This was so insufferable that the moments at the end that tried to be heartfelt landed incredibly flat. I actually like performance art and Carolee Schneemann, so if I didn't enjoy this, it's hard to imagine who will.

a very surrealist novel, that feels like stepping into a fever dream. ella baxter is a good writer and her prose comes across well in the audio book version, too. i was intrigued by learning about a protagonist who‘s a performance artist, and i did think that there was some very accurate and even humourous portrayal of the something quite vacuous art world. still, sabine as a protagonist was ultimately way too one-dimensional and her character hard to grasp, despite being at the centre of the narrative.

I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but I don't feel like I was the target audience for it..

First of all, LOL.

This is such a niche book. As an artist who loves all expressions of art and who identifies as a crazy person, I found this to be incredibly funny and an interesting look at the art world in such a satirical manner.

When I tell you I RAN to the reviews as soon as I finished this one……. I sprinted. I just knew it was going to be fantastically controversial. Needless to say, the reviews did not disappoint.

I really loved the in-depth look into what it feels like when you’re “going crazy”. The things that suddenly make sense and the simple things that couldn’t be more confusing. How no one really understands what’s going on or why.

I loved this but I feel like it’s one of those books that if you don’t have a relationship with the described experience, you may have a hard time following.

I really wish that writers of this caliber would stop caving into viral fiction trends.

I was intrigued by the concept behind this and had heard good things about Baxter’s writing, but this one really never gets where it needs to go, bogged down by a need to treat with the trendy “body horror as art” motif in women’s fiction.

I didn’t find this quite as gross as some readers, and Baxter certainly has talent as a writer, but the “descent into madness” felt contrived and moved quickly away from the more interesting theme in play, which was related to the protagonist’s stalker and questions about how much ownership over you as a creator/public figure is reasonable and what happens to you, the human being, as a result.

I was sort of amused by the character being haunted by the ghost of Carolee Schneemann, though this misses the mark a bit about the deeper themes of Schneemann’s work.

Otessa Moshfegh comparisons are inevitable but not correct.

• sabine, an artist about to show a new photo exhibition, continuously seeks validation from everyone around her: her husband, her tiktok followers, and her stalker. alongside her are her many odd alter egos, who give her advice & guidance on occasion.
• in classic ella baxter fashion, this is a book about where we find our validation, and the constant need to both see & be seen. it’s a weird & wild little book, asking the reader what it means to be an artist in the modern era.
• i enjoyed, but this didn’t work quite as well for me as “new animal” did.

unfortunately, this one REALLY didn't work for me. i think if you're a major ottessa moshfegh fan, this one is going to be for you.

i personally found it unnecessarily gross. this is about an artist called sabine (very cool name, though) who is having a mid-life crisis. she's an artist, she does stuff naked and apparently with puppets? i should have known this wouldn't be for me when girly pop enlisted her overworked chef husband (whose physical anatomy the author describes in a weird, off-putting way - i mean, the narrative referred to his body as warm, butter-body and it was border line fatphobic at times) to get her animal blood for art.

and all of these organic substances... the animal blood, later animal milk, is just straight up rotting in her house.

she's really entitled and insufferable about her art. think blonde, over-moneyed influencer blogger about it. yet she thinks that she as a cis-het white woman is going to be a transformational figure for all people with her art, including poc and trans people?

this all got real when sabine started talking to a ghost and thinking that she's being followed by someone that's sending her threatening letters. instead of doing anything remotely logical, she continues to blast her life all over social media, eat the threatening letters which could be evidence, and go to her husband's place of business to throw a gargantuan temper tantrum. and still, he doesn't leave her.

i was checked out before that, but from what i gathered, she also did the two following unredeemable things: shit in her own yard (in fact, there was a lot of weird shit/piss talk in this book) and then buy real pig trotters to attach to her hands and wear for her art, which from what i can see consists of her screeching that she's a pig.

i'm sure this was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, but i feel like that only works if the reader is in on it. to me, this felt like an attempt to write one of the most disgusting, insufferable characters that i've ever read and make little edgelord additions to the plot in order to upset the reader.

i didn't get it. but this might be your bag.

