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Her Body Among Animals
In this genre-bending debut collection merging horror, fairy tales, pop culture, and science-fiction, women challenge the boundaries placed on their bodies while living in a world 'among animals', where violence is intertwined with bizarre ecological disruptions.
A sentient sex robot goes against her programming; a grad student living with depression is weighed down by an ever-present albatross; an unhappy wife turns into a spider; a boy with a dark secret is haunted by dolls; a girl fights to save her sister from growing a mermaid tail like their absent mother.
Magical yet human, haunted and haunting, these stories act as a surreal documentation of the mistakes in systems of the past that remain very much in the present. Ferrante investigates toxic masculinity and the devastation it enacts upon women and our planet, delving into the universal undercurrent of ecological anxiety in the face of such toxicity, and the personal experience of being a new mother concerned about the future her child will face.
Through these confrontations of the complexity of living in a woman's body, Her Body Among Animals moves us from hopelessness to a future of resilience and possibility.
A sentient sex robot goes against her programming; a grad student living with depression is weighed down by an ever-present albatross; an unhappy wife turns into a spider; a boy with a dark secret is haunted by dolls; a girl fights to save her sister from growing a mermaid tail like their absent mother.
Magical yet human, haunted and haunting, these stories act as a surreal documentation of the mistakes in systems of the past that remain very much in the present. Ferrante investigates toxic masculinity and the devastation it enacts upon women and our planet, delving into the universal undercurrent of ecological anxiety in the face of such toxicity, and the personal experience of being a new mother concerned about the future her child will face.
Through these confrontations of the complexity of living in a woman's body, Her Body Among Animals moves us from hopelessness to a future of resilience and possibility.
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Published August 22, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
August 21, 2023
I enjoy short stories so much and this book have me such a black mirror vibe!
Thoughts on the stories that made me feel ALL the feelings.
Finding Houdini - I keep going back and forth on this one. Was Jeremy an asshole or was Jess just not taking a hint? Maybe both?
A Trick Of The Dark - This story stirred up a lot of repressed emotions for me. There was a time in my life where I lived this hell. I never did give him a name but I do wish nothing but the worst for him always. No forgiveness.
Pandora - This had my full attention! I wanted more but at the same time found myself drawing my own conclusions.
Cobwebs - I learned a new word! Chelicerae.
The Silent Grave Of Birds - Deeply unsettling.
My thanks to Book*hug Press for this gifted copy!
Thoughts on the stories that made me feel ALL the feelings.
Finding Houdini - I keep going back and forth on this one. Was Jeremy an asshole or was Jess just not taking a hint? Maybe both?
A Trick Of The Dark - This story stirred up a lot of repressed emotions for me. There was a time in my life where I lived this hell. I never did give him a name but I do wish nothing but the worst for him always. No forgiveness.
Pandora - This had my full attention! I wanted more but at the same time found myself drawing my own conclusions.
Cobwebs - I learned a new word! Chelicerae.
The Silent Grave Of Birds - Deeply unsettling.
My thanks to Book*hug Press for this gifted copy!
November 19, 2024
I wish I'm more enthusiastic about this. Ferrante's stories follow ordinary, often endearing people navigating everyday lives in horrific backdrops that are all too familiar if/when our current trends continue: severe socioeconomic disparity, climate change, punishing heat, species extinction, ubiquitous plastic use and pollution. There's some striking writing here, especially in the opening sentences. "The Silent Grave of Birds":
"A Trick of the Dark":
But I also have enough trouble with some of the writing (and typos?), especially in the longer pieces that close out the collection.
The grave we found desecrating what my brother called the most excellent weed-smoking log on the beach maybe didn't look like one at first, just a mound of dirt with a burrow-sized hole.
"A Trick of the Dark":
When he changes to a dragon, I pretend that I don't see it and it almost goes away, like the shadow from a story someone told you around a campfire.
But I also have enough trouble with some of the writing (and typos?), especially in the longer pieces that close out the collection.
August 22, 2024
Oh how my flighty little brain LOVES a short story collection, so when the wonderful people over at Influx press asked if I wanted an advanced copy of this debut collection I straight snapped their hands off!
A twisty little bunch of stories that takes us from unusual pits in the ground to the surface of Mars (well, almost) Her Body Among Animals was a real treat from start to finish. All of the stories focus on unusual (and tough) female experiences and the author uses elements of horror, magical realism and sci-fi to really unsettle at times. All of the stories seemed cohesive but with their own strong messages and I felt the collection had been really considered. If I had to make a criticism I would have maybe restructured the last 3 or 4 as there were two rather hefty stories at the close but that is just personal preference.
The writing style was accessible, pacing was great and the themes were thought-provoking. Not all of the stories are wrapped up with a pretty bow so there is opportunity for the readers own interpretation and this added to the feeling of unease at times (which is a good thing!). Standouts for me were, Finding Houdini, Cobwebs and The Underside of a Wing. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for what comes next from Ferrante!
