjoy this book. Because it’s speculative fiction, it’s meaning is very much up for interpretation, however I interpreted Chouette as being a metaphor for raising a disabled child and I did not like the way the author chose to depict that. Kids with disabilities are not the same as violent owl babies and deserve a more accurate representation in literature that does not animalize them. I would love to hear other’s interpretations but this is not a book I would be recommending any time soon. I gave it three star because it was well written but and captivating but I did not like the overall content.

Content Warnings

conspystery's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up the audiobook of Chouette. All I knew going in was that it was a decently short literary fiction/magical realism read with some music references. I cannot even begin to describe how blown away I was upon finishing this book. Choutte is a fascinating, evocative, intensely resonant story about what it means to fit in, communicated with poignant, sharp authenticity and an undercurrent of dry, dark irony to emphasize its relevance.

I love how Choutte leans into the bizarre. This book approaches (and often reaches) disturbingness in its absurdity on every level, and not once does it shy away from that outlandishness. It commits to being figurative where it needs to be to evoke irony, and to being starkly realistic where it needs to be to emphasize the truth behind the indirect allegory. And it works exceptionally well.

My favorite example of this commitment is the narrator’s name: Tiny. She is dehumanized and dismissed as a little wife and a mere woman throughout the novel, and so her name reflects this-- as well as reflecting the internalization she has of that lack of agency. She feels small; she is minimized. Oshetsky hits the audience with this direct nominative statement of Tiny’s being right at the beginning of the novel, which I think is a massively impactful introduction to the themes the book covers. This detail, combined with the early introduction of the far less direct, difficult-to-interpret owl lover, establishes expectations for the book’s handling of the figurative and the metaphorical; there are some moments of straightforwardness and some moments of ambiguity in the allegory. The metaphor of Chouette where it exists is complex, and I love it for that.

Another thing I adore about Chouette is Tiny’s narrative voice. Oshetsky gives Tiny such a distinct way of thinking and phrasing, one that’s genuine and realistically emotional and interesting. I particularly love how Oshetsky introduces certain phrases into Tiny’s inner monologue that, to an uninitiated audience, may seem unnatural and misplaced at first, but by the end of the book they read as a totally natural, easily understandable part of Tiny’s vocabulary. The repetition of those phrases does a great job of communicating that this narrative is filtered through its narrator, defined by Tiny’s mindset. The way she continually falls back upon the same sentence structure when referring to her “owl baby” and “owl lover,” plus the addition of her own shorthand for times people speak without meaning in the words “yabber yabber,” does wonders for the audience’s ability to step into Tiny’s perception of the world. Oshetsky communicates that wonderfully.

Overall, I just love this book. I love its lapses into overt magical realism with the owl baby and owl lover and Tiny’s out-of-place, almost interdimensionally nostalgic childhood memories-- and I also love the brutality of its literal sections, however bizarre they may be. The surgical procedure Chouette is forced to undergo is especially haunting in that regard, evocative of all kinds of horrific real-world events. I love the ending and how it ties into those themes (and I agree with other reviewers that fans of Megan Hunter’s The Harpy would definitely enjoy this one too.) I love Tiny as a narrative voice and as a protagonist, and I love the way Oshetsky emphasizes the other characters’ dehumanization of her and the baby. The husband’s continual referral to Chouette as Charlotte is particularly striking.

Ultimately, though, I think my favorite thing about Chouette is the versatility of its resonance-- something that is achieved, I think, by Oshetsky’s authenticity in this story. No matter how you interpret Chouette, no matter what allegorical or literal meaning you find in it, it has something important and personal to say about the measures society uses to evaluate, predict, and judge individuality-- and how we can and should transcend those measures which emphasize perceived acceptance over authentic personhood, no matter what society has ingrained in us to do instead. I adore Chouette. I can’t wait to read it again.

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