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A review by daniella84
Animal Wife by Lara Ehrlich
4.5
4.5
This book entirely came to me by fate - I picked it up from the library knowing nothing apart from seeing the quote from Italo Calvino (one of my faves) on the back and the cool cover - and boy I'm glad I took a chance on it! I am convinced the low rating is because this just hasn't found its audience, cause it's really doing it for the girlies:
For fans of [a:Mariana Enríquez|4930107|Mariana Enríquez|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1664995750p2/4930107.jpg] - commentary on the sexualisation and objectification of female bodies, even those of children.
For fans of [a:Ottessa Moshfegh|3276202|Ottessa Moshfegh|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1651525567p2/3276202.jpg] - the general weird tone that sometimes verges on the bizarre and disgusting (poop, bestiality)
For fans of [b:Nightbitch|55835474|Nightbitch|Rachel Yoder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1612737468l/55835474._SX50_.jpg|77328435] - commentary on motherhood and how the identity of 'mother' consumes that of the woman - generally 'mothers not coping'
I'm sure there's more but this was just really up my alley. Weird in the best possible way, with the stories making their points without being too ambitious for the limited page count. Lots of really interesting commentary on the place of women in Western society and culture - women seeking the male gaze but also rejecting it; wild women having to be 'saved' by domesticity and perhaps enjoying it but still yearning to return to the wild; and how a woman's life is always a compromise.
Not a full five stars cause there were some elements I didn't love (like the bestiality) and it could have been cool to also see some commentary on being female from a broader perspective (e.g. queer/trans) but overall I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I think it is extremely relevant to this moment, and will especially resonate with the 20-something female group that the above titles seem to do well with. A couple of my favourites were The Tenant (a bear just moves into this lady's house and she's just like...slay) and The Vanishing Point (lady makes a suit to just live in the woods as a deer).
This book entirely came to me by fate - I picked it up from the library knowing nothing apart from seeing the quote from Italo Calvino (one of my faves) on the back and the cool cover - and boy I'm glad I took a chance on it! I am convinced the low rating is because this just hasn't found its audience, cause it's really doing it for the girlies:
For fans of [a:Mariana Enríquez|4930107|Mariana Enríquez|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1664995750p2/4930107.jpg] - commentary on the sexualisation and objectification of female bodies, even those of children.
For fans of [a:Ottessa Moshfegh|3276202|Ottessa Moshfegh|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1651525567p2/3276202.jpg] - the general weird tone that sometimes verges on the bizarre and disgusting (poop, bestiality)
For fans of [b:Nightbitch|55835474|Nightbitch|Rachel Yoder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1612737468l/55835474._SX50_.jpg|77328435] - commentary on motherhood and how the identity of 'mother' consumes that of the woman - generally 'mothers not coping'
I'm sure there's more but this was just really up my alley. Weird in the best possible way, with the stories making their points without being too ambitious for the limited page count. Lots of really interesting commentary on the place of women in Western society and culture - women seeking the male gaze but also rejecting it; wild women having to be 'saved' by domesticity and perhaps enjoying it but still yearning to return to the wild; and how a woman's life is always a compromise.
Not a full five stars cause there were some elements I didn't love (like the bestiality) and it could have been cool to also see some commentary on being female from a broader perspective (e.g. queer/trans) but overall I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I think it is extremely relevant to this moment, and will especially resonate with the 20-something female group that the above titles seem to do well with. A couple of my favourites were The Tenant (a bear just moves into this lady's house and she's just like...slay) and The Vanishing Point (lady makes a suit to just live in the woods as a deer).