A twisty little bunch of stories that takes us from unusual pits in the ground to the surface of Mars (well, almost) Her Body Among Animals was a real treat from start to finish. All of the stories focus on unusual (and tough) female experiences and the author uses elements of horror, magical realism and sci-fi to really unsettle at times. All of the stories seemed cohesive but with their own strong messages and I felt the collection had been really considered. If I had to make a criticism I would have maybe restructured the last 3 or 4 as there were two rather hefty stories at the close but that is just personal preference.
The writing style was accessible, pacing was great and the themes were thought-provoking. Not all of the stories are wrapped up with a pretty bow so there is opportunity for the readers own interpretation and this added to the feeling of unease at times (which is a good thing!). Standouts for me were, Finding Houdini, Cobwebs and The Underside of a Wing. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for what comes next from Ferrante!
July 19, 2023
Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Her Body Among Animals, by Paola Ferrante, is a collection of science fiction short stories that range from the bizarre to the disturbing. The book is marketed as literary fiction.
I did not enjoy this book and found it a challenge to get through. In all honesty this was a DNF for me at 30%. In fairness, I did skip ahead and try other stories, with the hope that the writing style would shift.
What worked:
The author did a good job of eliciting feelings of uncomfortableness at times, and I think her goal was to have the reader get inside of the character’s heads, from a feminine perspective, and to begin to experience things like anxiety, depression, fear, and misogyny. From the marketing description, the author wanted to look at things from an ecological and systemic perspective. The author is also very public about her struggles with her own depression, and this bleeds through into her writing. I admire her for raising awareness of mental health issues that many suffer from.
What didn’t work:
Ferrante chose to write in a stream of consciousness style for much of the book. This was a daring move, and can be quite effective if done correctly. This style drops the reader into the character’s direct thoughts, and if used correctly can be powerful. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work in this case. I found the writing to be tedious, disjointed, and disorienting as the reader. In addition to the very confusing prose, which felt like a hybrid of poetry and stream of conscious dithering, the author peppered the writing with obscure animal facts, and attempts at allegory. It just left me, as the reader, feeling like she was trying to be cerebral, but she was trying too hard and ended up with a disjointed mess. I was not able to make the connections between the animal facts and what was actually happening in the story.
While I realize that this is a collection of short stories, there was very little character development in any of them. Given that they are short stories, it’s even more important to quickly draw the reader into a character in a very short time.
In addition to the confusing prose, the ARC copy that I received had some major formatting issues. Chapters started in the middle of the page, and there were gaps in the text.
This book also doesn’t really fit any certain genre, as there are elements of horror, science fiction, poetry, and speculative fiction.
The whole book just left me feeling like someone was desperately trying to make a point about an abstract painting, but it was as if I was listening to it all in a frantic, breathless, foreign language muffled through a wall.
I giving this book two stars out of five.
Her Body Among Animals, by Paola Ferrante, is a collection of science fiction short stories that range from the bizarre to the disturbing. The book is marketed as literary fiction.
I did not enjoy this book and found it a challenge to get through. In all honesty this was a DNF for me at 30%. In fairness, I did skip ahead and try other stories, with the hope that the writing style would shift.
What worked:
The author did a good job of eliciting feelings of uncomfortableness at times, and I think her goal was to have the reader get inside of the character’s heads, from a feminine perspective, and to begin to experience things like anxiety, depression, fear, and misogyny. From the marketing description, the author wanted to look at things from an ecological and systemic perspective. The author is also very public about her struggles with her own depression, and this bleeds through into her writing. I admire her for raising awareness of mental health issues that many suffer from.
What didn’t work:
Ferrante chose to write in a stream of consciousness style for much of the book. This was a daring move, and can be quite effective if done correctly. This style drops the reader into the character’s direct thoughts, and if used correctly can be powerful. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work in this case. I found the writing to be tedious, disjointed, and disorienting as the reader. In addition to the very confusing prose, which felt like a hybrid of poetry and stream of conscious dithering, the author peppered the writing with obscure animal facts, and attempts at allegory. It just left me, as the reader, feeling like she was trying to be cerebral, but she was trying too hard and ended up with a disjointed mess. I was not able to make the connections between the animal facts and what was actually happening in the story.
While I realize that this is a collection of short stories, there was very little character development in any of them. Given that they are short stories, it’s even more important to quickly draw the reader into a character in a very short time.
In addition to the confusing prose, the ARC copy that I received had some major formatting issues. Chapters started in the middle of the page, and there were gaps in the text.
This book also doesn’t really fit any certain genre, as there are elements of horror, science fiction, poetry, and speculative fiction.
The whole book just left me feeling like someone was desperately trying to make a point about an abstract painting, but it was as if I was listening to it all in a frantic, breathless, foreign language muffled through a wall.
I giving this book two stars out of five.
