Somewhere between 3-3.5

What a bizarre and wild ride that was...

It's impossible to review Nightbitch without discussion of the headline plot point: this is the story of a mother who becomes a dog. I, probably like many others, was very curious how the author would let this whole narrative play out across a whole book and how this would be portrayed.

I would almost go as far to say the whole 'turning into a dog' aspect of Nightbitch was probably the least interesting part of the book to me - it actually reminded me of The Pisces in this respect). Where the book instead excelled for this reader was in its scathingly accurate, way too close for comfort portrayal of motherhood. The early sections of the book were particularly strong, and we see 'the mother' (as she is referred to, until she is only referred to as 'nightbitch') processing the fact that her child and motherhood is now her life - having left her job some three years ago before having her son. She feels like her personality has been eroded, and that whilst her child is her life - her husband is nice enough but largely absent due to his job - she isn't even doing a particularly good job of raising him. That's until she starts to notice that her canines have got sharper, she has a growth at the base of her spine which looks like a tail, downy hair at the base of her neck... you can picture the rest.

The later sections where the protagonist has fully embraced the dog lifestyle (not a sentence I ever thought I'd write...) were where my interest began to wane somewhat, but this is definitely worth a read for the first half where the scathing sections on the impact of motherhood on the protagonist were particularly well rendered.

Nightbitch is a book about a mother who seems to be turning into a dog, combining magical realist elements with the monotony of motherhood. She used to be an artist, but then she gave up work to care for her two-year-old son, and her husband is always travelling for work and only around at the weekend. When she starts finding herself filled with rage, she calls herself Nightbitch, but then she finds new hair growing and a new appetite for raw meat, and maybe it is something beyond anger.

From the summary of this novel, you can tell how it will go: a woman struggling to deal with her position as a mother and lack of agency and her own desires alongside what she is expected to do, who succumbs to a gradual transformation to canine instincts, with some witty commentary along the way. She also gets in with a group of mothers from the library who are all part of a multilevel marketing scheme for herbal supplements, which was one of my favourite elements of the book as it sounded like part of the witchy vibe, but is also very realistic about how stay at home parents are targeted for these kinds of scams.

Overall, I found Nightbitch quite predictable, with similarities to other books which lean into a magical element to reflect how society treats someone, and I wonder if maybe it is more powerful for parents who might find it relatable and possibly cathartic. I appreciated that it didn't shy away from the weirdness, going as far as killing pets (so perhaps not one for more squeamish animal fans), and I can see how some people might love it, but it just didn't capture my attention enough.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

I have no idea what this book is and I was genuinely baffled where it was going throughout, but I just loved the heck out of it. Run, don’t walk, to read this book. Easy 5

This one is a wild ride. The nameless mother is struggling with stay-at-home motherhood after giving up her dream job as a community art gallery director to take care of her young son. Parenting is hard, especially when her counterpart work away during the week and doesn't pull his weight when he's home. She's angry, she's bored, she'd unfulfilled and guilty about it. And she may be slowly turning into a dog....

Interweave this bonkers but brilliant concept with searing satire and laugh-out-loud, black-as-pitch humour and Nightbitch is a wholly engrossing, addictive read. Yoder has some brilliant observations on adult life and the demands of motherhood and I loved the the (fictional) academic text on mythical women that she uses to explore ideas of womanhood. A big roar of a rage of a story that sinks its teeth deep and doesn't let go.

When I requested this title based on the description I thought it was going to be a darkly feminist title somewhat reminiscent of The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. What I got upon reading was like a cross between Dr Spock and James Herbert,

It was mainly focused on the minutiae of the central protagonists child care routine with the odd horrific touch of the turning into a dog thrown in every so often, Perhaps I am not the target market for this title as I do not have any children nor experience of parenthood so unable to relate to the lengthy passages on the day to day tasks involved in parenting a small child. it was apparent that author was attempting to make some point that parenthood dehumanises you or makes you work like a dog or dog tired etc but this was lost on me from my personal point of view.

I normally like dark creepy and weird titles but this one was too weird even for me .As a vegan the descriptions of meat grossed me out. it actually gave me nightmares and I had to DNF at 38 per cent as I could not get through it.

This debut novel is an intense, visceral and above all distinctive exploration of motherhood.

The first party narrator (known either as the mother or the Night Bitch) is a conceptual/studio artist who had something of a dream job in the art world running a community gallery. When she had a baby she first carried on with her job, juggling it with expressing milk, dropping her child at a nursery where she is convinced he is left to cry and with little support from process engineer husband who is typically away Monday-Friday and who does not even take a fair share of parenting at the weekends. Eventually they decide it is not working and practically her low paying job has to be the one to go.

The incident that underlies the book starts one night – her young son’s screams fan “a flame of rage that flickered in her chest” and her anguished please for him to return to sleep come out as dog-like grunts and squeals. The next morning she jokes to her husband that she was a “Night Bitch” only for her observations to seemingly manifest themselves physically as she starts to grow sharper canine teeth, hair at the back of her neck, a cyst which seems to be the makings of a tail and a heightened sense of smell and craving for meat.

Over time she starts to roam the local area at night and is befriended by three dogs who bear an odd resemblance to three mothers (of what in the UK we might call the Yummy Mummy type) she normally tries to avoid at the local library.

She also becomes increasingly obsessed with an odd book she finds “A Field Guide to Magical Women” a guide to the “ways in which womanhood manifests on a mythical level” – but with rather than being allegorical or mythological actually claims to be based on anthropological research around the world and ways in which women – particularly mothers - “turn to the natural world to express their deepest longings and most primal fantasies”.

Her behaviour becomes more extreme – going on nighttime hunting trips with both hear appearance and actions becoming more like those of some type of wolfhound. Her son eagerly embraces what he sees as a new game – and ends up wearing a collar, only sleeping in a kennel and eating raw meat.

A family feline fatality causes something of a crisis point which both causes her to examine the sacrifices made by her own mother (the narrator sharing the authors Mennonite upbringing) and how she can explore her own animal identity (and introduce it to others) by using her artistic tendencies.

There is no date that this is a unusual book and I think will not appeal to all readers.

Anthropocentric (particularly pet-indifferent) readers will I think be struggle with some of the dog pack scenes; while some animal lovers will I think find the fate of both pet cats and bunnies triggering.

I fall neatly between the two and found this instead a memorable and effective novel.

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder is perfect for fans of Melissa Broder or Kyra Wilder. It combines an element of magical realism with a warts and all look at motherhood.

Afraid to say I gave up on this book just over half way through.
Whilst some parts nailed the monotony of motherhood perfectly,I found the rest just not very interesting to me.

Sadly, I missed on this completely. just didn't get it, didn't grasp it. Definitely different and unique.