Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Nightbitch

This book is real weird. Nightbitch is a former artist and current stay at home mom who is struggling to understand how stay at home moms stay sane without adult activities. As her husband is usually away during the week and unhelpful during the weekend, Nightbitch beings to imagine her attitude and temper is because she's turning into a dog. This book is dense. As 75% of the characters don't have names and the quarter that do are mostly named Jen, its a lot of third person narratives and pronouns. On top of the hard to keep track of characters, this book is feminist in a super cool and weird way but also so incredibly off putting. She is literally a "bitch" but she also doesn't care. Im not sure who I would recommend this too but I think with the right audience it would be a hit.

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izypup's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

“She likes the idea of being a dog, because she can bark and snarl and not have to justify it. She can run free if she wants. She can be a body and instinct and urge. She can be hunger and rage, thirst and fear, nothing more. She can revert to a pure, throbbing state.”

Really sums up the books purpose. I think it really exemplifies yearning. I also liked how the husband isn’t irredeemable nor the son. They’re both frustrating but with potential and the mom even discussed how she let them both get away with things (albeit out of exhaustion and not wanting to fight, etc.)

There is animal cruelty and one particularly graphic scene but there is a lot of lead up to that one. I saw someone else say call it shock value. I think it was pretty inevitable. She describes returning to base instincts at times-dog instincts- and licking her son clean, drinking from bowls, eating with her mouth, etc. she it seems obvious she would ‘hunt prey’. And there was so much foreshadowing to

killing the cat. Her and the husband even joke about it (which I also loved because it was very real due to the absurdity of the scenarios they come up with).

The ending did fall flat for me which is mostly why it didn’t get 5 stars

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opossumble's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

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n7n0's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious fast-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

4.75

gripping, weird, enraging. laughed out loud at parts, cringed away at others. lots of emotion, ending didn’t catch me.

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torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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badhabitz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A read i initially wasn't sure about, but once Nightbitch reared her head suddenly the book got a lot more interesting. Definitely something I found impossible to put down until I finished. Not a fan of most non-YA books but this is definitely something that'll be staying in my memory for a long, long time. Nightbitch brings to mind Bunny by Mona Awad, but I feel Nightbitch does the magical realism and body horror far better - especially because it's so short in comparison. I almost wish this was longer, but I think its brevity is to its benefit.

Mother is somewhat unlikeable as a protagonist at first, but the writing makes you empathise with her especially if you're a woman or femme-presenting. I picked this up because I'm a part of the therian community, so I understand these feral descriptions and animal thoughts.

Razor sharp, witty, thoughtful writing that's more realistic and brutal than most people would like to admit their thoughts are similar to. Rachel Yoder writes female rage and anger and thoughts well. It's like someone took a chunk of my psyche and splattered it on a plate for me to ogle at. Her writing style isn't exactly approachable or easy to digest for everyone, but it's prickly enough that I thoroughly enjoy it! Can't recommend this book enough, happy to start off my 2024 with this as one of my first few books!!

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yafi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.25

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