Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
This collection has the perfect title because the human condition and human bodies are weird!
Oddbody will resonate with many, specifically women and femmes. We experience harsh judgement our entire lives simply for existing, for taking up space, and for having bodies/bodily functions.
From Next to Cleanliness: “To put it simply, there is something wrong with you. I’m going to pull that wrongness out.”
Often, the stories in this book subvert the narrative, giving the female characters more agency and eliminating shame.
As with many short story collections, not every story landed with me, and I felt that some needed to be a bit longer/more developed.
Overall, I recommend this to anyone looking for more bizarre fiction exploring topics like shame, loneliness, body image, and desire!
My personal favorite stories:
🪱 Squirm – A woman is the caretaker of her father, who has turned into a 4 foot long worm.
🪽 Pineapple – A woman receives increasingly strange body modifications & her male lover has plenty of things to say about them.
🩸 Next to Cleanliness – Under a horrible male doctor’s advising, a woman takes part in a “cleanse” in an attempt to achieve happiness.
📝 The Test – Two friends must participate in a competition against other girls to get noticed by the violent fairy king.
**Thank you to NetGalley & to the publisher for access to the eARC!
Oddbody will resonate with many, specifically women and femmes. We experience harsh judgement our entire lives simply for existing, for taking up space, and for having bodies/bodily functions.
From Next to Cleanliness: “To put it simply, there is something wrong with you. I’m going to pull that wrongness out.”
Often, the stories in this book subvert the narrative, giving the female characters more agency and eliminating shame.
As with many short story collections, not every story landed with me, and I felt that some needed to be a bit longer/more developed.
Overall, I recommend this to anyone looking for more bizarre fiction exploring topics like shame, loneliness, body image, and desire!
My personal favorite stories:
🪱 Squirm – A woman is the caretaker of her father, who has turned into a 4 foot long worm.
🪽 Pineapple – A woman receives increasingly strange body modifications & her male lover has plenty of things to say about them.
🩸 Next to Cleanliness – Under a horrible male doctor’s advising, a woman takes part in a “cleanse” in an attempt to achieve happiness.
📝 The Test – Two friends must participate in a competition against other girls to get noticed by the violent fairy king.
**Thank you to NetGalley & to the publisher for access to the eARC!
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this. The first two pieces are standouts — I have rarely read something that felt so true and so fantastical at exactly the same time.
Unabashedly weird and so, so smart. Not a wasted detail.
I’m an Apex Magazine fan, and remember reading an early version of “Next to Cleanliness” in an issue a couple years ago. Very interesting to see how it was developed for this collection!
Unabashedly weird and so, so smart. Not a wasted detail.
I’m an Apex Magazine fan, and remember reading an early version of “Next to Cleanliness” in an issue a couple years ago. Very interesting to see how it was developed for this collection!
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC of this squirmy little collection! I did enjoy it, but I think some of the metaphors were too on the nose, like it was very clear at the end of each story what the ~moral~ was. Some worked, some not so much. We had personal ghosts, worm dads, brutal body modifications, final girls, and literal egg-laying women. The concepts were cool but some of them were definitely not fleshed out enough for my tastes. They could have been explored more and it would have been a much more impactful collection.
.
My favourites were Squirm (a woman looks after her dad following a bizarre transformation), Pineapple (a woman balances a new relationship and unique body modifications as art), and Eggshells (women lay eggs each morning whose contents can be manipulated via thoughts).
.
Promising as a debut, I just wanted a little more substance!
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was an impressive debut collection and an intriguing read, with each story offering a different exploration of the body as a metaphor for various life experiences. Rose Keating’s voice and perspective are strong—she delves into dark, unsettling territory, using horror as a vehicle to tackle difficult topics.
For me, this collection was best read a little at a time, with space between each story; otherwise, they began to blend together.
I'll be keeping an eye on Rose Keating—excited to see what's next!
For me, this collection was best read a little at a time, with space between each story; otherwise, they began to blend together.
I'll be keeping an eye on Rose Keating—excited to see what's next!
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
*babe wake up a new addition to the weird girl lit canon just dropped*
This is an impressive debut collection: ten strange and unsettling stories mostly centering around body horror. I loved the themes of womanhood/girlhood, shame and discomfort around sexuality and the female body, and manifestation of trauma in the physical body. Many of these stories were truly uncomfortable and disturbing, but thought-provoking.
ODDBODY: 5 stars
This is an impressive debut collection: ten strange and unsettling stories mostly centering around body horror. I loved the themes of womanhood/girlhood, shame and discomfort around sexuality and the female body, and manifestation of trauma in the physical body. Many of these stories were truly uncomfortable and disturbing, but thought-provoking.
ODDBODY: 5 stars
- I wanted to cry, the metaphor is pretty straightforward but it is done well and feels so personal.
SQUIRM: 4 stars
- "Would you love me if I was a worm?" This was so gross and completely absurd
MOUTH: 3 stars
- This wasn't my favorite but I loved some of the descriptions of mundane things like "her painted, pointed nails shine like glossy beetle wings"
BELA LUGOSI ISN'T DEAD: 4 stars
- This wasn't as "out there" as some of the others in this collection, it felt quite tidy and had an interesting depiction of a predator
PINEAPPLE: 3 stars
- I liked the overall story, but this was gruesome and truly difficult to read. Themes of cleanliness/sterilization, the beauty of gross and unusual things.
NEXT TO CLEANLINESS: 4 stars
- A take on toxic wellness cultural and the endless pursuit of enlightenment/perfection/happiness
NOTES ON PERFORMANCE: 5 stars
- A subversive and humorous take on final girls and the treatment of women in the entertainment industry.
