A review by erinj_96
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this book! I know for some people it might be too weird or self indulgent but I thought it was super original and creative.  I’ve been looking for a good feminine rage book all year and I think this might be it.  It’s satirical and funny and spunky.  It doesn’t leave me hating womanhood, but the opposite.  I feel like this book is about reclaiming power as a woman.  I love the metaphor of dogs.  How women have been domesticated when really they’re the most primal, magical, animalistic creatures on earth.

 I love the mother character and how she is always thinking of all the things she wants to say, but instead says something else.  That is exactly what being a woman is like! “She had wanted to bite him by the throat or pummel him with a baseball bat or scream at the top of her lungs, but instead she’d started washing the dishes he had dirtied from breakfast.”  Have all women not experienced this sense of rage and distain but then kept on with the normal routine? I also like the dynamic between the mother and her husband.  Once she starts to tell him what she needs and wants, he reciprocates and they can fall back in love once she stops resenting him.  All of the commentary about how stay at home moms are working moms but literally everyone says they’re not bc they don’t make money and they’re actually privileged to stay at home, despite any of their own aspirations.  

There is so much good stuff in this book.  If you’re angry about womanhood and motherhood, read