Agustina María Bazterrica

Diecinueve garras y un pájaro oscuro

Agustina Bazterrica

A collection of nineteen dark, wildly imaginative short stories from the author of the award-winning TikTok sensation Tender Is the Flesh. From celebrated author Agustina Bazterrica, this collection of nineteen brutal, darkly funny short stories takes into our deepest fears and through our most disturbing fantasies. Through stories about violence, alienation, and dystopia, Bazterrica’s vision of the human experience emerges in complex, unexpected ways—often unsettling, sometimes thrilling, and always profound. In “Roberto,” a girl claims to have a rabbit between her legs. A woman’s neighbor jumps to his death in “A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound,” and in “Candy Pink,” a woman fails to contend with a difficult breakup in five easy steps. Written in Bazterrica’s signature clever, vivid style, these stories question love, friendship, family relationships, and unspeakable desires.

Stories

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird

Typical unsettling, dark, mysterious horror stories. This is kinda reminding me of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed. I like the stories but they're not all that much to talk about I think?

🦌

tori 👻

"Pablo detested Anita because he couldn't prove what he'd suspected ever since they'd met: that she was an alien."

My favorite stories were Roberto, Earth, Elena-Marie Sandoz and The Solitary Ones.

3.5

kayla 

stars ,, 2.0
cawpile ,, 3.66

super disappointed !! there were only,, two(?) memorable sections in this book, maybe even one (and i just finished this). there was so much potential for almost all of these stories and the writing honestly showed great promise, which is why i'll still be checking out 'tender is the flesh'. a personal con ; i struggle to identify overarching metaphors in stories when left with no 'hints' which stood true for quite a few of these and therefore made them pointless in my eyes, so i couldn't even understand some of the stories, let alone enjoy them. bleh. 

** was going to make a favourite to least favourite list but i'm looking at the story names and can't remember any of them. sob!

I definitely think these stories went straight over my head in terms of the fact that I was hoping for really gruesome and classically dark short horror stories. I think this author is truly talented and I have loved their previous work but I just wasn't captivated by this. There were one or two that gave me creepy vibes but nothing that made me truly scared, which is what I was hoping for from this book. Therefore, the rating I gave it is purely a reflection of my disappointment in it not living up to my misguided expectations. 

ariah 

On hearing her neighbour's body plummet on to her patio, a woman's comfortable life seems to split open. A cab driver's perfectly manicured nails may be concealing grisly secrets. A woman whose partner has left her begins to act out an increasingly deranged set of instructions.In these tense, macabre stories, acclaimed author Agustina Bazterrica strikes to the dark heart of our desires, fears and fantasies. Shocking, brutal, yet glinting with sharp humour, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is a breathtaking, unforgettable dive into human monstrousness.

Lorraine

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.

Diecinueve garras y un pájaro oscuro

Reviews