It has taken me a long time to process this book, which in itself says something about how complex and compelling Yoder's storytelling is. The saga of Nightbitch is equal parts appalling and relatable, which is why it sticks in your craw and lives in the back of your mind long after you put the book down. Nightbitch is a dark and savvy twist on the "hysterical woman" trope that bathes the reader in unpleasantness -- intentionally. It's a book that I didn't *enjoy* reading, but that has stuck with me and made me think.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending a free copy of this book my way!

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me—I struggled to even finish. While well-written overall I couldn’t find my way “in” here, and I usually enjoy stream-of-consciousness it just became tiresome here. The exploration of young motherhood feels honest and true, and the author’s goals are lofty, but this just didn’t work for me. I’ll check out her next book!

Nightbitch was one of the most unusual and engrossing reads I’ve read/listened to in a while. The premise, a mother who believes she is turning into a dog was like no other book I’ve read before. The cover and title sold me even before I started.

This book is an allegory to womanhood and motherhood. Its underlying tone is about what women give up and give to regarding the remarkable act of creating and caretaking of another human. The changes that happen to the body, the mind and the taxing tiredness turns the mother into someone she doesn’t recognize. This theme continues as the story touches on the privledge that comes with being able to stay at home with your baby vs. the need/want to continue to work.

There’s a sense of fantasy and magic to this story as the mother, who remains nameless, is obsessed with her possible transformation to a dog. With her husband gone most weeks for work, she is drowned in alone time with her son, leading to interesting and unusal play that would certainly be judged, to the naked eye, as whacko.

Folks with a strong feminist POV will find a lot to chew on as they read this book. It is odd, yest strangely addicting. Many have compared this to Kafka, which I can’t subscribe to, as I’ve never read Kafka. I do believe many women will feel heard after reading this.

This book is weird as hell - and I love it. Will definitely recommend to those who enjoyed books such as Bunny and With Teeth.

This is an impressive - and definitely different - sort of debut novel. An unnamed wife and mother narrates this odd tale that opens up with an inexplicable new patch of hair on the back of her neck and the sudden feeling that she just might be turning into a dog.

But alongside this odd tale of transformation, and discovery, there is a lot of discussion and interior monologue around motherhood especially, but also womanhood. I think that there is plenty here to spark some seriously lively discussion. The narrator is a former artist but with her attention on her young son and her engineer husband's work schedule that puts him away from home Monday through Friday, she has little time (or energy) for much else - until her path of discovery takes her life in a new direction.

It's certainly a modern novel but one that I think many women will find something here to relate to. Although the scene with the cat may be a bit too much for some readers. I don't think this edgy read will appeal to all, but I did enjoy it - though I certainly wasn't sure what to expect going in. I am definitely curious to see what Yoder will follow this one up with - and am even more curious to see if the film rights that were sold actually get produced into a film. It will be curious to see what approach they take in a future adaptation!

I loved this book. It’s funny, it’s dark, it’s smart, it’s bizarre, and it’s incredibly original. The way it depicts the contradicting brutality and beauty of motherhood is unlike any other book I’ve read. An artist with her dream career becomes a stay-at-home mom, and then becomes convinced she’s turning into a dog. This book made me cringe and it made me crack up laughing. It is so absurd and brilliant. It comes out on July 20th and I can’t recommend it enough!

How can a novel be so completely accurate when it comes to new motherhood, but also filled with some magical realism witchy stuff at the same time? I flew through this book, highlighting so much of it, as the mother of the tale slowly transforms into a dog (and the changes take her to surprising places).

I loved the writing and speed of the story (NO, the transformation does not take 90 percent of the book). I also loved the insights into parenthood, which I now argue cannot be captured unless you are talking about a human being getting turned into an animal. I loved how this book did not shy away from anything "not nice" or yucky or hard, like a feel a lot of women's fiction can do. I love that the story was very unlike other books where characters morph into something else—this was truly a fresh take on those well-known tales.

Why not 5 stars? I thought the ending was a little neat for such a messy book, even though it felt nice to read. I was also just a little tiny bit too confused about what happened. I don't mind ambiguity at all, and this was certainly a place for it, but I wish I had just a few more hints wee that helped me understand better the options of what could have been taking place.

4 stars*

Without question the most buzzed about book I've read this summer. Worth the hype but WEIRD.

I love me some wacky reading material. This one almost exclusively takes the cake.

The completely existential story of a mother losing her identity to motherhood. And yet...it is somehow completely relatable.

