Oddbody is a... well... odd short story collection from debut author Rose Keating. Present are 10 short stories with themes on womanhood, sexuality, existence, human anatomy but with a nice little body horror twist.

I really did enjoy Keating's writing and the way she writes visceral imagery with such subtlety. I also loved how she presented these themes throughout each of the stories, each story was fresh and engaging. With short story collections, I often categorize them into "hits" and "misses" but surprisingly there was only one story in here that I didn't enjoy--and that's because it was too short!

Certainly won't be a book for everyone when it releases but I enjoyed my stay with it and highly recommend if you love "weird girl lit" or just horror in general.

Rose Keating’s debut, Oddbody, is a short story collection that explores themes like the weirdness of bodies and of its existence in itself. This collection has 10 stories that are immersive, strange and reflective. The stories themselves were each well fleshed out and executed. The only detraction for me was that some of the stories portrayed very similar characters and scenarios. Not necessarily bad just something I noticed during my reading experience. If you enjoy "weird girl" fiction, definitely check this out. Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC. You can pick this up when it publishes July 01, 2025!

This book is definitely full of odd. It’s like receiving a box of various dark chocolates with different fillings inside. Some you find alluring and others just aren’t your thing. The stories I did enjoy, I found dark, mysterious, relatable, and absolutely odd. Macabre, metaphorical, some of them absurd. Interesting complication of stories!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC of this dark and twisty collection!**

I love a good short story collection, even when it has its ups and downs. Not every story in this one was a win for me but I did appreciate the writing across the board.

I think this is one that I will revisit to try and gain an appreciation for some additional stories. I wasn’t in the right headspace for body horror and want to give this one another go soon!!

This short story collection lured me into a macabre carnival of bodily oddities that's occasionally stomach-turning but magnetic in its strangeness. Women lay eggs during breakfast shifts, fathers become worms in bathtubs, and ghosts become unwelcome third wheels in relationships - all described in sparse, matter-of-fact prose that makes the bizarre feel strangely normal. I'm usually pretty oblivious to metaphors, so while other readers point out heavy-handed symbolism about depression, relationships, and societal pressures, I just enjoyed each story at face value, letting the visceral imagery of consumption, transformation and rupture burrow under my skin like a grotesque parasite I'm both repulsed and transfixed by. Keating creates these deeply uncomfortable scenarios where the women protagonists accept their bizarre circumstances with a shrug while continuing about their daily lives. The collection feels like witnessing ten different fever dreams where bodies betray, transform, and consume in ways that made my skin crawl but somehow left me hungry for more.

Shocking & visceral are two words that describe this collection of short stories. Keating took body horror to use for the personification of the emotional and physical impact certain aspects of life have on women. Many of the stories will leave you uncomfortable and others will leave you pondering the strangeness of it. Some of the stories I got the meaning of but others went right over my head. I struggled on how to rate this one due to my varying opinions on the stories. I know a big aspect of the stories was body horror, but I do wish there had been some trigger warnings for some of the stories.

❗️TW: animal death & r*pe

Stories I enjoyed:
•Notes on Performance - focuses on a “non-final girl”, seemed to me to show how women will do anything to feel loved and seen even if it means giving pieces of ourselves away
•Oddbody - about a woman who carries around a ghost with her, I took it as how women carry their depression with them always but are expected to handle it and meet the expectations of how women should be
•Pineapple - about a woman who goes through temporary body modifications, an interesting tale about becoming comfortable in your skin and dealing with the judgement of those closest to you

I got through 50% before I decided that I do not really like short stories. I requested this in the hopes I could be a short story collection girlie, and I should have known myself better than that.

3 stars

I was not in the right headspace for this one at the time. The writing is well done but the content was a little too weird and dark for me at this time. I can see myself loving this in the future though.

So weird, so odd, so transfixed.
This collection of short stories is EXACTLY the kind of weird I search for.
To comprehend some of them, just be sure to take any concepts of our current reality out of your brain. 🧠
One story really brought a new outlook to the saying “would you love me if I was a worm?”🪱 That was hands down my fav. My only complaint w the book was I just wanted MORE stories. Hoping for a second one in the future.

Thank you NetGalley, publishers, and author for this ARC read!

Unfortunately I did have to DNF this at 51% just because I don’t think I have the stomach for these types of stories. I’m not rating it because that doesn’t feel fair, especially since I can objectively appreciate the quality of this authors writing and imagination. I just don’t think it was meant for me, which is fine!

