The blood, sweat, and tears of it.Ĭhouette is meant to be read as a parable. And it’s an incisive, provocative exploration of what it really means to be a mother. Claire Oshetsky’s debut novel about a woman who gives birth to an owl-baby is one of the oddest – yet most captivating – books I’ve ever read. “It’s a wonder that any woman ever agrees to be a mother, when the fruits of motherhood are inevitably conflict and remorse, to be followed by death and disembowelment.”Ĭhouette is not for the faint of motherhood. When she discovers that her husband is on an obsessive and increasingly dangerous quest to find a “cure” for their daughter, Tiny must decide whether Chouette should be raised to fit in or to be herself-and learn what it truly means to be a mother.Īrresting, darkly funny, and unsettling, Chouette is a brilliant exploration of ambition, sacrifice, perceptions of ability, and the ferocity of motherly love. Even in those times when Chouette’s behaviors grow violent and strange, Tiny’s loving commitment to her daughter is unwavering. Left on her own to care for a child who seems more predatory bird than baby, Tiny vows to raise Chouette to be her authentic self. When Chouette is born small and broken-winged, Tiny works around the clock to meet her daughter’s needs.
“You think this baby is going to be like you, but it’s not like you at all,” she warns him. An exhilarating, provocative novel of motherhood in extremis
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