September 8, 2023
|| HER BODY AMONG ANIMALS ||
#gifted/@bookhugpress @zgreads
•
"He did not think about feeling, how a woman or a fox is a mammal, made to seek out warmth." ~When Foxes Die Electric
"I have seen a mermaid once before, it was a lot like seeing a ghost." ~Mermaid Girls
"He said she was a monster. He told her he was sick of cobwebs. She would have cried, inexplicably, except spiders feel no sadness." ~Cobwebs
✍🏻
HER BODY AMONG THE ANIMALS is a genre-bending debut by @paola_o_ferrante
This visceral and dark collection of eleven short stories is a wonderful blend of speculative fiction, with technology and horror elements. The quotes are from my three favorite stories. Each one of these hit me differently but something deep about them pulled me in and hasn't left me. The concept of this collection - women challeging the boundaries placed on their bodies and minds spoke volumes. The woman in these stories have these fantastical transformations in objection to the confines of their lives. There's something devastatingly beautiful about this. It was surreal and beautiful at the same time. Pushing against toxic masculinity and the everyday atrocities women have to face. Poetic, sharp, and haunting.
Available Sept 12th!
.
.
.
.
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
#gifted/@bookhugpress @zgreads
•
"He did not think about feeling, how a woman or a fox is a mammal, made to seek out warmth." ~When Foxes Die Electric
"I have seen a mermaid once before, it was a lot like seeing a ghost." ~Mermaid Girls
"He said she was a monster. He told her he was sick of cobwebs. She would have cried, inexplicably, except spiders feel no sadness." ~Cobwebs
✍🏻
HER BODY AMONG THE ANIMALS is a genre-bending debut by @paola_o_ferrante
This visceral and dark collection of eleven short stories is a wonderful blend of speculative fiction, with technology and horror elements. The quotes are from my three favorite stories. Each one of these hit me differently but something deep about them pulled me in and hasn't left me. The concept of this collection - women challeging the boundaries placed on their bodies and minds spoke volumes. The woman in these stories have these fantastical transformations in objection to the confines of their lives. There's something devastatingly beautiful about this. It was surreal and beautiful at the same time. Pushing against toxic masculinity and the everyday atrocities women have to face. Poetic, sharp, and haunting.
Available Sept 12th!
.
.
.
.
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
September 29, 2025
stories so intricate that juggle lots of intriguing concepts (and have perhaps too many lengthy brackets)
July 25, 2023
I am confused.
September 19, 2023
I want to thank NetGalley and Book*hug Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
TW: This book contains very graphic descriptions of bullying, marital abuse, bullying/abuse between children, parental abandonment, sexual assault and drinking/drug abuse.
Canadian author Paola Ferrante’s debut short story collection valiantly blends the human (woman) with the animal (wild). There are individual stories when the result is an intriguing and gripping short story that gives the reader something fresh and engaging and just a little unnerving and uncomfortable (in a good way). As a whole, the collection becomes muddled and begins to drag. By the time I got to the last few stories, I was skipping ahead to see how many pages were left to go until the next one, which is never a good sign. Ferrante is clearly in intelligent writer, but that intelligence seems to be its own worst enemy, with the stories wanting to prove and show just how smart rather than the reader being allowed to come to that conclusion themselves.
Contents:
1. When Foxes Die Electric: A strong, strong opening story and one of my favourites of the collection. Ferrante beautifully blends science fiction with a very human way of seeing the natural world that gives her robotic protagonist a very believable humanity. One of the shorter stories in the collection, When Foxes Die Electric shows Ferrante’s talent well: it’s snappy, quickly creates believable and multidimensional characters, and perfectly balances the nature narrative without it becoming overwhelming and stifling.
2. The Underside of a Wing: One thing Ferrante does throughout the collection is combine multiple pieces of stories into one story, to varying degrees of effectiveness. The Underside of a Wing sees her combining the collection’s thematic animal metaphor (this time: an albatross), Alfred Hitchcock films (related to a broken heart), and the murder of Kitty Genovese (the by-stander effect). Another short, punchy short story, The Underside toes the line of “too much” for the size of its story, but manages to pull it off. Short sections, repetitive phrases, and an obvious, fairly simple storyline allow Ferrante to pack in as much as she does and carries it satisfyingly across the finish line.
3. Mermaid Girls: I really liked the concept of this one: sisters who used to be obsessed with space and stars until one of them becomes boy-obsessed and the other sister starts spending time with a boy who loves sea/ocean/water life. The way that crossover opens up two different vocabularies to talk about life and love is very fun and and leads to moments of language play that are very satisfying. This one also contains multiple storylines: space, water habitats, sister relationships, a parent who walked away, and a first crush and the story length (26 pages) starts to reflect the space necessary to include all of those things. It also starts to feel like something could have been left out to help move the rest of the story along. Focusing on the familial complications would have been enough to tell a whole story, and the first crush bits were my least favourite sections. Although the crush interest is a large part of the water/sea analogies, the sister as mermaid and the sisters’ experiences at the lake, etc. are enough to carry the contrast with their love of stars and space.