Ok, I’m not really sure how to describe what I’ve just read. I’m not sure what the story is trying to say (if it is trying to say anything). Sabine is unlikable and difficult to root for. She is an artist who is seemingly prone to slipping into manic psychosis prior to putting on an exhibition. She has a husband who puts up with her weird and loves her in spite of it (possibly because of it). I just really didn’t enjoy this book. It wasn’t awful but I kept feeling like I was almost tapping into something being said about the creation and consumption of art but the story kept going off the rails for me.

I was given an alc of the audiobook and it really took me a while to adapt to the narrator. This style of writing that only uses “said” for dialogue can be a little grating to listen to. I’m aware a lot of publishers asking authors to only use “said” for dialogue, but it doesn’t really work for audiobooks in my opinion.

Overall the story was bizarre without being absurd and Sabine was difficult character to read.

Thank you to Brilliance for the alc!

I was so eager to read Woo Woo by Ella Baxter because I loved her other book New Animal. This novel is about Sabine, an artist, who is preparing for her big exhibition and her relationship with her husband, who’s a chef, and her mental state. I loved the humour in this book! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator Cat Gould was very good. I loved the reference to Ann Demeulemeester and “looking like an artist”. The art world is quite fascinating in this novel as I couldn’t quite picture Sabine’s art. While I didn’t love this novel as much as her first one this was still a very good read and I’m eager to read her next book too.

This is not for me.

Sabine is an anxious self absorbed artist who seems to have begun having hallucinations.

I’m not interested in reading about her psychosis and absorption as it’s not intriguing in this format.

Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Audio for this ALC.

Unfortunately this was a miss for me. I wanted to like this book, but it was definitely too “woo woo” for me. I love a weird unhinged main character, but Sabine was a little much for me. Also I didn’t enjoy the ending.

I think the art girlies will like this one, but be prepared for unanswered questions.

(2.5/5, rounded up)
Both surprised & sad to find this just wasn't for me. The characters felt shallow and didn't give me any reason to feel invested. Maybe if I liked art more on the whole then I'd feel differently? But I'm not even confident that's the case. It's just...flimsy. As my friend Raven said her in review as well, I'm sure there <i>will</i> be an audience for this book. But it is def not me.

This has been done before, and much better. But of course this is one of those times where examples have all escaped my mind.... I'll come back to update if/when they come to me.

{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Ella Baxter, Cat Gould, Brilliance Audio, Brilliance Publishing and Catapult for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!}

Utter nonsense.

Sabine felt incredibly one dimensional. I wanted more, I love books about artists but this was as it’s called a lot of “woo woo” and just not quite enough character depth for me to resonate with or care about.

Overtly clever, will be a hit for a very specific audience.

However, it was so obscure I am curious about her other book. Do with this what you will.

Thank you NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing all
Opinions are my own.

3.75/5

If you enjoy an unreliable narrator and an unlikeable main character, you will love this book. Sabine is an eccentric and dramatic. She is an artist with unusual motivations and expressive art. This story was very comical. There were many lines that made me chuckle or were so absurd. I struggled to know what wad real and what was a figment of her imagination.

Thank you NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Woo Woo follows Sabine, an artist on the brink of a career-changing exhibition. Her eccentric personality and outlandish behaviour makes her a beloved artist but also kind of hard to be be around. As a main character, she’s a fantastic unreliable narrator, and I think her head is a great place to be in small doses. Her emotions are explored in a very unique way, from excitement, paranoia, resentment.

This book definitely falls into the fever dream category of literary fiction, but it’s definitely not my favourite execution. I enjoyed the non-linear and at times non-sensical sequence of events, but there were only small windows that entertained me. This is already a relatively short novel, but I wish it was a little shorter as I think it would’ve held my attention more with some cuts.

My favourite part of Woo Woo was Sabine’s interpretations of the people around her, particularly her husband. I would recommend this to a small niche of people and I’m sure they would love it but it wasn’t right for me.


The narration was fantastic!