Name: Ally Perkins's review of Chouette by Claire Oshetsky
Item: Chouette
Rating: 4.5
Author: Ally Perkins

Claire Oshetsky

"Claire Oshetsky’s novel is a marvel: its language a joy, its imagination dizzying." —Rumaan Alam, New York Times bestselling author of Leave the World Behind An exhilarating, provocative novel of motherhood in extremis Tiny is pregnant. Her husband is delighted. “You think this baby is going to be like you, but it’s not like you at all,” she warns him. “This baby is an owl-baby.” When Chouette is born small and broken-winged, Tiny works around the clock to meet her daughter’s needs. Left on her own to care for a child who seems more predatory bird than baby, Tiny vows to raise Chouette to be her authentic self. Even in those times when Chouette’s behaviors grow violent and strange, Tiny’s loving commitment to her daughter is unwavering. When she discovers that her husband is on an obsessive and increasingly dangerous quest to find a “cure” for their daughter, Tiny must decide whether Chouette should be raised to fit in or to be herself—and learn what it truly means to be a mother. Arresting, darkly funny, and unsettling, Chouette is a brilliant exploration of ambition, sacrifice, perceptions of ability, and the ferocity of motherly love.

Chouette

Natalia Machado

An exhilarating, provocative novel of motherhood in extremis Tiny is pregnant. Her husband is delighted. "You think this baby is going to be like you, but it's not like you at all," she warns him. "This baby is an owl-baby." When Chouette is born small and broken-winged, Tiny works around the clock to meet her daughter's needs. Left on her own to care for a child who seems more predatory bird than baby, Tiny vows to raise Chouette to be her authentic self. Even in those times when Chouette's behaviors grow violent and strange, Tiny's loving commitment to her daughter is unwavering. When she discovers that her husband is on an obsessive and increasingly dangerous quest to find a "cure" for their daughter, Tiny must decide whether Chouette should be raised to fit in or to be herself--and learn what it truly means to be a mother. Arresting, darkly funny, and unsettling, Chouette is a brilliant exploration of ambition, sacrifice, perceptions of ability, and the ferocity of motherly love.

A Novel

So beautiful. This portrait of motherhood and identity stung in the best ways. 

Ally Perkins

* 'A marvel' Rumaan Alam * 'Stunning' Claire Lombardo * 'Hypnotic' Catherine Cho * 'Breathtaking' Rachel Yoder * A FIERCE, DARK FABLE ABOUT MOTHERHOOD THAT WILL GRIP YOU IN ITS TALONS AND NEVER LET GO Tiny is pregnant. Her husband is delighted. 'It's not yours,' she tells him. 'This baby will be an owl-baby.' Tiny's always been an outsider, and she knows her child will be different. When Chouette is born, Tiny's husband and family are devastated by her condition and strange appearance. Doctors tell them to expect the worst. Chouette won't learn to walk; she never speaks; she lashes out when frightened and causes chaos in public. Tiny's husband wants to make her better: 'Don't you want our daughter to have a normal life?' But Tiny thinks Chouette is perfect the way she is. As Tiny and her husband fight over what's right for their child, Chouette herself is growing. In her fierce self-possession, her untameable will, she teaches Tiny to break free of expectations - no matter what it takes. Savage, startling, possessed of a biting humour and wild love, Chouette is a dark modern fable about mothering an unusual child. It will grip you in its talons and never let go.

This at the same time as the Barbie movie really means something to me 

jillian tenner

An eloquent and savage exploration of motherhood. Raw, visceral, and powerful use of feral metaphor. Heartbreaking and honest in its exploration of the grief and hardship and primal nature of bearing and raising children.

𝔢𝔪

Shona Tiger

(ARC)

Thank you to Edelweiss and to HarperCollins for this ARC.

Goodness, this was not to my taste at all. I finished it because it was very readable, and because I always finish books -- but the subject matter and style were unsettling to me, and therefore unpleasant. Reminded very much of the feeling I had while reading My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh -- the same strangeness, the same feeling of treading water in the dark.

Tiny, the mother in the book, is very unlikeable; but as the book progressed, I began to feel sympathy for her. Because she's an unreliable narrator, I could not figure out whether this was a story about mental illness -- puerperal psychosis (or, more accurately, a nervous breakdown that started during Tiny's pregnancy), or a story about Tiny's child's disability; or even both. The style of writing suits the swirling bewilderment that Tiny must be living through, but the treatment of disability and the raw details in the book are truly gut-churning. This is not a comfortable read.