If you like “weird girl literature” this collection of stories will be PERFECT for you!! I think this book is very unique and I would recommend it if you are in to that vibe.

***Please keep in mind that if you have issues with things like animal harm or body horror this might not be the book for you.

Had to DNF—Loved this cover and was excited for the weird girl litfic which I usually tend to love. The writing was good, but I didn't feel invested enough to endure the nauseating parts.

Thank you to Rose Keating, and NetGalley for this eARC.

DNF @ 51% | Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Loved the premise of this collection and was excited for weirdness. While this delivered on the “weird,” the stories were not engaging enough for me to continue. Some of the stories I read felt too short and not fleshed out enough or ‘weird for the sake of weird’ to keep me engaged or want to continue. I read through the end of “Pineapple.” I didn’t feel invested in any characters and many of them felt like the exact same from previous stories but with different names.

I thought about soldiering on through the end, as many short story collections I’ve read are genuine mixed bags, but there were more misses than hits in the first half.

Unfortunately, just not my cup of tea. The writing is very good, but the topics are genuinely unsettling and made me nauseous.

The title is fitting as this is definitely odd. I really thought I would love this. I could see where the author was going with some of the stories but then it would abruptly end. Others just went over my head and I didn't fully understand the point of it. This would have benefitted by just picking 3 or 4 short stories and creating a more flushed out narrative. So while this was not a fave, I did enjoy some of the journey and I would continue to read more from this author in the future. 2.5 stars rounded up

3.5 - I enjoyed these stories - they're weird, gory, and made me squirm. I love anything weird and bizarre in my books. However, I just didn't find it to be anything too groundbreaking or different. I feel like body horror short stories are 'in' enough right now that you really need to differentiate, and I don't think any of the stories did that. I found them all super well-written and interesting, just not any different than any other collection like this that I've read. If you're a self proclaimed 'weird girl/guy/person' reader, I'd recommend you check these out!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC.

Now THIS is how you do a collection of short stories, especially in the weird girl lit fic genre. The most recent short story collection that I loved in this genre was by Eliza Clark, and this is quite comparable to that. I liked the visceral writing and descriptions and related to many of the stories.

When I say this is the perfect weird girl book I mean it as a compliment.
I can’t help but to allegorically compare the author’s short stories to woman/girlhood experiences. Each story is a bomb that explodes and trickles down into bizarre concepts that you slowly uncover. I don’t know how to explain it, every story was outlandish, gross, grimey, hard to visually conceptualize. It makes you think and the style of writing is so imaginative and peculiar, you have to sit there and visualize the oddities described. Reminds me of the work of Junji Ito in terms of body horror.
I can already see the discourse of people “not getting” this book and then there will be some that will appreciate its brilliance. I have an appreciation for abstract and bizarre reads and this was up my alley.

This would make a great discussion group to see what each individual took for each short story. There are some that I quite didn’t understand like “The Test” and would love to hear someone’s interpretation of it. I enjoyed this book and I would love to see what else Rose Keating has up her sleeve.

This story collection was certainly “odd”. The stories contained in this collection were all very strange, but they were strange enough to keep me reading without being too weird. But, the stories all just seemed to lack a conclusion. On some of these, it’s almost as if the author just stopped writing and I had no idea where the stories were going. I really liked the fantasctial world where some of these stoires took place becasue they were so strange (sheep growing on stalks like corn: very interesting), but I just wish the author did more with the worlds and build stronger stories around them. Not a win for me at least.

3 stars. Thank you to net galley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting collection of short stories. I normally love Irish writers - this one I enjoyed but it wasn't exactly my taste. It was interesting and odd, but not quite for me. Three stars.

🥚🐑🪽👻Oddbody👻🪽🐑🥚

You ever finish a book and then stare at a wall contemplating life and asking yourself what the hell did I just read?

This is the embodiment of that.

"...Change, any kind of change. It would feel ecstatic, even if it was a bad thing..."

In this cornucopia of bizzare short stories, we get a bit of everything, weird girl lit, sci-fi, horror, bodyhorror, a look into grief, body dismorphia, the complexities of human relationships, the never ending cycle of trying to fit in into a society that keeps changing, and the relationship within ourselves, all in the light of a feministic POV. I absolutely loved it!

Some of the stories straight out turn my stomach, others made me sad, some made me pause and think and others just freaked me out! Every story has two views if you look close enough.

If you like weird girl literature, bizzarre horror tales and enjoy Bora Chungs work you will absolutely will love Oddbody!

I would love to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this awesome debut e-book ARC!