4. Finding Houdini: I’m confused if we’re supposed to feel that Jeremy is the bad guy in this story, if both Jeremy and Jess are kind of shitty people or if Jess is the one who needs to learn a lesson. After finding it difficult to eat as a single person in Korea, Jess decides the only way to go out for dinner with another person is on a date (friends are good too!). She hides her love of reptiles and arachnids to get matches on a dating app, and then just refuses to listen when Jeremy tells her they’re not a serious relationship. “I told Jeremy it was things like this that made it look like we were together. He never said we weren’t. There was no proof otherwise.” (Pg. 67) is then followed by: “The way I remembered it, Jeremy must have kissed me.” (Pg. 68) and “I’m sorry […] But this is not what you think it is.” (Pg. 68) and “No matter what Jeremy would say, we were seeing each other in Korea.” (Pg. 68-69).
Jess then follows Jeremy to Thailand, lies her way into his house, and puts a snake in his bathroom (!!!) before leaving. As someone absolutely terrified of snakes, maybe I’m weirdly biased, but that is unhinged behaviour and I’m very firmly on the side that Jess needs to figure her shit out. The stories preceding this one firmly put men in the “fucking around and finding out” category (a common thread in the collection), but this one really does have me siding more with the male character instead. Not all mildly shitty behaviour deserves dramatic repercussions and I’d argue Jeremy was exceptionally patient with Jess and had made it very clear he was moving on/away.
5. A Trick of the Dark: Another one of my favourites from this collection and a really good example of how less really can be more. The fewer things (ideas, analogies, etc.) that Ferrante tries to fit into her story, the more that story is allowed to be told. This one is really tight, thematically: a childhood passion for dinosaurs, which leads into bird analogies, and the abusive husband is framed as a dragon when upset, which ties into the protagonist’s childhood with an abusive father. It still pulls in all the animal/nature facts, but with fewer other story threads pulling in other directions, which makes it very enjoyable.
6. Everyday Horror Show: About PPD, this one takes a bit of a turn away from the animal-centre-focused analogies (though there are still environmental anxieties that come up) and instead focuses on horror/ghost stories; post-partum mother as weeping woman/haunting. As much as I find the approach quite interesting (I haven’t seen that before), the story does carry a lot of the same beats/rhythms as The Underside of a Wing, down to the ending where the weeping woman (mother) is told: “With most cases of a weeping woman, the peer support counsellor says, it’s easy to forget that just because no one else sees her, it doesn’t mean she isn’t there.” (Pg. 109), which is nearly identical to what the girl with the albatross is told in the previous story. Of course that’s not a problem, per se, but it does feel repetitive in a collection that already focuses on repetition within stories (either repeating facts, words, or whole phrases). There’s also an almost ridiculous use of parentheses with a lot of information contained. A single page will have half the information within parentheses, which I tend to find quite distracting. As interesting as I found the concept, this was one where I found myself skipping lines/paragraphs because it felt too familiar/repetitive.
7. Pandora: At only four pages, this is the shortest story in the collection and Ferrante still manages to stick quite a lot in there. The narrator is lying on the ground after being run over by a man in a van and “tells” this story to the daughter she’ll never have. It’s not clear if she ever wanted a daughter and the story starts off with her kind of chiding this non-existent daughter (??). From there, she talks about climbing trees, her mother’s desire for her to focus on more “girly” things vs. Her desire to explore, and the driver’s history of being bullied/teased/abused by his brothers and taking his anger out on women. Despite its brevity, this story also has a lot of repetition (words, phrases) and although repetition can really be used to great effect, seeing it in story after story and especially something as short as this one, taking some of it out would help make it more straightforward, especially with how many lines of story there are to follow. It’s also unclear if the man in the van is someone the narrator knew? If he’s the one she used to climb trees with? It’s unclear and again: the story could have benefited from one of its threads being removed to tighten the piece as a whole.
8. Cobwebs: Another one where I’m not entirely sure who the reader is supposed to empathize with. The imagery is confusing as the wife turned spider begins laying eggs but doesn’t tell her husband, who desperately wants children. She wants to focus on her art and continues delaying trying for a child, and then starts turning into a spider too, so it seems, get away from her husband. In the end, she tells him: “I tried to show you. Even in the beginning, I never knew if I wanted an us at all.” (Pg. 129) Which we should all know is not how that works and you have to tell people things explicitly (see Jeremy in Finding Houdini!). I just really didn’t understand whatever was supposed to be coming through with her transformation into a spider and the emphasis on the eggs and am not sure if I’m missing something that’s painfully obvious or if it’s an instance of Ferrante burying the meaning too far down.
9. The Silent Grave of Birds: An absolutely heartbreaking story centring around toxic masculinity and group mentality (animal analogy: wolf packs).