Having said all of that, I think the author achieves what they may have set out to do -- to write a book about the dark side of motherhood, maybe the nightmares new mothers have (I'm guessing here, not being a mother myself). The disintegration of Tiny's marriage is also well done (and those in-laws!) The book reads like horror though, and I'm glad I'm not reading it while expecting 😩

Not sure whether to recommend this one. Read because it's a very unusual book, and because it's good literary fiction. Don't read because it is pretty traumatic. You'll have to decide.

This piece of magical realism quickly jumps from cottagecore to druidcore. It is surprisingly violent in several pages, which isn't entirely unwelcome given the antagonists. The list of music references at the end is a great addition. 

Ashlyn

Fraser Simons

This is about a woman who gives birth to a baby owl. Who has a very active imagination that supplants the real with familiar, but very dark (at times), undertones. When she learns she is pregnant she fears at a primordial level, what might be growing and subsuming her from within. But, given the assurances of the husband, a good provider, they Solider on, going on a very unique birthing experience. 

But there is a lot more to it than just that. 

What a roller coaster ride this is. Big Fish coupled with Tim Burton in terms of surrealism, colour palette, and horror. But make it feminist, unhinged, and feral. 

I’m not sure you ever really “know” what is real and what isn’t. Dialogue from the outside of Tiny mother’s mind seems faithfully recreated at times, while other moments are cardboard cut outs or abbreviated approximations that ring so false, it’d be laughable, if it wasn’t usually so intensely emotionally charged. 

The abstractions in this book as it pertains to nature and what is “natural” is wonderfully nuanced here. Had there been a definitive answer that defined or codified reality, I’d have liked this less. The allegory and metaphors instead are able to humanize aspects that do not fit into society, while assigning them time and space and agency in the realm of the natural, which culture continually reveres, even as it chooses not to take any lessons from it, and most often, opts to destroy it entirely. It also makes space for trauma and escapism. For divergences from the normal and accepted. 

It also does not allow the reader to feel completely aligned with one parent or the other, amazingly. Both have their failings and both interpret what’s occurring differently. We discredit both at different times, for different reasons. And judge them because of it, as intended by the author. I found this far thought provoking than expected and about more than an alteration of identity due to the new role of motherhood. 

And the specificity and diction that build the ecosystem in the book is simply fantastic. Atmosphere drips from every page. It’s engaging and fast-paced. It respects the intelligence of the reader to come to their own conclusions, no handholding, or little of it, when it comes to theme and intent. And on top of that, queer themes are interwoven and become pertinent in, again, a complex way that was very satisfying. Absolutely loved the reading experience and I think it will stay with me for some time.

Lydia Enge

Mitch

Catherine Nicolai

Jemima Scott

Michelle Jolliffe

Martin Ackerfors

CLAIRE. OSHETSKY

A FIERCE, DARK FABLE ABOUT MOTHERHOOD THAT WILL GRIP YOU IN ITS TALONS AND NEVER LET GO Tiny is pregnant. Her husband is delighted. 'It's not yours,' she tells him. 'This baby will be an owl-baby.' Odd, lonely, haunted by a mysterious past, Tiny's always been an outsider. And she knows her child will be different. When Chouette is born, Tiny's husband and family are devastated by her condition and strange appearance. Doctors tell them to expect the worst. Chouette can't walk; she never speaks; she lashes out when frightened and causes chaos in public. Tiny's husband wants to make her better: 'Don't you want our daughter to have a normal life?' But though exhausted, shunned and bereft of her former life, Tiny thinks Chouette is perfect the way she is. As Tiny and her husband fight over what's right for their child, Chouette herself is growing. And in her fierce self-possession, her untameable will, she teaches Tiny to break free of expectations - no matter what it takes. Savage, startling, possessed of a biting humour and wild love, Chouette is a dark modern fable about mothering an unusual child. It will grip you in its talons and never let go.

Natalia Machado &
Chouette by Claire Oshetsky

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Natalia Machado &Chouette by Claire Oshetsky

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Natalia Machado &
Chouette by Claire Oshetsky