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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
3.5 stars
I really enjoyed the writing style in this book. It was very unique. The plot is focused on the main character, Lottie, and how she is dealing with the grief of losing her family members. Sometimes it was a bit slow but once I learnt more about what had happened to Lottie’s family I appreciated the story more.
I really enjoyed the writing style in this book. It was very unique. The plot is focused on the main character, Lottie, and how she is dealing with the grief of losing her family members. Sometimes it was a bit slow but once I learnt more about what had happened to Lottie’s family I appreciated the story more.
I revived them all.
Imagined them coming to life
with the magic of taxidermy,
which didn't just preserve--
but brought them back
from the dead.
The Art of Taxidermy is a novel written in free verse about grief and loss and death, and its depiction of these topics is so raw and honest. There's a lot of morbidity in this book--how could there not be when it's about amateur taxidermy?--but ultimately it offers optimism and healing and the idea that life can come from death, in a way. The Art of Taxidermy is real and beautifully written.
One of the things I appreciated about this book is that it discusses the complexities of grief and how much it can twist your entire world upside down. After the death of her mother and sister, Lottie develops a morbid fascination with dead animals. It doesn't stem from violence; it stems from her need to understand death.
There's lots of interesting discussions of binary thinking in this book: masculinity vs. femininity, death vs. life, black vs. white, and the author tries to break these down through showing Lottie's opposition to her aunt, who keeps trying to steer her away from her fascination with science and dead animals and onto more "girlish" things like sewing (but unknowingly gives her the tools to proceed in amateur taxidermy). Lottie gives life to dead animals through trying to preserve them. Also, her friendship with an Australian Aboriginal boy factors into this as well, but a he's a minor character in the whole scheme of things.
Even though this book was beautifully written and raised a lot of interesting questions, I didn't find myself interested in what was going on most of the time. A lot of the book seems repetitive--Lottie sees dead animals, brings them home, and her aunt gets angry at her and her father encourages her. While this is meant to show a longstanding fascination with death it gets tiring after a while.
All in all I think this is a well-written free-verse book that will probably be enjoyed by those who like poetry and words more than the plot and characters.
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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The Art of Taxidermy is a verse novel about death, grief and how we cope with losing loved ones. After her mother's death the young protagonist Lottie tries to remedy her grief through collecting dead birds and small animals she finds by the roadside and in fields, trying to preserve them. She sees their death as beautiful, her aunt however sees her obsession as weird and unhealthy. We follow Lottie through her everyday life, watch her befriend a boy from her class (another outsider) and lose her companion Annie. There are surprising revelations and moments of deep, profound sadness in this book - a story of death and loss told through Lottie, her taxidermy and her family history (Germans who emigrated to Australia during World War II) before the bad things are eventually transformed into something beautiful. It was a pretty good read, although it felt a little underwhelming at times. The writing is poetic and almost dream-like, I'm not sure why it was written in verse though. Apart from a certain cadence to the words, I don't think the verse actually added much to the book.
**Disclaimer: I received an early copy of The Art of Taxidermy from NetGalley and Text Publishing for review purposes. Thank you to them for this opportunity.
The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot is a young adult novel in verse. It falls into the genre of historical fiction as it takes place in Australia is a time period that follows World War II. This book comes out on August 23rd, 2019. I gave it 4 stars on GoodReads.
Here is the summary from GoodReads:
Lottie collects dead creatures and lovingly cares for them, hoping to preserve them, to save them from disintegration. Her father understands—Lottie has a scientific mind, he thinks. Her aunt wants it to stop, and she goes to cruel lengths to make sure it does.
And her mother? Lottie’s mother died long ago. And Lottie is searching for a way to be close to her.
The Art of Taxidermy is a heartbreaking verse novel exploring love and death, grief and beauty, and the ways we try to make sense of it all.
I am always so impressed with novels in verse. It amazes me the way that an author can convey so much emotion and details about what happens based on so many less words than the typical book contains. However, sometimes details can be lost and things like flashbacks can be confusing. I had some moments like that with The Art of Taxidermy. Certain things that I thought had had happened, hadn't and there was the occasional flashback that did confuse me. However, Kernot's use of language was absolutely gorgeous. She had some really interesting figures of speech and I really liked the way that she played with words.
The story itself was interesting. It is primarily about death and grief and Lottie, the protagonist/narrator, dealing with these things and ultimately her fascination with death and decay. It was really cool to me that Kernot was able to make a story about death so beautiful. I really enjoyed watching Lottie grow and learn about herself and her interests, and it was really interesting to watch her learn about her family.