It follows a younger brother, Gavin, with his older brother, Alex, and Alex’s friends who are all awful people. They find a hole with dolls that belong to a kid they seriously bullied, Eli. As they go back, the hole continues to get bigger, deep enough for them to have to use a rope to climb down into. Also interspersed is what the group’s drug use and school skipping, what they did to Eli, what Alex did to his girlfriend, Julie, Gavin’s hidden interest in birds and the environment (which he shares with both Eli and Julie’s sister, Ava), the boys’ missing father, their mother who constantly works and brings home abusive boyfriends, and Gavin’s eventual realization that he can and should stand up to the older boys, but especially Alex.
At 45 pages, it’s a longer story and one of the ones where I found myself trying to see how many pages were left and then skipping paragraphs to get to the end. I really just wanted this one pared down. By the time we get to the last few stories, it feels like the repetition and animal information are no longer helping the stories along but rather are holding them back. We get a lot of time spent on this hole the boys find, the way it gets larger/deeper, the birds they find in it, the positions the dolls are in each time, etc. Again: another case of lots of threads and them starting to get in each other’s way and creating knots instead of weaving together.
10. So What If It’s Supposed to Rain: The Mother is a device that collects all the wisdom of all the mothers of successful people to help mothers raise their children. Most of the bugs have died, people have to wear masks to spend time outside safely, and Lil is pregnant, mother to Yvie, and a fan of bugs and nature, having spent quite a bit of time photographing bugs when Yvie was little.
A very interesting commentary on the expectations placed on mothers, the way there is no “one right way” to raise a child, the way mothers get turned into “someone’s mother” instead of who they actually are (ex. Javier’s mother, Katherine’s mother, etc.).
This one slightly mirrors A Trick of the Dark with a mother suffering from something that makes it difficult for her to connect with or care for her child. As in A Trick, this one also has another female character tell/remind the mother character that they have to let things go, trust their gut, etc. after multiple other women have told the mother they’ll get there or given unwanted advice, passed judgement, etc.
Another one where I found the concept interesting but kept wondering when it was going to end. Lil keeps wondering where her daughter - who is now interested in going outside and trying to save animals/nature - came from and where her small daughter who hated everything to do with bugs went. And this ruminating goes on for most of the story and, again, gets very repetitive and doesn’t give us anything really new and drags the story through its 33 pages.
11. Among Chameleons and Other Shades: Girl meets boy. Boy wants to move to Mars. Boy and girl drive from Toronto to Boca Chica, where they wait for SpaceX to call them up to fly to Mars. This one falls more into the sci-fi category (no surprise), with a little talk of current environmental issues and a solid dose of horror (ghost stories). Another long one (38 pages), this one shows both character’s points of view, or at the very least both of their fears: Maddy’s fear of losing herself to please a boy and Adam’s fear of not understanding/seeing Maddy accurately and subsequently losing her (and also being alone, in general).
As the story progresses, Maddy becomes uncertain that she wants to move to Mars but doesn’t know how to tell Adam, who keeps trying to use their common knowledge about Star Trek and The Jetsons to build a connection. They talk about space, animals, and do seem to have a few things in common, but Maddy doesn’t like causing waves and so keeps any disagreements to herself. After awhile, her shadow becomes its own entity and anytime Maddy’s in the sun, her shadow is the one posing as her: agreeing with Adam, saying yes, laughing with him, etc. Adam doesn’t notice and Maddy increasingly doesn’t want to go outside.
The animal component here is snakes and reptiles: Adam mistakes an anole for a snake and kills it. Maddy is very upset by this because anole’s are harmless. Adam has a memory of a dangerous snake getting into his family’s tent while camping and his dad being very insistent on protecting the people in your life from harm, which is Adam’s intention. He’s also terrified of snakes and reptiles, which Maddy doesn’t understand.
This one definitely took a turn from the rest of the stories: at the end, Maddy and Adam decide not to go to Mars and agree to re-start their relationship from the beginning after Maddy breaks down after Adam tries to propose to her after he finds out they’ve been called up to move to Mars.
Another interesting concept and lots of genre combining, which made for some neat connections and avenues for story telling, but by the time I got to this one, I really just wanted to finish the book and be done. There was, again, a lot of skipping to try and get to the end.
Ferrante’s strong suit really seems to be the shorter short stories, where there’s less space to inject more (ideas, plots, threads, etc.) and subsequently bog it down in repetition and tangled threads. As I’ve said, a lot of the concepts are really intriguing and I applaud Ferrante for the attempts at combining unusual concepts together, but not all of them need to go into a singular story at once.
⭐️⭐️
TW: This book contains very graphic descriptions of bullying, marital abuse, bullying/abuse between children, parental abandonment, sexual assault and drinking/drug abuse.