I both loved this book and was repulsed by it. Kind of exactly how I felt about labor. And toddler parenting. And teenaged parenting. So, yeah.

Read this moms. Just read it. And then lets have a book club about it. . Thanks.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the advance ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Thoughts:
* This was certainly unlike any book I’ve read recently. I kept going back and forth between thoughts of, “what the hell is happening” to “this is so good”.
* While the story is so weirdly bizarre, I found myself relating to the main characters feelings of sadness, frustration, and rage. This was such an interesting narration on the pressures of being the perfect woman and mother, and how it’s impossible to live up to the standards we set for ourselves and that society sets for us.
* I thought the end got a little weird and I found myself losing interest a little bit, but it seemed like the author wanted to tie everything together and this was the way to do it.
* Overall I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It was written in such a unique way, but somehow the author made it all work.

If you dont like gore (like me) skip it. I had an inkling of what it was going to be like but I was intrigued enough to try it.
The only reason that I am giving it two stars is because I think the first part would be cathartic to mothers. Plus calling out Multi-level Marketing companies.
Reasons I hated it.
--I can see a justification for some of the gore of Nightbitch eating animals but the murder of the family pet just to see the innards was way too much.

--Unshaved arm pits and going unwashed ...oh, so provocative (sarcasm)

--That stupid, oblivious laughing husband

--how can anyone that has spent more than 10 minutes in a Walmart be surprised about the difficulty and horror of motherhood.

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

And thus begins a strange, surreal little novel that’s been making waves throughout the book community this past month, for better or worse. A woman, known only throughout the novel as the mother (& later, Nightbitch – a word I’ve been typing so frequently my phone now recognizes it), once held her dream job as an artist in a gallery and had a fantastic husband. Then the son arrived and with him, the mother’s dream life took a backseat. Being a working mother – toting an infant around a late night gallery showing was untenable in the long run – wasn’t in the cards and the decision was made for her to stay home and raise the child while her husband, also unnamed, bounced from hotel to hotel each week earning a sizable paycheck.

Resentment gave way to anger and rage and on the night in question, when the mother became something else, she discovered her more animalistic nature began to take over. She could have sworn her teeth were sharpening. Those pink little buds lining her torso? The husband would wave them away as moles, but the woman knew better. There were times she even felt the little wag of a long forgotten appendage. Clearly she was becoming a dog.

I honestly don’t know what to think about this book other than it’s definitely something. There will be people who love it and people who hate it, those who can peel away the layers of some deeper symbolism while others are just bewildered – though I think we’re all in agreement that MLMs are cults.

There were moments where I genuinely enjoyed this book and raced through scenes, but I do think it’s worth pointing out that this novel, in total less than 260 pages, took me three days to read. I’m glad I experienced this though I can’t see myself ever returning.

Also, major warning for very graphic depictions of animal cruelty and death

To start with I wasn't sure what to make of this book and often I find the lack of character names annoying. However, when I hit about 35% of the way through, I was engrossed and devoured the rest, like a delicious steak.

A woman who believes that motherhood is slowly turning her into a dog? Yes please. 🙋🏼‍♀️ I live for a weird, original book with a striking cover and this one checks ALL the boxes.

This stay-at-home mother was formerly an up-and-coming artist, working in museum galleries, but now finds herself at home caring for an toddler. She's resentful of her husband's work life, she hasn't had a good night's sleep in two years, she feels creatively unfulfilled, and she's basically losing her mind. But then one day she realizes she's growing weird tufts of hair, craving raw meat, and her canine teeth are so sharp they can draw blood. She gives in to her most basic animal instincts to find a newfound, dark confidence emerging and becomes Nightbitch.

Y'all I'm not even a mom, but the way Yoder describes the day-to-day labor of a SAHM had me viscerally feeling the frustration. The mother constantly deals with conflicted feelings of guilt and worry that she's not enough. In so many ways this felt kind of like a superhero book to me because the mother finds this untapped power and strength. This book celebrates motherhood as sacred, animalistic, and beautiful. I love the way it stresses the importance of being true to yourself and not sacrificing every single part of yourself because you’re a mom.

This book has brilliant commentary on not only motherhood, but being a woman, finding your power, marriage, and so much more. I'm just realizing it's Yoder's writing debut and WHOA. She seriously hit it out of the park with her very first book.

This book is bizarre, deliciously wild, and I completely loved it. Yeah, the ending is maybe a little too meta, but dang if I didn’t kinda love that too. It's not going to be for everyone, but pick it up if you're the least bit intrigued.

