You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Initially I enjoyed it as an allegory of the changes during early motherhood but I didn’t really get the ending.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Okay, so this was great. The prose is just the level of florid I like, the premise captures you right away, and the plot manages to mostly stick the landing. On that last note, I liked that we were promised that the protagonist was an artist, and that that paid off in the final short act. As a debut novel, wow.
My quibbles? As other reviews have noted, the pacing falls off in the third act. The husband arc ends up in a strange place--it didn't feel necessary to redeem his cluelessness and selfishness, for either the plot or the takeaway --giving a strange note of almost anti-feminism to what is otherwise a solidly feminist work. And the narration is too demure about whether this is straight up magic realism or just in the protagonist's head. Maybe at a different time, I would've liked that ambiguity, but I found it taking me out of the plot.
All in all, a very entertaining and thought provoking read about motherhood and our animal nature.
My quibbles? As other reviews have noted, the pacing falls off in the third act. The husband arc ends up in a strange place--
All in all, a very entertaining and thought provoking read about motherhood and our animal nature.
Bizarre, gut-wrenching, and visceral: Nightbitch felt like if free birth control was a book. Yoder's writing is funny and at times too vivid, and wittily self-aware. My only complaints are that it dragged on for a little bit too long, and the pacing felt off at times. Some parts were a little bit strange narratively, like the husband's whole character development and Jen. Overall, a weird read, but an enjoyable one.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Blood
challenging
tense
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:
Complicated
“She was Nightbitch, and she was fucking amazing.”
Wow! this book is wild! it brought out long buried emotions in me and tears that I never saw coming as I was reading this at a corner seat of a cafe. Moments like this tend to stick especially now that I get to read at my own sweet pace again without the pressures of having to reach the end.
The journey into motherhood was an unpaved road, the narrator ravishes her wild side and embraces the monster within. She was confined in a box where women were wives, stay home, have babies and are just doing what they should on a dreadful and mostly lonely cycle of domesticity.
What I focused on and got from this book was the loss of identity, my sense of self, that thing that makes me feel alive and makes me feel like I have a path and a purpose. Sometimes trauma takes away all that and you are left with another version of yourself you hardly know and try very hard to heal and accept.
But then Nightbitch howls and she runs free through the night with rage, rebellion and redemption and she takes you with her from start to finish. In the end you are cleansed, you feel validated and the wild, ambitious, independent woman in you starts to come back to life. All the Jens of the world be damned.
Wow! this book is wild! it brought out long buried emotions in me and tears that I never saw coming as I was reading this at a corner seat of a cafe. Moments like this tend to stick especially now that I get to read at my own sweet pace again without the pressures of having to reach the end.
The journey into motherhood was an unpaved road, the narrator ravishes her wild side and embraces the monster within. She was confined in a box where women were wives, stay home, have babies and are just doing what they should on a dreadful and mostly lonely cycle of domesticity.
What I focused on and got from this book was the loss of identity, my sense of self, that thing that makes me feel alive and makes me feel like I have a path and a purpose. Sometimes trauma takes away all that and you are left with another version of yourself you hardly know and try very hard to heal and accept.
But then Nightbitch howls and she runs free through the night with rage, rebellion and redemption and she takes you with her from start to finish. In the end you are cleansed, you feel validated and the wild, ambitious, independent woman in you starts to come back to life. All the Jens of the world be damned.
Kafka-esque and feminist, Mother’s experience of modern motherhood brings her to her deepest animal self. I enjoyed the story as much as the way it was told.
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
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:
Complicated
Writing style felt very personal, a validating read for people who don't want kids and I loved the feral, unapologetic nature of it
Woman turns into a dog. Thought it sounded silly, but I loved it! I even found myself wanting to howl at the full moon. Much more than just a woman turning into a dog. but a story of discovery and rebirth. AS A PUP!
PS that house seemed so disgusting. And the husband seemed like a delight. I hated his job, but loved how he was just on board with everything that could have seemed strange.
PS that house seemed so disgusting. And the husband seemed like a delight. I hated his job, but loved how he was just on board with everything that could have seemed strange.
I’m not sure I understand what I read, which perfectly matches my experience during the first couple years of raising tiny humans