Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy. This novel was beautifully well written, a heart-wrenching tale that leaves you haunted by its innocence. I will definitely look out for this author because the prose had such an impact on me.

Margaret is a imaginative child.. a little strange.. who likes to make up stories….
When she and her neighbor friend Agnes are four years old, they go out for a fun day of play which ends in a tragedy and Agnes dies.. Margaret is forever feeling guilty .. especially when being haunted by a fantastical creature she calls Poor Deer.
Poor Deer is a devilish looking creature always bothering her to tell the truth of what happened that day.
She is being raised by her aunt and mother but her mother has many thoughts of Margaret being guilty as is much of the mill town she is from… her only friend she makes is an old man on the other side of the woods who raises pigeons.
This is an endearing story.
Loved it..


Thank you to Netgalley and Ecco for the ARC!

Truly wonderful, so moving and emotional. There was so much heart and magic in this story. I'll absolutely read more from this author and recommend this to others.

This is a novel about how a tragedy's ripple effects impact a woman's life forever. At times the narrative is very sad and pulls on the heartstrings. Margaret is, understandably, haunted by what she has experienced.
Poor Deer serves as Margaret’s conscience. As the reader, we wonder whether she will be able to come to terms with the truth. Guilt and shame run through these pages, and the author isn't afraid to dig deep. This story will resonate with fans of literary fiction.

genuinely one of the best books i’ve read this year. oshetsky writes so well from the perspective of a child, capturing both the innocense and simplicity as well as the surprisingly prescient understanding of things. the evolution of poor deer was so clever, and the way the story wraps around to the true victim was so beautiful.

Well paced and full of detail. Claustrophobic and thrilling I felt like I was right inside of the book.
Thank you Netgalley for an awesome arc in exchange for my honest opinion

A beautifully written novel a heart wrenching story of Margery involved in a tragic accident at a very young age that will haunt her. life.Claire Oshetsky has a literary style of writing that drew me in and made the characters come alive.I am looking forward to reading more by her .#netgalley #eccobooks

This is a heartbreaking story, at times, the story of a young girl, a tragedy that will haunt her throughout her life, and the memories that taunt her. A powerful, poignant story of an event that changes everything. Everything from the point when her best friend dies seems unreal. The whispers behind her back continue to haunt her, while she prefers to live inside stories where everyone is happy.

It isn’t as though anyone else knows what happened that day, and even though her mother insisted that her daughter was in the house all day seems to help others believe, Margaret knows. She struggles, wanting to forget, wanting only happy stories, those with happy endings.

When Poor Deer enters the picture, she serves as Margaret’s conscience, encouraging her to come to terms with what she did, or didn’t do.

This isn’t a story with a lot of ‘charm’, it’s more like a beautifully written, if dark, fairy tale, with a theme around the guilt this young girl feels, the rumours that abound, and how it shapes her life.

I loved this story, loved every second of reading it, how it evolved, and Poor Deer’s relentless prodding for Margaret to share her truth. ’Poor Deer’ captured my heart completely, and never let go.


Pub Date: 09 Jan 2024

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Ecco

They lived in a mill town, the sky and houses, "perpetual yellow from a soft sulfurous gauze...the town bordered by...sad farms...beyond the fields-untended woods..".

Quiet, introspective, four year old Margaret "Bunny" Murphy, enjoyed reading her aunt's fairy tale compendium, sitting under the kitchen table. She loved fairy tales with happy endings. A self-taught reader and writer, she was able to craft her own fairy tales with made-up endings. She wrote in a secret, ritualistic language using cyphers.

Four year old, Agnes Bickford was bold and adventurous. Holding hands, Margaret and Agnes inquisitively explored "that dazzle-bright lake at the end of the street." The schoolyard flood..."a mysterious lake stretching all the way to the school building."

Now, Agnes was in a "better place." Margaret soundlessly continued to hide under the kitchen table. She spent her time rereading and writing new cryptic fairy tales that she stored in a shoebox under her bed. She played with her clothespin family while hiding in her bedroom closet. Unfortunately, Margaret had a monkey on her back. Poor Deer, a strange creature with sharp yellow tooth nubs and cloven feet, becomes incorporated within Margaret's play time. "Sometimes guilt looks like a sad thing weeping in the corner. Never leaving. Always blaming." But...how does a four year old process shame, guilt and possible complicity in a tragedy? Poor Deer discounted the many versions of the schoolyard flood as penned by Margaret.

Gossipmongers and neighbor theorists played the blame game. Relationships fractured. Time passed and now 16 year old Margaret sits in a dilapidated motor lodge trying to write the truth of the schoolyard flood and what happened to two young girls.

"Poor Deer" by Claire Oshetsky is an emotional, unsettling read. A fairy tale loving young girl is left alone, to work through her complicity, shame and/or guilt. Margaret's play therapy of sorts, occurs in her places of comfort under the kitchen table and in her bedroom closet with her clothespin dolls. Verbalization of the events, by four year old Margaret, was disbelieved. Poor Deer, however, would never forgive. The truth must out. A highly recommended , unputdownable read.