I do have to throw out a warning - there is animal death. I mean, when one becomes a dog, one does tend to attack rabbits… and an occasional cat. 🐶🤷🏼‍♀️

Think Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ meets a 90s Cosmo article asking ‘Can women have it all?’ meets a David Kronenberg body-horror meets Chic-lit…. Sound odd? Well… it sure is! But it’s also sharp, honest, funny and really perceptive on identity and motherhood, and living a creative life.
The unnamed ‘Mother’ is insanely sleep-deprived, struggling with the monotonous day-to-day of caring for her toddler, mourning the loss of her dream career, whilst her husband takes ever longer business trips away, humors her, patronizes her and gives her little support. And oh yes… she’s slowly turning into a dog, or should I say, a ‘night bitch!’ As she embraces her ‘animal’ instincts, with her son along for the ride… it definitely gets weirder. But it’s wholly original, strange in a kind of fun way,full of rage and surprisingly good, though DEFINITELY not for everyone. I embraced the weird and went with it!

A special thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow, for a debut novel, this book has chops, or shall I say choppers, little joke. Ok the narrator of this book is a new mom, known only as "Nighbitch"! This book is smart, funny, clever, original. Nighbitch leaves her career in art to have a baby with her husband, who is never around because he works five days a week, fathering mostly from the various hotel rooms via phone. As the child turns two, Nightbitch, steps away from the demands of her toddler to look in the mirror, only to discover a patch of hair at the back of her neck and her teeth! Her canine teeth look sharper than usual!

This book is really about motherhood. It can be taken whichever way you see it in your mind's eye. The things she (Nightbitch, sorry I don't know what else to call her!) is experiencing can just be her evolving into motherhood or devolving into a canine. A LOT to think about. Clever, clever!!! This book is impressive, I loved it. Definitely 5 stars!

Magical realism and feminism? YES PLEASE.

Man..... this book is going to piss off so many men, which means I love it.

So, I read "The Woodcutter" by Rachel Yoder some time ago and absolutely loved it - it made me cry unexpectedly and really touched something in me. I was hyped to get to read Nightbitch (which came out last week) and unsurprisingly, it was excellent. In a feral take on motherhood, Yoder's protagonist tries to make sense of a new role - stay-at-home mom - by communing with animals, eating raw meat, even killing in horrific ways. I won't say much more because this book feels like something you must experience fully. This book is visceral, colorful, aggressive. It captures a cruel, beautiful, and harsh side of womanhood and motherhood that was uncomfortable and tantalizing to read.

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder is an eccentric black comedy about a fed up and overworked mom who thinks she's literally (and figuratively) turning into a bitch. She finds herself with an appetite for raw meat and swears she’s growing hair on the back of her neck. As she questions her own sanity, she wrestles with deciding whether to embrace her newfound condition or not.

This isn’t your traditional werewolf tale. It’s an ode to motherhood and a witty satire on the malaise of suburban housewives.

Throughout the story, we as the reader are left questioning alongside Nightbitch whether she is actually turning into a dog … or if it’s all in her head. I wouldn’t entirely call this tale Kafkaesque though because our main character finds a strange sense of joy and liberation in her transformation unlike poor Gregor Samsa.

Ultimately, Nightbitch is equal parts bizarre, hilarious, and disturbing. It's a book that doesn't hold back and really packs a bite.

Not really sure what i just read. I get that it’s a commentary on motherhood, that it’s deep and raw and original. But beyond that, i really can’t evaluate. You’d really have to be looking for something different in order to be drawn to this.

With shades of the films 'Tully' and 'Black Swan,' as well as Mona Awad's 'Bunny' (and even a bit of Kafka's 'Metamorphosis,' for obvious reasons), this delightfully (and grimly) deranged book had me hooked from the jump. As the unnamed mother — an artist caring for her young son without the help of a never-there husband — begins a slow descent into isolation and her tangled thoughts, she finds herself changing physically along with her mental highs and lows. Teeth and claws sharpen, fur sprouts, and a tail appears, leading her to question her place in the world. Is she a mother? An artist? A woman? Or, something else entirely?

This is such a bizarro, brilliant way of looking at modern motherhood and the way the label of "mom" can consume a woman's previous existence, eroding her sense of self and what was once her driving purpose in life. Rachel Yoder's story will have you questioning if the titular "Nightbitch" is undergoing this physical transformation literally, or if it's merely the main character's very desperate cry for help, But it also might cause you to look inward, despite how wild the plot — hasn't life ever made you feel gaslit? A little untethered? Maybe even a bit monstrous?