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A review by powerpuffgoat
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
2.0
I understand that being a parent is hard work but reading woeful passages upon passages about how much the poor main character is suffering from being a stay-at-home mother is SO BORING.
I won't even get into the insane privilege it takes to whine about the things she whines about. My main question is... Why did these people have a child?
For all the tedious details of being a mother to "the boy", there is never a mention of how Nightbitch and her husband came to a decision to have a child. Instead, she feels trapped as if motherhood is something that happened to her instead of being a life-altering decision made by both of the people in the marriage.
I hoped that the weirdness in this book would offset the boring parts and it simply did not. In fact, I would even go as far as to say it wasn't weird enough. I mean, this woman had married a man because he was so quirky, he had lots of pictures saved from the internet in a folder! The animal cruelty feels out of place, like it was thrown in for the shock value, and most of the "feral" behaviour is eating raw meat.
Most of all, I am disappointed because it feels like a missed opportunity. This could have been a warning about post-partum dépression or post-partum psychosis. This could have been a story highlighting how partners and doctors don't take women seriously. This could have been a cautionary tale of how some people shouldn't have kids. Instead, it was neither here nor there, and the writing was not enjoyable either.
I won't even get into the insane privilege it takes to whine about the things she whines about. My main question is... Why did these people have a child?
For all the tedious details of being a mother to "the boy", there is never a mention of how Nightbitch and her husband came to a decision to have a child. Instead, she feels trapped as if motherhood is something that happened to her instead of being a life-altering decision made by both of the people in the marriage.
I hoped that the weirdness in this book would offset the boring parts and it simply did not. In fact, I would even go as far as to say it wasn't weird enough. I mean, this woman had married a man because he was so quirky, he had lots of pictures saved from the internet in a folder! The animal cruelty feels out of place, like it was thrown in for the shock value, and most of the "feral" behaviour is eating raw meat.
Most of all, I am disappointed because it feels like a missed opportunity. This could have been a warning about post-partum dépression or post-partum psychosis. This could have been a story highlighting how partners and doctors don't take women seriously. This could have been a cautionary tale of how some people shouldn't have kids. Instead, it was neither here nor there, and the writing was not enjoyable either.