Scan barcode
A review by adaezen
Chouette by Claire Oshetsky
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Claire Oshetsky's Chouette remains my most compelling read of 2024. This earnest and vulnerable portrayal of motherhood from conception through mothering is engaging and upsetting in the best of ways! A thorough and inciteful allegory on raising a child in a cruel and inflexible world.
Tiny lays with her owl lover, and she knows she will birth an owl baby. The pregnancy derails her life, her career, and her sanity. No one but her believes she will have an owl baby, and she is isolated in this knowledge throughout the pregnancy.
Yet, birth and the confirmation of her fears isolates her even more. Bringing an owl baby into a dog baby world is a challenging and infuriating experience. A world that is committed to turning an owl into a dog. A Chouette into a Charlotte.
While her husband tries to "cure" chouette, Tiny does her best to create a comfortable world for her owl baby within the confines of their home, because the outside world will never be that for Chouette.
In caring for the Owl baby, Tiny's ultimate act of mothering is seeing herself in Chouette.
This novel in a glimpse into the harrowing experience of pregnancy, and the isolating potential of motherhood.
Tiny lays with her owl lover, and she knows she will birth an owl baby. The pregnancy derails her life, her career, and her sanity. No one but her believes she will have an owl baby, and she is isolated in this knowledge throughout the pregnancy.
Yet, birth and the confirmation of her fears isolates her even more. Bringing an owl baby into a dog baby world is a challenging and infuriating experience. A world that is committed to turning an owl into a dog. A Chouette into a Charlotte.
While her husband tries to "cure" chouette, Tiny does her best to create a comfortable world for her owl baby within the confines of their home, because the outside world will never be that for Chouette.
In caring for the Owl baby, Tiny's ultimate act of mothering is seeing herself in Chouette.
This novel in a glimpse into the harrowing experience of pregnancy, and the isolating potential of motherhood.