Nightbitch by Rachel YoderMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A Lesson in POV With
Nightbitch
by Rachel Yoder
Audible Performance:
Excellent! Cassandra Campbell does a masterful job of portraying the emotion the rage, and the whimsey of Yoder’s work. I was not taken out of the story at all by her performance. Even in some of the wildest, weirdest parts of the story Campbell plays it with the seriousness the scene calls for.
Spoiler Free Review:
For me this book is “Catcher in the Rye” meets a modern Shirley Jackson. The trailer for the movie adaptation of this novel was a siren’s song for me and some of my friends. The line “Can’t anyone in this damn house clean their own ass” struck a particular cord with me, as everyone in my house seems to be having trouble finding their perspective bathrooms here lately. But the title! The moment I saw the title I knew I was going to see this movie or read the book, whichever came first. Audible came first. A few weeks later I was engrossed in this horror story, this feminist essay, this documentary of a mother falling into such familiar madness before our eyes. For a more detail spill please check out my blog:
What I liked
I delighted in the weirdness of this hard feminist horror novel essay. It was very cathartic to watch this woman go through what I have also experienced as a Stay-At-Home Mom in these modern times. I found “the mother” in the story to be very relatable. Her thoughts are very much my thoughts. I have felt her rage, worries, and woes about not being able to quit this new job I’ve started were I make literally no pay and never have a day off, about not working a real job while my friends all seem to advance in their careers including my single working Mom friend with two kids! How Does she do it?
Nightbitch was loosing her shit just being an introverted mother with no friends she could talk to, while her husband spent the week away from home. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way, but feeling this way is so terribly lonely.
Nightbitch’s dissolving mental stability does not excuse her from taking care of the child - from making sure he is fed, bathed, and entertained at all hours of the day and night!
Her husband is not present. Even when he’s there he’s not present. She still has to cater to her husband and son’s physical needs and desires. Neither notice her needs - not until she completely breaks and fully morphs into a wild beast. Even then she doesn’t actually leave the kid unsupervised.
I enjoy how it’s never really clear weather or not she, or anyone else, is literally turning into a dog. In her mind sure she’s a full blown she-beast, but in the book she only appears to change once. Every time after that it’s questionable what other people might be seeing.
Note: She doesn’t start her metamorphosis until after she names herself Nightbitch before the story begins. She also turns into the very dog she hated growing up, her Grandmother’s husky with the human voice and the cold dead blue eyes.
What I loved:
I loved how the whole story is told through the POV of the Wanda White. During the novel, Nightbitch is trying to find answers as to why she may be turning into a dog. She discovers a book, A Field Guide to Magical Women: A Mythical Ethnography by Wanda White. Nightbitch sends e-mails to Wanda which are never reciprocated. She researches about her. But the university where she worked no longer exists. Nightbitch wonders if Wanda is even still alive, after all she’s likely in her eighties. But there is a moment where Nightbitch sees this woman watching her, observing her, in the dog park. Nightbitch runs after the woman but she gets away. The narration starts, getting closer and closer to Nightbitch after that. And as the story progresses, the language of the novel begins to sound similar to the field journal Nightbitch has been reading.
This makes us the audience, to Wanda White’s documentary about Nightbitch. We are always watching and judging her but never able to help. We coldly observe as she spins in the wind - just as society observes STAHMs but never seem to want to help us. Dealing with the needs and cries of a young kid with no village or support system is very common in these modern times. Families have grown far apart. Daycare is extremely expensive. Kids only see grandparents on holidays. It really is a sink or swim situation for most of us.
Does Nightbitch sink into madness without anyone noticing? Or did she swim? Are any of us swimming? Was the play at the end a sign of her successfully getting back to work? Is she now fore filled working on her art and helping her new friend. Is incorporating her child into her work healthy?
The novel closes on her son, standing on stage unharmed, but completely covered in blood and holding a dead rabbit - a gift from his mother.
To me this shows that as he was there for every inch of her descent into madness that he is stained by it, over and over. He is the casualty of her being left to figure it out on her own. He is alive and unharmed, but he has stains on him now that he will no doubt hold on to and pass on to his future wife, and child. And whose fault is that!?
I hated:
The husband was insufferable, to me, even when he was being nice to Nightbitch. He never once noticed that she was in crisis or needed help. She had a whole breakdown and he just thought she was sexier for it.
I also felt like this could have been a much shorter story. Some drastic editing could have turned this into a novella as strong as a shot of whiskey.
The conclusion with the husband was thought provoking. All the had to do was ask for more help is probably the best solution you can come up with for a majority of women. It still bugs me how the husband still has no clue, and is actually benefiting from his wife becoming Nightbitch. Does he even go to a show?
The surreal ending, is right up my alley though I know it probably throws a lot of people. I loved that weirdness of it. Since it’s horror there is no relief expected for the MC since no one learned a lesson.
For me, I can’t relate to Nightbitch’s mother not wanting anything to do with the grandson. My motherwould crawl into my skin and help me raise my kid if I’d only just do it the way she wants me to. I relate to the movie Hereditary in that way. But everyone has a different experience.
What was yours?
Does your mother stay out of raising your kids, or is she willing to take over if you’d just let her?
What breed of dog would you turn into?
Is your husband helpful or hardly there? Leave a comment below!
In conclusion
This book is mommy level intrusive thoughts made manifest. It’s why we need a village, and how it feels to not have one. Its how it feels to love someone that you’d kill for them, you’d kill anything for them, you’d kill yourself for them except that they need you. But no one needs that cat, not really.
Recommended for:
- Young men and women considering parenthood.
- Stay-at-home-Moms and Stay at home Dads who feel alone in the storm.
- Dog Moms and Dog Dads who hate cats.
Wives who work all week and wonder what their stay-at-home-dad husbands are going through.
Would Not Recommend for:
Kids
Young men and women considering parenthood.
Husbands who work all week and have little empathy for their spouses.
Cat Mommies who dislike dogs.
If you like this book you might also enjoy:
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
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