What a fun, bizarre and disturbing collection of short stories! Some made me feel quite uncomfortable while others were just really weird!

This book really failed for me. A collection of short stories only one of which I found memorable or impactful. That one (Elena- Marie Sandoz) I thought was genuinely excellent, but the rest left me cold. Most of them seemed like descriptions of brief moments in time, rather than actual stories. I could see what the author was trying to do with them, it just never felt like something I was interested in.

19 Claws and a Blackbird by Augustina Bazterrica
Rating: 3.5⭐️
Genre: Horror
Year: Published on 4 May 2023
Brief Synopsis: 20 Short Horror Stories

This is the first book I’ve read by Augustina, author of ‘Tender is the Flesh’ which is on my tbr for this year.

These 20 short horror stories were delightfully horrific, humour out in some way, gross and downright weird.

I did find it a bit tricky to get into some stories, not sure if it’s because it’s been translated to English but I liked most of the stories. One in particular had me thinking what the hell is going on and right at the end it made sense and just made me laugh because it was just so bizarre.

Recommend for any horror lover.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for approving me to read this copy.

This one really didn't do it for me. A couple of the stories towards the beginning stood out, but I mostly found myself not really wanting to pick this up.

Thanks to Netgalley & Pushkin Press for my free e-ARC in exchange for a review!

Agustina Bazterrica burst into the English-speaking literary world in 2020 with the disturbing Tender Is the Flesh, a book I loved, and her second offering in translation is a morbid collection of short stories. Nineteen Claws and a Blackbird all, more or less, focus around themes of death and dying, and I won’t lie it can weigh heavily on the reader at times!

There are some reprieves in the almost flash fiction-like stories - punchy little morsels like Roberto (a young girl finds a rabbit growing between her legs) and The Continuous Equality of the Circumference (a woman strives for her ultimate goal - to become a perfect circle) that you read in about two minutes but think about for the next hour. The rest of the stories are all also quite short (none longer than 20 pages and most around 10), so you do feel like you’re flying through it. There were a few stories that just went right over my head - the language here is quite different to Tender is the Flesh (brutal in its sparseness), with more flowery prose that meant some stories felt more like style over substance. (As a side note, Sarah Moses has translated both and I’d love to hear her thoughts on the differences between the texts!)

However, there are some heavy hitters that I loved and that truly unsettled me: The Solitary Ones, which will make you never want to ride an underground train again; Teicher Vs Nietzsche, a darkly funny stand-off between a man and his ex’s cat; and Mary Carminum, where a group of women hide something more sinister behind gaudy costume jewellery. I also loved the vibe of Elena-Marie Sandoz, which completely caught me off-guard by the end.

Overall, a solid collection to keep an eye out for if you enjoy your short fiction on the darker side!

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review. This review is based entirely on my own thoughts and feelings.

Overall rating : 3*
Writing skill : 4*
Individuality: 5*
Cohesiveness: 2*

I liked some of these stories a massive amount, but some of them missed the mark with me. I found myself remembering some down the line, and others I instantly forgot when starting the next. There was some gore, and horror, but not enough.
I think 3* is a very apt rating for this collection of good short stories.

I haven't read the book for which this author is most famous for, but when I saw this was on Netgalley I jumped on the opportunity to read it and I'm so glad I did!

It's a collection of short stories that are so deep and disturbing that they will make you question yourself more than once! Both the language and the plot of some of the stories dig deep into the human psyche in a very original way, leaving me wondering what's inside Augustina Bazterrica's mind to concoct such weird but beautiful tales!

I loved the use of the flux of conscience in some stories (not my preferred writing style usually) and the choice of words throughout the anthology, able to create real visions and an atmosphere that enhanced the experience whilst reading.

I really loved it, and some of the characters and stories will be with me for a long time!
I urge you to read it!

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read it and this is my honest review.