The story was unique for me, because it occupied a perspective that I don't often read about or hear about. The story, as mentioned previously, takes place in Australia after World War II. Lottie's family is German, and they immigrated to Australia prior to the war because they didn't like how things were going in Germany. The story discusses how Lottie's father and Opa were put into an internment camp called Loveday during the war, simply because they were German. The book doesn't go in depth with this, but it's interesting to read about the lingering damage it left the family. Additionally, Lottie is treated poorly at school because of her German heritage. Personally, I have German heritage. My Oma and Opa immigrated to Canada after the war, so it's a bit of a different experience and I was never bullied for having German heritage, but I could understand the reactions she had to how she was treated. It was just a point of personal connection I had with her.
The description and imagery in this book is really good. There was a lot of rather morbid imagery because, as one may have guessed from the title and summary, Lottie is quite fascinated with death and becomes quite interested in the idea of taxidermy. At one point she decides to become a taxidermist and tries to learn how to do it on her own. There is a lot of talk of her finding dead animals and wanting to keep them, so if you're squeamish, this probably isn't the book for you. However, even just reading about Lottie's fascination is fascinating. It's not a topic that I particularly relate to so it's really interesting to get a different perspective on it.
Ultimately, the depiction of grief is the real standout from this novel. Lottie's mother is dead, and so is her opa and other figures in her life. Lottie has to learn to come to terms with these things, and that's what the novel is about. However, she's not the only one as the remaining members of her family also need to learn to cope with their losses. These moments in the novel are particularly poignant.
So, while this wasn't my favourite novel in verse that I've ever read, it was a lovely, well written story that educated me and it made me feel. It was a quick read as well, and the pacing was really good. So when August 23rd comes around, you should consider picking yourself up a copy. Thank you again to Text Publishing and NetGalley for this opportunity, and thank you to you for reading this.
The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot is a young adult novel in verse. It falls into the genre of historical fiction as it takes place in Australia is a time period that follows World War II. This book comes out on August 23rd, 2019. I gave it 4 stars on GoodReads.
Here is the summary from GoodReads:
Lottie collects dead creatures and lovingly cares for them, hoping to preserve them, to save them from disintegration. Her father understands—Lottie has a scientific mind, he thinks. Her aunt wants it to stop, and she goes to cruel lengths to make sure it does.
And her mother? Lottie’s mother died long ago. And Lottie is searching for a way to be close to her.
The Art of Taxidermy is a heartbreaking verse novel exploring love and death, grief and beauty, and the ways we try to make sense of it all.
I am always so impressed with novels in verse. It amazes me the way that an author can convey so much emotion and details about what happens based on so many less words than the typical book contains. However, sometimes details can be lost and things like flashbacks can be confusing. I had some moments like that with The Art of Taxidermy. Certain things that I thought had had happened, hadn't and there was the occasional flashback that did confuse me. However, Kernot's use of language was absolutely gorgeous. She had some really interesting figures of speech and I really liked the way that she played with words.
The story itself was interesting. It is primarily about death and grief and Lottie, the protagonist/narrator, dealing with these things and ultimately her fascination with death and decay. It was really cool to me that Kernot was able to make a story about death so beautiful. I really enjoyed watching Lottie grow and learn about herself and her interests, and it was really interesting to watch her learn about her family.
The story was unique for me, because it occupied a perspective that I don't often read about or hear about. The story, as mentioned previously, takes place in Australia after World War II. Lottie's family is German, and they immigrated to Australia prior to the war because they didn't like how things were going in Germany. The story discusses how Lottie's father and Opa were put into an internment camp called Loveday during the war, simply because they were German. The book doesn't go in depth with this, but it's interesting to read about the lingering damage it left the family. Additionally, Lottie is treated poorly at school because of her German heritage. Personally, I have German heritage. My Oma and Opa immigrated to Canada after the war, so it's a bit of a different experience and I was never bullied for having German heritage, but I could understand the reactions she had to how she was treated. It was just a point of personal connection I had with her.
The description and imagery in this book is really good. There was a lot of rather morbid imagery because, as one may have guessed from the title and summary, Lottie is quite fascinated with death and becomes quite interested in the idea of taxidermy. At one point she decides to become a taxidermist and tries to learn how to do it on her own. There is a lot of talk of her finding dead animals and wanting to keep them, so if you're squeamish, this probably isn't the book for you. However, even just reading about Lottie's fascination is fascinating. It's not a topic that I particularly relate to so it's really interesting to get a different perspective on it.
Ultimately, the depiction of grief is the real standout from this novel. Lottie's mother is dead, and so is her opa and other figures in her life. Lottie has to learn to come to terms with these things, and that's what the novel is about. However, she's not the only one as the remaining members of her family also need to learn to cope with their losses. These moments in the novel are particularly poignant.