Canadian author Paola Ferrante’s debut short story collection valiantly blends the human (woman) with the animal (wild). There are individual stories when the result is an intriguing and gripping short story that gives the reader something fresh and engaging and just a little unnerving and uncomfortable (in a good way). As a whole, the collection becomes muddled and begins to drag. By the time I got to the last few stories, I was skipping ahead to see how many pages were left to go until the next one, which is never a good sign. Ferrante is clearly in intelligent writer, but that intelligence seems to be its own worst enemy, with the stories wanting to prove and show just how smart rather than the reader being allowed to come to that conclusion themselves.
Contents:
1. When Foxes Die Electric: A strong, strong opening story and one of my favourites of the collection. Ferrante beautifully blends science fiction with a very human way of seeing the natural world that gives her robotic protagonist a very believable humanity. One of the shorter stories in the collection, When Foxes Die Electric shows Ferrante’s talent well: it’s snappy, quickly creates believable and multidimensional characters, and perfectly balances the nature narrative without it becoming overwhelming and stifling.
2. The Underside of a Wing: One thing Ferrante does throughout the collection is combine multiple pieces of stories into one story, to varying degrees of effectiveness. The Underside of a Wing sees her combining the collection’s thematic animal metaphor (this time: an albatross), Alfred Hitchcock films (related to a broken heart), and the murder of Kitty Genovese (the by-stander effect). Another short, punchy short story, The Underside toes the line of “too much” for the size of its story, but manages to pull it off. Short sections, repetitive phrases, and an obvious, fairly simple storyline allow Ferrante to pack in as much as she does and carries it satisfyingly across the finish line.
3. Mermaid Girls: I really liked the concept of this one: sisters who used to be obsessed with space and stars until one of them becomes boy-obsessed and the other sister starts spending time with a boy who loves sea/ocean/water life. The way that crossover opens up two different vocabularies to talk about life and love is very fun and and leads to moments of language play that are very satisfying. This one also contains multiple storylines: space, water habitats, sister relationships, a parent who walked away, and a first crush and the story length (26 pages) starts to reflect the space necessary to include all of those things. It also starts to feel like something could have been left out to help move the rest of the story along. Focusing on the familial complications would have been enough to tell a whole story, and the first crush bits were my least favourite sections. Although the crush interest is a large part of the water/sea analogies, the sister as mermaid and the sisters’ experiences at the lake, etc. are enough to carry the contrast with their love of stars and space.
4. Finding Houdini: I’m confused if we’re supposed to feel that Jeremy is the bad guy in this story, if both Jeremy and Jess are kind of shitty people or if Jess is the one who needs to learn a lesson. After finding it difficult to eat as a single person in Korea, Jess decides the only way to go out for dinner with another person is on a date (friends are good too!). She hides her love of reptiles and arachnids to get matches on a dating app, and then just refuses to listen when Jeremy tells her they’re not a serious relationship. “I told Jeremy it was things like this that made it look like we were together. He never said we weren’t. There was no proof otherwise.” (Pg. 67) is then followed by: “The way I remembered it, Jeremy must have kissed me.” (Pg. 68) and “I’m sorry […] But this is not what you think it is.” (Pg. 68) and “No matter what Jeremy would say, we were seeing each other in Korea.” (Pg. 68-69).
Jess then follows Jeremy to Thailand, lies her way into his house, and puts a snake in his bathroom (!!!) before leaving. As someone absolutely terrified of snakes, maybe I’m weirdly biased, but that is unhinged behaviour and I’m very firmly on the side that Jess needs to figure her shit out. The stories preceding this one firmly put men in the “fucking around and finding out” category (a common thread in the collection), but this one really does have me siding more with the male character instead. Not all mildly shitty behaviour deserves dramatic repercussions and I’d argue Jeremy was exceptionally patient with Jess and had made it very clear he was moving on/away.
5. A Trick of the Dark: Another one of my favourites from this collection and a really good example of how less really can be more. The fewer things (ideas, analogies, etc.) that Ferrante tries to fit into her story, the more that story is allowed to be told. This one is really tight, thematically: a childhood passion for dinosaurs, which leads into bird analogies, and the abusive husband is framed as a dragon when upset, which ties into the protagonist’s childhood with an abusive father. It still pulls in all the animal/nature facts, but with fewer other story threads pulling in other directions, which makes it very enjoyable.
6. Everyday Horror Show: About PPD, this one takes a bit of a turn away from the animal-centre-focused analogies (though there are still environmental anxieties that come up) and instead focuses on horror/ghost stories; post-partum mother as weeping woman/haunting. As much as I find the approach quite interesting (I haven’t seen that before), the story does carry a lot of the same beats/rhythms as The Underside of a Wing, down to the ending where the weeping woman (mother) is told: “With most cases of a weeping woman, the peer support counsellor says, it’s easy to forget that just because no one else sees her, it doesn’t mean she isn’t there.” (Pg. 109), which is nearly identical to what the girl with the albatross is told in the previous story. Of course that’s not a problem, per se, but it does feel repetitive in a collection that already focuses on repetition within stories (either repeating facts, words, or whole phrases). There’s also an almost ridiculous use of parentheses with a lot of information contained. A single page will have half the information within parentheses, which I tend to find quite distracting. As interesting as I found the concept, this was one where I found myself skipping lines/paragraphs because it felt too familiar/repetitive.