A collection of short stories from a popular author! These were my favourites-
Roberto- I absolutely loved the concept, dark but so empowering!
Anita and happiness- I was hooked on this story, loved every word of it. I wished it was its own novel and not a short story!
Earth- This was a hard hitting story, caused me to feel many emotions, whilst it wasn’t a happy ending was still thoroughly enjoyed.

I enjoyed this book a lot, I liked the dark nature of most of the stories.. however some were hard to get along with, I feel that may be due to translation and not the authors fault.
Also. The colour of this book is gorgeous and definitely eye catching!
I will definitely be checking out this authors future reads!

Firstly, thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the ARC copy to review.

This is the second book I have read by Agustina Bazterrica, translated from Spanish by Sarah Moses. I really wanted to read this collection after recently being completely unnerved by her first book Tender is the Flesh. Her writing is amazing, truly dark and very descriptive. She manages to put images inside your head that are hard to get rid of and can be very thought provoking.

It’s a collection of twenty short stories, including themes of death, murder, sexual assault and suicide.

Like her first book, she manages to totally shock with some very unhinged, sometimes darkly funny, repulsive, disturbing, horrifying, chilling, haunting and weird stories!

For me, my favourites were the first one - A Light, Swift and Monstrous Sound, which very quickly shows you what you are in for with this collection. Another stand out for me was Earth, which I found really chilling and horrifying. And lastly, it’s the really creepy end story - The Solitary Ones, that one may give me nightmares.

For those that like this genre I would say you will definitely enjoy the writing and dark imagination of Augustina.

I was a massive fan of Tender Is The Flesh so was super keen to read this, but I didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped.
Bazterrica is back with her uniquely stark, straightforward and brutal writing style, this time with a collection of nineteen unsettling and dark short stories allowing you a snapshot of some seriously twisted and weird lives. They all heavily cover themes of death, loss, and violence, and leave you feeling uneasy after each one.
I found most quite difficult to get into as the tone between stories didn’t change enough to signify a totally different narrator, which really took me out of the plot. A few of them read more like poetry - not in the lyrical sense, but in the obscure, heavily metaphorical kind of way (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it just wasn’t what I wanted from this book). There were a few stories in there that I found absolutely fantastic, and I’m sure I’ll be thinking of for a long time.

If you like the weird and wonderful, read between the lines, brutal kind of books, then this is definitely for you.

Not really a fan of this book tbh, some of the stories were okay and interesting, but others just bored me, and I ended up skipping them. Really wished I'd had enjoyed this more.

I am not usually a short stories reader as I find you just get into one story then it ends and you always prefer some of the stories to others. But having read Tender Is The Flesh by this author and loving it, I had to give this a go. And I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed these stories.
I have to say that this was nowhere as dark as I was expecting it to be and would probably not class this as horror at all.
Over the 20 short stories there is so much variety. I found some were actually quite touching, which was a surprise! There were some that I found to be quite funny and humorous. And then there were those that were just weird!
As expected I did enjoy some more than others but on the whole I really enjoyed reading this.
I will definitely read from this author again.

Despite my enjoyment of Tender is the Flesh, I never connected to the stories being told, and frequently found myself clasping for the true meaning from the short stories that I was meant to take. Bazterrica's prose and use of language continues to be exquisite and if the stories work for you, there will be a lot to love. Unfortunately, this simply did not work for me.

As expected of the author of a book as hauntingly visceral as Tender is the Flesh, this collection sticks to your brain, takes hold of your stomach and rattles it to the very core. As with Tender, I would advise you to go in with caution, to expect to be disgusted and disturbed by the things the characters experience, think and feel. Even so, the writing is beautifully memorable.

The stories which stood out to me the most: Unamuno's Boxes (I could spend a full length novel following Unamuno and this main character); Anita and Happiness (it was the silliest story in this collection, but in the best way); Earth (this broke my heart and needs the biggest cw check before reading) and Mary Carminum (this will haunt my nightmares).

Happy (?) reading!