So, while this wasn't my favourite novel in verse that I've ever read, it was a lovely, well written story that educated me and it made me feel. It was a quick read as well, and the pacing was really good. So when August 23rd comes around, you should consider picking yourself up a copy. Thank you again to Text Publishing and NetGalley for this opportunity, and thank you to you for reading this.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Really wonderful. Kernot’s way with words creates such a vivid image that I felt like I was there with Lottie discovering the art of taxidermy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent
I usually don't have the patience for books in verse, but I'm glad I picked this up because it was a beautiful book. The artwork really enhanced the story, too.
ARC provided by Netgalley and Text Publishing in exchange for an honest review
Unique. Unique. Unique. The Art of Taxidermy is not only a book in verse, but its protagonist is also a girl who has a morbid fascination with dead animals as a way of dealing with the grief over losing her mother. It is a beautiful book not only about Lottie's journey, but also a book about her family's struggle as well- their struggle with their heritage, grief, and acceptance of Lottie's hobbies even though it's strange and nontraditional. The story did hit me emotionally a bit at the end; but even so, I think it would have been more impactful if it had been written as a traditional novel instead of a novel in verse.
Unique. Unique. Unique. The Art of Taxidermy is not only a book in verse, but its protagonist is also a girl who has a morbid fascination with dead animals as a way of dealing with the grief over losing her mother. It is a beautiful book not only about Lottie's journey, but also a book about her family's struggle as well- their struggle with their heritage, grief, and acceptance of Lottie's hobbies even though it's strange and nontraditional. The story did hit me emotionally a bit at the end; but even so, I think it would have been more impactful if it had been written as a traditional novel instead of a novel in verse.
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Art of Taxidermy has a lot going for it: beautiful writing, excellent crafting, and a look at grief that is nothing short of raw. Lottie's mother has passed, and Lottie has taken up an interest in science and death; specifically, she is captivated by dead animals and taxidermy. Her father indulges her, appreciates her scientific mind, and it's entirely possible that it's an interest she would have taken up with or without the grief she's experienced, but something about the obsessive nature of her thoughts leads me to think there's an implication of something fractured in the way she views the world without her mother in it.
There's also a bit of chat about indigenous people, with a side character, Lottie's friend, being an Aboriginal boy. I didn't actually realize this book was set in Australia at first, and I've never read a book featuring an Aboriginal character, so I really appreciated that as an addition.
The drawback to the entire book, though, and what made it impossible for me to give this more than 3.5 stars, is that I was bored. It sounds like the sort of story that should be innately interesting if only due to its gruesome nature (and it is gruesome, friends! Steer clear of this one if you're bothered by descriptions of dead animals), yet honestly, so little happens, and what does happen feels repetitive and somehow shallow. These are sad topics, yet I found it nearly impossible to feel anything about them, and I think that may be because Lottie is unfazed by anything that doesn't involve taxidermy.
This will be a great book for a lot of people, but sadly, I wasn't one of them.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
There's also a bit of chat about indigenous people, with a side character, Lottie's friend, being an Aboriginal boy. I didn't actually realize this book was set in Australia at first, and I've never read a book featuring an Aboriginal character, so I really appreciated that as an addition.
The drawback to the entire book, though, and what made it impossible for me to give this more than 3.5 stars, is that I was bored. It sounds like the sort of story that should be innately interesting if only due to its gruesome nature (and it is gruesome, friends! Steer clear of this one if you're bothered by descriptions of dead animals), yet honestly, so little happens, and what does happen feels repetitive and somehow shallow. These are sad topics, yet I found it nearly impossible to feel anything about them, and I think that may be because Lottie is unfazed by anything that doesn't involve taxidermy.
This will be a great book for a lot of people, but sadly, I wasn't one of them.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I’ve never given taxidermy much thought, and I don’t particularly enjoy the idea of recreating dead animals, but somehow this book showed me the art of it. Lottie enjoys taxidermy and the way it allows her to recreate and, in a way, revive them back to life. An interesting way of looking at it that I never considered. Her family has a history of tragedies and deaths that fuel this interest. Her mother passed away after giving birth to a stillborn and her sister drowned when she was 6. For her, taxidermy is a way of dealing with that grief that doesn’t leave. As much as she’d like to bring her family back to life, she cannot, and being able to do taxidermy is a way for her to bring back the beauty and life to creatures lost to death. Her aunt does not approve, and continuously tries to deter her. It doesn’t come from a place of malice, but concern that I could understand. It’s certainly an unusual hobby to have, but Lottie doesn’t do it to be harmful but rather the opposite. The topic of death can be heavy, and this book showed the grief and pain that can be associated with it, but also that death doesn’t mean that those you love are completely gone