7. Pandora: At only four pages, this is the shortest story in the collection and Ferrante still manages to stick quite a lot in there. The narrator is lying on the ground after being run over by a man in a van and “tells” this story to the daughter she’ll never have. It’s not clear if she ever wanted a daughter and the story starts off with her kind of chiding this non-existent daughter (??). From there, she talks about climbing trees, her mother’s desire for her to focus on more “girly” things vs. Her desire to explore, and the driver’s history of being bullied/teased/abused by his brothers and taking his anger out on women. Despite its brevity, this story also has a lot of repetition (words, phrases) and although repetition can really be used to great effect, seeing it in story after story and especially something as short as this one, taking some of it out would help make it more straightforward, especially with how many lines of story there are to follow. It’s also unclear if the man in the van is someone the narrator knew? If he’s the one she used to climb trees with? It’s unclear and again: the story could have benefited from one of its threads being removed to tighten the piece as a whole.
8. Cobwebs: Another one where I’m not entirely sure who the reader is supposed to empathize with. The imagery is confusing as the wife turned spider begins laying eggs but doesn’t tell her husband, who desperately wants children. She wants to focus on her art and continues delaying trying for a child, and then starts turning into a spider too, so it seems, get away from her husband. In the end, she tells him: “I tried to show you. Even in the beginning, I never knew if I wanted an us at all.” (Pg. 129) Which we should all know is not how that works and you have to tell people things explicitly (see Jeremy in Finding Houdini!). I just really didn’t understand whatever was supposed to be coming through with her transformation into a spider and the emphasis on the eggs and am not sure if I’m missing something that’s painfully obvious or if it’s an instance of Ferrante burying the meaning too far down.
9. The Silent Grave of Birds: An absolutely heartbreaking story centring around toxic masculinity and group mentality (animal analogy: wolf packs).
It follows a younger brother, Gavin, with his older brother, Alex, and Alex’s friends who are all awful people. They find a hole with dolls that belong to a kid they seriously bullied, Eli. As they go back, the hole continues to get bigger, deep enough for them to have to use a rope to climb down into. Also interspersed is what the group’s drug use and school skipping, what they did to Eli, what Alex did to his girlfriend, Julie, Gavin’s hidden interest in birds and the environment (which he shares with both Eli and Julie’s sister, Ava), the boys’ missing father, their mother who constantly works and brings home abusive boyfriends, and Gavin’s eventual realization that he can and should stand up to the older boys, but especially Alex.
At 45 pages, it’s a longer story and one of the ones where I found myself trying to see how many pages were left and then skipping paragraphs to get to the end. I really just wanted this one pared down. By the time we get to the last few stories, it feels like the repetition and animal information are no longer helping the stories along but rather are holding them back. We get a lot of time spent on this hole the boys find, the way it gets larger/deeper, the birds they find in it, the positions the dolls are in each time, etc. Again: another case of lots of threads and them starting to get in each other’s way and creating knots instead of weaving together.
10. So What If It’s Supposed to Rain: The Mother is a device that collects all the wisdom of all the mothers of successful people to help mothers raise their children. Most of the bugs have died, people have to wear masks to spend time outside safely, and Lil is pregnant, mother to Yvie, and a fan of bugs and nature, having spent quite a bit of time photographing bugs when Yvie was little.
A very interesting commentary on the expectations placed on mothers, the way there is no “one right way” to raise a child, the way mothers get turned into “someone’s mother” instead of who they actually are (ex. Javier’s mother, Katherine’s mother, etc.).
This one slightly mirrors A Trick of the Dark with a mother suffering from something that makes it difficult for her to connect with or care for her child. As in A Trick, this one also has another female character tell/remind the mother character that they have to let things go, trust their gut, etc. after multiple other women have told the mother they’ll get there or given unwanted advice, passed judgement, etc.
Another one where I found the concept interesting but kept wondering when it was going to end. Lil keeps wondering where her daughter - who is now interested in going outside and trying to save animals/nature - came from and where her small daughter who hated everything to do with bugs went. And this ruminating goes on for most of the story and, again, gets very repetitive and doesn’t give us anything really new and drags the story through its 33 pages.
11. Among Chameleons and Other Shades: Girl meets boy. Boy wants to move to Mars. Boy and girl drive from Toronto to Boca Chica, where they wait for SpaceX to call them up to fly to Mars. This one falls more into the sci-fi category (no surprise), with a little talk of current environmental issues and a solid dose of horror (ghost stories). Another long one (38 pages), this one shows both character’s points of view, or at the very least both of their fears: Maddy’s fear of losing herself to please a boy and Adam’s fear of not understanding/seeing Maddy accurately and subsequently losing her (and also being alone, in general).