I absolutely loved this book! It was really weird and fucked up in an incredibly disgusting way. After reading Candy Pink, I knew that this was a 5 star read. Agustina Bazterrica is incredibly good at setting up a story with its own rules and then completely breaking the reader’s expectations within a sentence or two. The way that the author works with form and narrative is just *chefs kiss*
I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys little fucked up stories, where sometimes the horror comes from supernatural beings and sometimes from the most fucked up humans you’ve ever seen

It's very hard to review short stories, but I really enjoyed this one! It had elements of How to Pronounce Knife and Things We Say In The Dark, which are 2 of my all time favourite short story collections. I'd recommend this to any fan of Sayaka Murata because it has that mix of reality and horror that I think her fans love. I'd definitely recommend it to people who enjoyed the weirdness of her first book Tender is the Flesh!

I read Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica last year and it was one of the highlights of the whole year so when I saw Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird was available to request as an ARC, I had to get on it. I’ve had high expectations and this collection definitely did not disappoint!

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird consists of nineteen short stories in the realm of dark fiction and horror. As with Tender is the Flesh, Bazterrica explores the complexities of humanity through the nineteen stories in a variety of different ways. Some of the stories are pretty straight forward, while others move more towards magical realism and definitely rely on contextual clues. Agustina Bazterrica explores human nature in all its beautiful and grotesque shapes in each of the stories collected in Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird.

I really enjoyed each one of the stories, but the ones that touched on how raw and flawed humanity is were some of my favourites. There were a lot of symbolism, contextual clues, and a ton of ‘read between the lines’ moments and there’s definitely moments where the interpretation is left up to the individual reader but I love that in the books I read. I appreciated each of the stories in the collection but the ending is one of my favourite stories and one that leaves you thinking about Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird for a while after.

I’m definitely looking forward to more of her work being translated in the future!

// ARC received from Pushkin Press through NetGalley.

🌙 19 Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica 🌙
- translated by Sarah Moses

Thanks to Pushkin Press for this eARC

How could an author ever follow up to Tender is the Flesh? I feel bad comparing these short stories to one of my favourite books of all time as I know that two different formats are not easy to compare. I also know that the author will be getting a lot of reviews comparing the two pieces of work. Is it warranted? Idk. Honestly, I think this is a step away from horror and a step into normalcy. The stories were good, just not as shocking and disturbing as I anticipated.

The second story was shocking in a quiet way. Short and revealing, gross and repugnant. But in a good way? Does that make sense? Candy Pink interested me.

4/5 stars would recommend

I loved this. the writing is immersive and the stories have that little hint of the macabre to them which is insidious in nature and just sticks with you. Each of these stories has an edge.

The tales I enjoyed most were 'Mary Carminum', for the cultish vibes, 'The Solitary Ones' for the creepers and 'Teicher vs Nietzsche' for what has to be the most creative use of philosophical symbolism. It also contains what has to be, HANDS DOWN, one of the best descriptives of the feline kind.. Yes, the 'parasitic assassin of God..." Fitting! I shall never look at my cat in the same way again.

I really enjoyed this so much, and Augustina has such a talent for invoking the ick in your subconscious but keeping you hanging on every single world. Opening on A Light Swift and Monstrous Sound was perfection, guy falls on a patio.

Thank you so much for sharing a copy of these fabulous stories with me. I would recommend this for readers horror or the just plain weird. Some of these tales still linger in my subconscious and I now dread getting trapped on a train!

This collection of short horror stories keeps you on the edge of your seat constantly as each story shifts in its meaning of what a horror story truly is. Bazterrica’s writing is surprisingly beautiful as she manages to horrify me in one line and bring delight in the language of the next. This collection in my opinion brings beautiful imagery to the darkest caverns of the writers mind. Can’t wait to read more of her work and go on another horrifying and beautiful journey as the one that she has just taken me on. 5/5 stars. ‘Without light you can’t go on; without light you can’t trust anything’.