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Nightbitch

Written by: Rachel Yoder
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
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Publisher's Summary

In this blazingly smart and voracious debut novel, an artist turned stay-at-home mom becomes convinced she's turning into a dog.

"A must-read for anyone who can’t get enough of the ever-blurring line between the psychological and supernatural that Yellowjackets exemplifies." (Vulture)

One day, the mother was a mother, but then one night, she was quite suddenly something else....

An ambitious mother puts her art career on hold to stay at home with her newborn son, but the experience does not match her imagination. Two years later, she steps into the bathroom for a break from her toddler's demands, only to discover a dense patch of hair on the back of her neck. In the mirror, her canines suddenly look sharper than she remembers. Her husband, who travels for work five days a week, casually dismisses her fears from faraway hotel rooms.

As the mother's symptoms intensify, and her temptation to give in to her new dog impulses peak, she struggles to keep her alter-canine-identity secret. Seeking a cure at the library, she discovers the mysterious academic tome which becomes her bible, A Field Guide to Magical Women: A Mythical Ethnography, and meets a group of mommies involved in a multilevel-marketing scheme who may also be more than what they seem.

An outrageously original novel of ideas about art, power, and womanhood wrapped in a satirical fairy tale, Nightbitch will make you want to howl in laughter and recognition. And you should. You should howl as much as you want.

©2021 Rachel Yoder (P)2021 Random House Audio
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What the critics say

A Best Book of the Year: Vulture and Esquire

“[A] wily and unrestrained debut.... You can feel Yoder breaking loose, too, like she’s just self-injected a serum mixed with her protagonist’s blood.... With its endorsement of a magical text as more cathartic than any mommy memoir, Nightbitch makes the case for itself, and for fiction that expands motherhood into new, surreal dimensions. I’ve seen myself in all the clever, recondite novels of beleaguered mothers. The moaning and groaning, the searching and yearning are real. Yoder sees a new way into the baser kinks of our animal selves, the ineffable bodily transformation of a woman into a mother. What is fiction for, if not blowing life up into the freakish myth it appears to be?” (The New Yorker)

"[Nightbitch] might well be the debut of the year. A feral fairy tale of maternal dissatisfaction, it’s best to go into this one knowing as little possible, the better to let Yoder work her devious magic on you." (Chicago Review of Books)

"All the cool-mom book groups - all the parent book groups, really - should read Nightbitch.... It feels like reading a deliciously long text from your smartest friend, with a hint of Kafka, if Kafka lived in the age of mommy bloggers and designer doggy raincoats. No need to be a parent, a dog owner, or a fan of magical realism to enjoy; Yoder writes about contemporary anxieties with so much intelligence and charm that she can cause you to reflect without spiraling into deep depression. That’s a feat, these days, greater than metamorphosis." (Glamour)

What listeners say about Nightbitch

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Worth it

Such an interesting and thought provoking story. A perfect listen that I thoroughly enjoyed. Great narration too.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Creative and unique, but leaves you wanting

The plot is intriguing, and the story is well written, but there was too much ambiguity to leave me satisfied. Plus, I really wanted to meet Wanda!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Get a paperback instead

There are a lot of themes covered in the book and I feel like reading this paper book would be better than an audiobook

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fine concept,

this could have made a fantastic short story, but feels long-winded and repetitive in its final form

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Great read!

Aren't we all a bit if a night bitch? Super weird but oddly relatable book.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

just wasn't for me.

I definitely struggle to keep myself entertained with this book. took me 2 months to get through this. when other audio I can binge in a week or less. Honestly the writing was nice and very elegant but, the reader was awesome and kept me coming back. I think it's only because I don't have any relations with having children and motherhood.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Absolutely bonkers

This book was somehow even more insane than I thought it would be based on the description. I'll admit, I gave up on it not far in. I just couldn't relate at all and felt uninterested and confused about what was reality, even if it was an interesting premise. But, after discussing it with members of my book club who are mothers and who dealt with postpartum, I restarted it with a different perspective. It helped some, and I better enjoyed the first third of the book. I could somewhat put myself in the mother's shoes as someone who doesn't want children, trying to come to terms with the difference in her life's meaning. But, as the book progressed, that point was hammered home incessantly, and I lost interest in the allegory. There are also only so many times the author can bring up mothers feeling unappreciated. I would actually recommend this book to mom's struggling with their identity, and the writing was beautiful, but it just wasn't for me.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Tidal Waves

I’m still in shock. The love hate relationship I have with this book has never been felt. Those who are mothers will understand this better, I don’t want to have kids and this book was a confirmation of that. It’s beautiful, it’s brash, it’s brutal. Just like motherhood.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Cruelty to cats

Trigger warning: cruelty to cat. Sick! Had to stop the book. I literally felt I “checked out” from enjoying this book as soon as the main character started taking about kicking the cat, apparently it turns horrific. I’m out!

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not good

Cultural appropriation, cliche ambiguity, post partum depression reliance, patriarchal feminism, and the narrator makes all the characters voices high pitched and whiney

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