A review by deedireads
Brood by Jackie Polzin

emotional funny reflective sad 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? No

4.5

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

I really enjoyed Brood. It’s human and quietly empathetic, with emotional layers and astute attention to detail. I am going to have to read it again someday.

For you if: You like short stories, or novels that do interesting things from a craft perspective.

FULL REVIEW:

“Life is the ongoing effort to live. Some people make it look easy. Chickens do not.”


Thank you to Doubleday for sending a review copy of this book my way. I really enjoyed it, and I have been thinking about it even more than I’d expected to ever since I finished.

Brood is told in short narrative vignettes by a narrator who forges an unexpected connection to the chickens she and her husband have come to own. She is grappling with loss and change, and amidst extreme winter and predators and even a tornado, she finds herself more and more passionate about helping them fight against the everyday struggle to survive. I don’t want to say much more than that, because I didn’t know much going in and liked it that way, but I found this book to be surprisingly emotional, empathetic, and astute. (Also I know so much about chickens now lol.)

This is not a book you read for plot, but if you like characters, and short stories and other forms that do interesting things for a craft perspective, I think you will like this one. It’s quiet and short, but it’s got so many delicious layers. And prose is excellent, with observations that hit you right in the gut and heart.

There were parts that I felt like slipped through my fingers, which always happens for me with novels told in vignettes like this. I think it was because I haven’t gone through the experiences the narrator was healing from (check the content warnings), but it didn’t keep me from enjoying the novel overall (far from it). That said, I think this could be really impactful for someone who has gone through those things, if it wasn’t too much to read about. I fully expect to read this again someday and get even more out of it than I did the first time.
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