Pigeon House

by Shilo Niziolek

Pigeon House is an atmospheric short story collection of fabulism and magical realism. Pigeon House is pulled from the stories women tell each other in hushed tones over a tea-kettle, a firepit, at the nail salon, while stirring a steamy cauldron, or kicking mud into an open grave. It explores the way trauma and abuse morphs us, and the transformative power of escaping oppression at the hands of those who we'd call beloved. This collection is obsessed with querying the boundaries between safety and suffocation, between human and animal, asking the reader to consider their own existence as a wild and untameable creature.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

170 pages, Paperback

Published April 12, 2024

About the author

Shilo Niziolek is the author of the memoir Fever, the poetry collection atrophy, and the short story collection, Porcelain Ghosts, all through Querencia Press. She has a chapbook of essay, A Thousand Winters In Me, with Gasher Press, and two micro chapbooks of poetry, Dirt Eaters with Bottlecap Press and I Am Not An Erosion: Poems Against Decay with Ghost City Press. Shilo is a writing instructor at Clackamas Community College and facilitates creative writing workshops with the Literary Arts. She received her MFA from New England College and is the co-founder and Editor-In-Chief of the literary magazine Scavengers. She lives in Portland Oregon but hopes to one day move into the woods.

Reviews

[Shilo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote these stories over the course of a few years while grappling with the trauma of domestic abuse in late teenage years and early adulthood, and I needed to explore the repercussions of that time and those losses. I wanted a world where I could transform the abused women repeatedly, like casting a spell.

[Hege-Kristin Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, atmospheric collection of short stories about love, loss, sadness, loneliness and heartbreak. Just a heads-up: there are stories about abuse, child loss, depression and, I think, suicide.

The stories in "Pigeon House" are wonderfully woven together by vivid descriptions of nature. Some stories are slightly paranormal; some have a touch of magic realism, and some are very dreamlike. There are references to Alice Hoffmans work in this book, and as a fan of Hoffmans work, I feel this book slightly resembles Hoffman's writing.

Some stories really stood out to me. "The fisherman's wife", "The girl with dragonfly wings" and "Shiver, Tree Woman" were amazing!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Madison Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Pigeon House" contains a collection of atmospheric, poignant short stories that I personally feel do a beautiful job of portraying the sorrows of womanhood, specifically possible traumas that sometimes coincide with being a woman. At the same time this collection of short stories almost feel multichromatic, in the way that each person will have a different perception of these stories depending on their experiences and the light in which they read them. A few stories that I felt really stood out were The Fisherman's Wife, Pigeon House, and Seeking Soul Mate at the Granada Theatre. My absolute favorite story being Bureau of Evaporation, which made me ball my eyes out for the hauntingly beautiful way it depicted depression. I will one hundred percent be buying a physical copy of the final copy so I can annotate the crap out of I loved it so much.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[V ❣️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an absolute gem of a short story collection. It’s full of magic, heartache, beautiful and somber tones. The way the author portrays women and their lives and losses is absolutely mesmerizing.
There is a selkie, evaporating people with only clothes left behind, a bear man, an empathetic dragonfly, and of course, a house overrun by pigeons.
I am absolutely obsessed with this, and have a few of the stories tabbed to go back to over and over again. The way the author gives a voice to what haunts the back of our brains… astounding. Please pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of these thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book deep in the forest. Find a mossy throne and sink into the stories while the vines and ferns conceal you from view so you can lose yourself in the ghosts of your own past you'll find between the pages.

[Hazel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, strange, lyrical, twisted: these are small stories that sit like gemstones in a pool of still water. They shift as you view them from different angles, and though you’re tempted to grab and possess them, they remain just below the surface, elusive in the promise of what they might be. And that somehow makes them all the more appealing and powerful.

I love this author’s writing. This is the sort of writing to let wash over you. Drink it in.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG, I loved this book and actually finished it in one sitting. The writing style is easy to follow without feeling boring and stale. This book follows several women and each has very distinctive voices and characteristics. While I cared for some stories over others they were all enjoyable.

[Charley Thomasin · Rating 5 out of 5]

You ever read something, whether that be a novel or a short story or a poem or even song lyrics, and just sit there wondering how those words exist together or how someone could possibly write that? I felt that way through almost every single story in this collection. I am absolutely blown away by Shilo Niziolek's imagination and creativity.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3- I liked some stories and others not so much. They weren't bad but okay.

[Phil Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a couple of really interesting stories, but another reviewer said it goes more for an aesthetic than to actually dig into what each story was about. Some of them are really similar too, and end just before it gets real depth.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank netgalley and querencia for letting me review this ARC!

Pigeon house is a collection of unsettling, atmsospheric short stories that read like a collection of poems or prayers. I flew through it, and some of these stories made impressions that i will be thinking of for a long time (Shiver, Tree Woman; torpedo). A lot of reflection of the magic of women alone- by choice or by fate, and the feelings/experiences that come with it. Sometimes I felt like the stories were too similar, but that was the point of the collection yes? Tracing a thread of alone v lonely.

[David O'Mahony · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best collections of short fiction I've read in the past 10 years. It's by turns poetic, dark, fantastical, and often all three at the same time. It's hard to pick standout moments from a collection of such a high standard but Sanctuary (where people turn into trees), Porcelain Ghosts, and Bureau of Evaporation (which is both a sort of fantasy story and a meditation on the effects of loneliness and isolation) are up there.

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Usually I read a book cover to cover but this was easier for me to read dipped into, a sneaky read in my downtime, snatched from when I couldn't sleep. I'd open the book, and immerse myself in someone else's story, feel someone else's feeling for a while then return to my own.  I know I will be revisiting stories in this book again. 

[Kristiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal short story collection. Niziolek is the queen of motif and reminds us to transcend boundaries and glass barriers, to traverse the fine line between safe space and cage, and to look to the forest to discover the truest versions of ourselves.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good variety of short stories

[Anke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel this book to be a three. It look me a while to get through as not all the essays piqued my interests (or I had to read multiple times because I was not understanding it). I think it was written well but just wasn’t quite for me. There were some very beautiful essays despite the 3 stars and I would still recommend people to try it.