Thank you Ecco and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my gosh …. Oh my gosh … oh my gosh!!!!
Truly masterfully written!!!
and
sooo engrossing!!!

THE MOST CREATIVE -ENJOYABLE- (in awe) novel I’ve read since maybe Claire Oshetsky’s last book, “Chouette”.

“Poor Deer” is
….dazzling….
….beautifully written….
….relentlessly thought provoking….
….creative as hell
and
….mindful of humanity!!!

There is ‘coming-of-age’ …. and then there is ‘COMING-OF AGE’!

At the start ….
We meet protagonist, Margaret Murphy at age sixteen. She begins to write her confession from room 127 at Little Ida’s Motor Lodge eleven miles from Niagara Falls. She was writing her confession a dozen years after the day of a schoolyard flood.

But then…. we follow along with Margaret when she is four years of age.
ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE FOUR YEAR OLD PROTAGONIST in literary history.

Four year old Margaret lives with her mother Florence and her aunt Dolly.
Next door is Ruby and her daughter Agnes (Margaret’s best friend)

The little girls are out playing together.
“Let’s run away from the stinky old town, Agnes said. Let’s go to a better place. Let’s run straight into the woods where our mothers will never find us and we’ll keep on running until we get to the Land of Pirate King, and if we are in the mood, we will join his crew, and we’ll have adventures on the seven seas and live a life of wild wonder for the rest of our days”.
“Margaret was is a deliberative child, not prone to making her mind up on a dime”.
“I’ll be very sad. If you go to a better place without me, she said”.
“She was still considering it”.
“But Agnes had no patience for fiddle-faddle and indecision”.

“Poor Deer” is a sucker-for-the-gut. It’s vivid in its depiction; a terrible moment in childhood hovers with a kind of unbearable eternity.

“Poor Deer” has an adult fairytale vibe — with great emotional and mental depth.
It’s difficult to provide more details without undermining the experience for other readers.
But I should say that while the book contains some painful scenes — it’s also a story about redemption, empathy, and forgiveness— (but NOT ORDINARY in any way).
It’s clever -creative - down right awesome storytelling!

A few personal things I thought about:
…..what to do with the little voice in the head when it wants to tear you down?
….How do we fully embrace who we are with guilt and grief living in our shadows?
….Without explaining why - here in public: I thought about my cousin, Shelley. Same age as me: 71. She lost a half a finger when we were playing outside together.
I called her after reading this book. It was great to catch up

A couple of bonus gifts I got from “Poor Deer”
… I purchase two other books mentioned:
….”Lord Jim” by Joseph Conrad
….”The Confession of Saint Patrick

…. Another bonus:
I particularly love the way Claire gave some old fashion phrases a new life!
“pum-drum-drumming (love it)
“silly-billy”
(so darn endearing- I want to start using the phrase again myself)

Nostalgia moments: (childhood candy)
….Wax bottles
…. tootsie roll.
But what is a:
….”Slo Poke”?
And ….
….Wooden clothespin dolls
[I played with them, too, as a child]

And? Puzzle for me?
What is the color of rain?

Last note:
….LOVE the title “Poor Deer” (it’s perfect)
….LOVE the book cover!
(perfectly eye-catching)

If you haven’t figured out by now — I LOVE this book
….the woods
….the descriptions
….the dialogue & stories throughout
….hiding
….aunt Dolly
….a bright child’s imagination > Margaret Murphy

Congratulations to Claire Oshetsky!! Two for two — WONDERFUL BOOKS!!!

I recommend Claire Oshetsky’s novel, Chouette, to pretty much every reader I know. It’s a weird little tale about motherhood, humanity, and an owl baby. Oshetsky’s follow-up, Poor Deer, is another strange and beautiful tale.

The novel is narrated by Margaret, who, at the age of four, is involved in a horrific accident, one that shapes the course of her future. As Margaret tries to confess the truth behind the aforementioned accident, she is rebuked by Poor Deer, a strange figure with sharp yellow teeth, who will not allow Margaret lie to herself about her past. We follow Margaret through her tragic young life, as she constantly tries to deal with her trauma.

Oh Margaret. I loved her so much. As the mother of a young girl, it was easy for me to understand how emotionally ill-equipped a child is to deal with tragedy. As Margaret’s relationship with her mother deteriorated, my heart broke. As displayed so well in Chouette, Oshetsky is a master at capturing the many complexities of parent/child relationships, especially from the perspective of a mother.

For me, there were hints of Merricat Blackwood in Margaret. A young girl with little control over her surroundings, haunted by tragedy, finds comfort in strange rituals (or cyphers, in Margaret’s case), but clearly very special. Similarly, Oshetsky’s knack for the uncanny is not too far from Shirley Jackson.

Poor Deer is a very different work from Chouette, but still amazing. A devastating and moving novel about lost childhood, with an irresistible central character. Truly wonderful.