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A review by literaryjunarin
Animal Wife by Lara Ehrlich
dark
3.0
“In none of her lives will she be brilliant or famous or content. Her mediocrity will hound her through a kaleidoscope of futures.”
This book is said to explore gender expectations but I think only about three out of 15 stories have a point. I read this via audiobook and some of the stories are just too forgettable to leave an impact on me.
The title "Animal Wife" is quite clever though. In one story, the wife is a swan, hence an animal, but in others, the woman is a wife to an animal. One cohabited with a bear and another one wore a deer suit (?) and lived months in a forest and actually had sex with a stag she knew from childhood. I believe that was a form of escape from her crippling depression but boy - that one was disturbing.
I think I wasn't in the right headspace to read this critically so the underlying message behind the flowery writing was lost on me.
In summary, this is a collection of unhappy girls and women (from yearning little girls to domesticated mothers) which made me feel utterly hopeless. Not sure if that was what the book was going for.
This book is said to explore gender expectations but I think only about three out of 15 stories have a point. I read this via audiobook and some of the stories are just too forgettable to leave an impact on me.
The title "Animal Wife" is quite clever though. In one story, the wife is a swan, hence an animal, but in others, the woman is a wife to an animal. One cohabited with a bear and another one wore a deer suit (?) and lived months in a forest and actually had sex with a stag she knew from childhood. I believe that was a form of escape from her crippling depression but boy - that one was disturbing.
I think I wasn't in the right headspace to read this critically so the underlying message behind the flowery writing was lost on me.
In summary, this is a collection of unhappy girls and women (from yearning little girls to domesticated mothers) which made me feel utterly hopeless. Not sure if that was what the book was going for.