I'm sorry, I felt this was a little stupid. I must start by saying this has the annoying repetition of All's Well by Mona Awad, with the ever growing collection of animal motifs in relation to mother's and their children, see: NightBitch by Rachel Yoder; I am not impressed.

However, the very beginnings of this novel did interest me to where I was able to finish this in one day. Props to the author. I did enjoy Poor Deer, so it's not like this author's writing is unkind to me. It's just the execution of this book... Didn't work.

I guess where I'm a little confused, or even upset, is in what really lies beneath this novel. Is the author using "owl-baby" Chouette, an animal, as a means to express how the world treats parents with unlikely children? Disabled children? Children with deformities? Children who learn differently than others? Children with mental disorders? I don't really like that, as a child who grew up with a deformity. I did like some of the quotes here, and removed from it's context I think they hold strong in relation to human emotion and experiences; fatigue, loneliness, regret, sincerity, love; but otherwise......... Meh.

Like, this is the same issue I had with NightBitch; I get that our mother character is trying to do the best for her daughter, and also loves her the way she is, but a lot of times parents don't realize how badly they're doing a disservice to their kid... And unless you've been in a situation where you either A.) know you would've been better off getting help early on as a child or B.) You're a parent who understands getting help for your kids important, I don't think you'd really why this bothers me so heavily.

I guess I'm just not a big fan of the messaging here. I get that motherhood is tough, and I certainly got that point throughout the novel. I do understand that some fathers are overbearing. I get that some people just want to "fix" their kids and have them be as "normal"/"typical" as possible and that can be negative depending on the child and what people want to "fix". But again, the execution...

I do appreciate the ending, kind of. If I speak more on Chouette I feel I may spoil some things so I'll leave it there.