Review: 'Nightbitch' by Rachel Yoder

 I'm not sure what I first fell in love with when it comes to Nightbitch. It was either the conceit at the heart of it, a mother turning into a dog, or the bright read cover, with its raw meat and wrapper forming the subtle shape of a dog. I knew that either way, however, I needed to get my hands on it asap. ONce I got my copy, however, I was hesitant to approach. Would it be too odd? What if I didn't "get" it? I shouldn't have worried about any of these things because Nightbitch is quite simply brilliant. 

Publisher: Doubleday Books
Pub. Date: 7/20/2021

One day, the mother was a mother but then, one night, she was quite suddenly something else...

At home full-time with her two-year-old son, an artist finds she is struggling. She is lonely and exhausted. She had imagined - what was it she had imagined? Her husband, always travelling for his work, calls her from faraway hotel rooms. One more toddler bedtime, and she fears she might lose her mind.

Instead, quite suddenly, she starts gaining things, surprising things that happen one night when her child will not sleep. Sharper canines. Strange new patches of hair. New appetites, new instincts. And from deep within herself, a new voice...

With its clear eyes on contemporary womanhood and sharp take on structures of power, Nightbitch is an outrageously original, joyfully subversive read that will make you want to howl in laughter and recognition. Addictive enough to be devoured in one sitting, this is an unforgettable novel from a blazing new talent.

Early on in Nightbitch, on the first few pages, I saw this quote and immediately felt not just seen, but recognized and accepted:

'You light a fire early in your girlhood. You stoke it and tend it. You protect it at all costs. You don't let it rage into a mountain of light, because that's not becoming of a girl. You keep it secret. You let it burn.'

Never before had I seen that feeling put down into words quite so clearly, succinctly, and yet powerfully. Nightbitch addresses that burning feeling that something isn't right, that things aren't quite fair, that the situation you have ended up in benefits everyone except yourself. Yoder nails the unease of always feeling a step behind, of feeling like you've missed the trick, perfectly. Whether the mom is with her old art friends or with the yummy  mummies at the playground, she always feels like the of one out, like the one who doesn't have it all made. As she connects with a more primal part of herself, however, she begins to let go of the consistent comparing and begins to celebrate herself.

The mother is quite simply tired of it all. Off endless bedtime rituals, of being the only adult at home while her husband is off on work trips, of not being able to contemplate art, let alone work on art. She is also suspicious of the way things are, of how easily everything that made her 'her' has slipped away. And on top of that her teeth are definitely sharper, and she is definitely hairier than she was before. And there is that weird stub on her lower back, which she sometimes feels like wagging. This is only the start of Nightbitch and it had me riveted straightaway. Yoder slowly builds up the pressures on 'mother' until the Nightbitch erupts in a moment of jubilation and relief and exhilaration. From there her motherhood, her existence as an independent person, and her nature as an artist all begin to blend together. Whether Mother is covered in her child's spit or in midnight mud, there is something elemental to her and I was utterly gripped. Aside from that, the whole "yummy mummy" critique was brilliant, the taking apart of the MLM-schemes. Nightbitch gave me moments during which I was laughing and also moments where I had to take a moment, contemplate things. 

While sometimes the pundits' cries that a book is groundbreaking or sensational or anything along those lines can feel exaggerated, they are utterly apt for Nightbitch. It truly is like no other book I think I have ever read. It is completely absurd and yet as I was reading it began to feel so right to me, so utterly natural. Parts of Nightbitch almost feel fairytale-esque, beautiful and ugly, utterly right and also wrong. Mother often reads in a book on fantastical women, who turn to birds, disappear at night, or raise pups in the forest. It weaves a wider "mythology" almost, in which Mother and Nightbitch can claim space for their primal, modern motherhood. The way in which Yoder blends the banalities of the everyday with the dual mystique and desperation of the feminine and the craft of art is just stunning. Honestly Nightbitch is a very impressive piece of work that does much more than I can discuss here, but what I can say is that I utterly adored it and can't wait to read more by Rachel Yoder. 

I give this novel...

5 Universes!

Nightbitch is one of my literary highlights of 2021. It is a stunning book, utterly out there and yet profoundly true.