Nightbitch

This is one of the most psychoactive books I have read in some time. A mother thinks maybe she's becoming a dog? And then just kind of leans into it. As a father who is the primary caregiver at home, I resonated with the main character's angst, her conflicts with career ambitions and parenting, her rage and her love. But, as a father instead of a mother, I was able to embody another kind of experience, one that helped me connect more with my wife and other friends who are mothers. The mother in this book is also an artist and the key parts of the book are meditations on the point of art and what it can do. Additionally, this book is a debut novel and in that sense it kicked my ass! Wake up and make art! (it told me).

Amazing book. I wrote about just one (also amazing) sentence: bit.ly/NightbitchDualSens

I’ll start by saying that as a male, I’m probably not the intended audience for this book. I will also admit that I was initially turned off and maybe even a little offended by how reading this book made me feel. I knew going in that this book would be outside of my wheelhouse, but I still felt attacked by how unapologetically feminist the book was. Luckily for me, I was able to get over myself and embrace Nightbitch for what it was. It’s a hilarious, bizarre, sad, and frustrating book. From start to finish, Nightbitch is uncompromising in telling the truth, even the dark and dirty truth of a struggling stay at home mom.

My one gripe with the took is that it ran a bit too long. It was incredibly well written, but sometimes it felt like there was just a little too much of everything. I think I would have given it 5 stars had it been in the 200-220 page range, rather than 256 pages.

Even though I don’t think this book was meant for my eyes, I’m happy I gave it a chance and got over my initial reaction to the content. It may not have been meant for me, but it’s something I needed to read.