Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird: Stories

Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is a book of short stories rooted in obscurity, in grotesque, strange metaphor and symbolism. Sometimes they were so strange that I had no idea what was going on. Stories like, “Architecture” or “The Wolfs Breath” are most notable in this category. Even now, their purpose, message, and plot are lost on me. But in stories like, “Anita and Happiness” or “Earth” and “The Solitary Ones” where there was more plot clarity, I was completely engrossed in the narrators internal reasonings/thoughts, the relationships and characters, and the irregularity of these worlds and their scenarios. Even in stories that started out unclear, like “Mary Carminum”, slowly revealed an insane, incredibly engaging plot.

Perspective allowed some really interesting exploration of tough topics like child abuse and death. I think of “The Dead” first, in which the speaker is a kid who wants to be with his dead mother ‘on the moon' but is stuck with his abusive and neglectful father. I interpreted this story as being a really intense representation of grief mystifying reality. This was only possible because the speaker was too small to understand things as they are. The legs of a woman become spiders. Cremated remains become evil he can't cleanse out. And the solution to all this is sad and somewhat gory. As a reader who is incredibly intrigued by this plot, I really wished this was longer actually! I believe this for a handful of other stories here too. As a writer, I think the ending was really genius and this was just a glimpse into what could be a much bigger story. However, all in all, I appreciated the brevity of each story. Most of them had some insane openers and satisfying endings, making them easier to get through. Stories that had very distinct plot and characters had great momentum and speed.

My ultimate criticism though is that I don't feel that the blurb efficiently summarizes what this book is and does not give an adequate warning to some of its content. As for funny, I think there is very little humor here. Candy Pink was the only one that was distinctly funny, though I still read this one as more depressing! I can see glimpses of it in certain stories, but it often comes through the delusions of the speaker (which I usually read as mental illness or mental deterioration and therefore, did not consider it funny). “Dark” also really doesn't begin to encapsulate some of these stories. There's body horror and blood in a lot of these. But most of darker content is insinuated. Things like suicide, rape, and child abuse are often explored through metaphor and symbolism. Other times it's very blatant, but the details are left out, which I appreciated. And a few select times, it is giving lots of detail actually, which I didn't love so much. I will say Candy Pink, in my opinion, is one of the more detailed stories. I don't think these details and themes are bad by any means but I think it should be made a bit clearer somehow that it's tackling some heavy stuff.

I read Tender is the Flesh a few years ago which I enjoyed. And I can say this is so incredibly different from it, in the best way possible. Sure, they share similarities in their gruesomeness, in metaphor. But the writing and lyricism of this was completely unexpected. While I do feel that Bazterrica flourishes in long form, these short stories felt experimental and fresh. I think some of these stories could stand to be more fleshed out and detailed, while some of them would do better with just some clarity. Overall though, it was an interesting read that showed me a different form of writing from this author I already know and love. I'm super grateful I got to read it.