EGGSHELLS: 3 stars
- I thought the concept was interesting but it didn't quite hit for me.
THE TEST: 3 stars
- This one was more straightforwardly fantastical than some of the others in this collection, it felt a bit out of place, and I don't think I got it lol
THE VEGETABLE: 5 stars
- I'm still dissecting this story, it was really memorable and where the cover image is derived from.
Overall I really loved this collection and look forward to more from this author! Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Shuster for the free eARC! This publishes on July 1.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror
Moderate: Animal death
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Oddbody is one of the weirdest books I’ve read lately, and I really enjoyed it.
This short story collection explores the strangeness of being in a body, especially as a woman, and mixes everyday feelings (shame, desire, loneliness) with surreal or disturbing events. A woman lays eggs during her breakfast shift, someone has wings surgically attached, and there’s even a ghost ex. Yes, it’s that kind of book… and somehow, it all works.
The stories are short, sharp, and deeply atmospheric. They reminded me of Raw or Titane, or even some Cronenberg films: grotesque but also emotional. I’m not sure I caught all the deeper meanings, but I was totally immersed in the writing and tone.
My favorites were “Eggshells” and “Bela Lugosi is Not Dead”; both stayed with me long after finishing. If you like strange, feminist, body-focused fiction that makes you feel things (and squirm a little), this is a great pick.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
In these ten remarkable stories Keating brings us a vivid, allegorical, examination of womanhood, sex, shame, and the everyday needs of our minds and bodies.
These stories are – as one of her own characters puts it – “terrifying and glorious”; exhilarating, rich and beautifully written, animating their otherness with wit, tenderness, and a gift for stopping hearts within a beat: “None of them had faces, but they all had smiles.”
We find ourselves in worlds much like our own, but twisted until they kink, bulging the symbioses of day to day living into new dimensions. Spectres of mental health and dependency are manifest physically, seductive and capricious, and detox clinics hum with a vaguely malevolent magic.
In some cases, Keating pushes ideas along a continuum until they arrive at a new extremity – the apotheoses of body-modification, and the “murdered girl” as plot device– in others she unscrews our reality and reassembles it, disordered, with a wicked relish.
The stories are fearless, and crackle with lurid energy. While they explore some very private, intimate, and tendentious subjects, I’d hesitate to call them dark – they are too vibrant, moving, and sensual - in its fullest meaning - to feel truly macabre.
Jubilance infests the writing, no matter how disquieting the tale, and Keating’s joy in the transgressions of her characters shines through. As they lay eggs, negotiate ghostly relationship addictions, get purged of skin during a “detox” or have it fitted with a zip for ad-hoc removal, this book is ultimately a celebration of these women’s liberty to choose for themselves, regardless of circumstance or consequence.
A fabulous, intoxicating read which lingers, and one I will come back to.
I’ll be looking for a signed copy for my wife, I can’t wait get her thoughts.
NB: This book may not be suitable for everyone’s sensibilities, it _goes _ there.
These stories are – as one of her own characters puts it – “terrifying and glorious”; exhilarating, rich and beautifully written, animating their otherness with wit, tenderness, and a gift for stopping hearts within a beat: “None of them had faces, but they all had smiles.”
We find ourselves in worlds much like our own, but twisted until they kink, bulging the symbioses of day to day living into new dimensions. Spectres of mental health and dependency are manifest physically, seductive and capricious, and detox clinics hum with a vaguely malevolent magic.
In some cases, Keating pushes ideas along a continuum until they arrive at a new extremity – the apotheoses of body-modification, and the “murdered girl” as plot device– in others she unscrews our reality and reassembles it, disordered, with a wicked relish.
The stories are fearless, and crackle with lurid energy. While they explore some very private, intimate, and tendentious subjects, I’d hesitate to call them dark – they are too vibrant, moving, and sensual - in its fullest meaning - to feel truly macabre.
Jubilance infests the writing, no matter how disquieting the tale, and Keating’s joy in the transgressions of her characters shines through. As they lay eggs, negotiate ghostly relationship addictions, get purged of skin during a “detox” or have it fitted with a zip for ad-hoc removal, this book is ultimately a celebration of these women’s liberty to choose for themselves, regardless of circumstance or consequence.
A fabulous, intoxicating read which lingers, and one I will come back to.
I’ll be looking for a signed copy for my wife, I can’t wait get her thoughts.
NB: This book may not be suitable for everyone’s sensibilities, it _goes _ there.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Not for me. Interesting concepts that sort of go nowhere in the end, and don't really offer a point in any way.
DNF @ 51%
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!
Loved the premise of this collection and was excited for weirdness. While this delivered on the “weird,” the stories were not engaging enough for me to continue. Some of the stories I read felt too short and not fleshed out enough or ‘weird for the sake of weird’ to keep me engaged or want to continue. I read through the end of “Pineapple.” I didn’t feel invested in any characters and many of them felt like the exact same from previous stories but with different names.
I thought about soldiering on through the end, as many short story collections I’ve read are genuine mixed bags, but there were more misses than hits in the first half.
Content warnings are not for the complete book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!
Loved the premise of this collection and was excited for weirdness. While this delivered on the “weird,” the stories were not engaging enough for me to continue. Some of the stories I read felt too short and not fleshed out enough or ‘weird for the sake of weird’ to keep me engaged or want to continue. I read through the end of “Pineapple.” I didn’t feel invested in any characters and many of them felt like the exact same from previous stories but with different names.
I thought about soldiering on through the end, as many short story collections I’ve read are genuine mixed bags, but there were more misses than hits in the first half.
Content warnings are not for the complete book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Dysphoria
Moderate: Medical content
Additional CW for depression