As the story progresses, Maddy becomes uncertain that she wants to move to Mars but doesn’t know how to tell Adam, who keeps trying to use their common knowledge about Star Trek and The Jetsons to build a connection. They talk about space, animals, and do seem to have a few things in common, but Maddy doesn’t like causing waves and so keeps any disagreements to herself. After awhile, her shadow becomes its own entity and anytime Maddy’s in the sun, her shadow is the one posing as her: agreeing with Adam, saying yes, laughing with him, etc. Adam doesn’t notice and Maddy increasingly doesn’t want to go outside.
The animal component here is snakes and reptiles: Adam mistakes an anole for a snake and kills it. Maddy is very upset by this because anole’s are harmless. Adam has a memory of a dangerous snake getting into his family’s tent while camping and his dad being very insistent on protecting the people in your life from harm, which is Adam’s intention. He’s also terrified of snakes and reptiles, which Maddy doesn’t understand.
This one definitely took a turn from the rest of the stories: at the end, Maddy and Adam decide not to go to Mars and agree to re-start their relationship from the beginning after Maddy breaks down after Adam tries to propose to her after he finds out they’ve been called up to move to Mars.
Another interesting concept and lots of genre combining, which made for some neat connections and avenues for story telling, but by the time I got to this one, I really just wanted to finish the book and be done. There was, again, a lot of skipping to try and get to the end.
Ferrante’s strong suit really seems to be the shorter short stories, where there’s less space to inject more (ideas, plots, threads, etc.) and subsequently bog it down in repetition and tangled threads. As I’ve said, a lot of the concepts are really intriguing and I applaud Ferrante for the attempts at combining unusual concepts together, but not all of them need to go into a singular story at once.
⭐️⭐️
August 18, 2023
Thank you to Net Galley and Book*hug press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed the first few stories of this collection, my favourite being the very first one about the sentient sex robot. I think fans of Black Mirror will especially like this tale. I enjoyed the albatross story as well and found the metaphor satisfying but not so overly artistic that it became a negative. Unfortunately, as I kept reading, I loved the stories less and less. They seemed a bit contrived and it felt as though the author had 3 or 4 good stories to fit the theme, then tried to fill up the rest of the book with less formed ideas. I wasn’t such a fan of the stream-of-consciousness style either as it went on.
Overall, I think the first few stories are definitely worth a read. I wish this collection was around 5 stories instead of 11, then I think I would have enjoyed each story for its oddities rather than growing tired of their similarities in style.
I really enjoyed the first few stories of this collection, my favourite being the very first one about the sentient sex robot. I think fans of Black Mirror will especially like this tale. I enjoyed the albatross story as well and found the metaphor satisfying but not so overly artistic that it became a negative. Unfortunately, as I kept reading, I loved the stories less and less. They seemed a bit contrived and it felt as though the author had 3 or 4 good stories to fit the theme, then tried to fill up the rest of the book with less formed ideas. I wasn’t such a fan of the stream-of-consciousness style either as it went on.
Overall, I think the first few stories are definitely worth a read. I wish this collection was around 5 stories instead of 11, then I think I would have enjoyed each story for its oddities rather than growing tired of their similarities in style.
June 28, 2023
As a fan of weird short stories, I was inclined to like "Her Body Among Animals" from the start. I've not read Paola Ferrante's previous works, so I didn't know exactly what to expect, but her writing focuses on unusual perspectives in female experiences: from a sentient sex-doll, to a woman who becomes a spider, to the threat of turning into a mermaid, transformation and reclamation are big themes in this collection, Recommended for fans of Kelly Link and Mona Awad.
April 20, 2025
Well sadly this collection did nothing for me.
I think Ferrante's writing style just doesn't agree with me, it feels like the stories are trying too hard to be obscure and mysterious, with rambling sections of prose and stream of consciousness barfs.
The only one I really liked was the first story When Foxes Die Electric- I thought this was quite cleverly written. The rest seemed a bit forced in trying to establish an animalistic aspect to them.
Disappointing.
1.5 stars.
I think Ferrante's writing style just doesn't agree with me, it feels like the stories are trying too hard to be obscure and mysterious, with rambling sections of prose and stream of consciousness barfs.
The only one I really liked was the first story When Foxes Die Electric- I thought this was quite cleverly written. The rest seemed a bit forced in trying to establish an animalistic aspect to them.
Disappointing.
1.5 stars.
June 19, 2025
my ratings for each story 🌟
- when foxes die electric 5/5
- the underside of a wing 3.5/5
- mermaid girls 4.5/5
- finding houdini 2.5/5
- a trick of the dark 4/5
- everyday horror show 4/5
- pandora 3.5/5
- cobwebs 2.5/5
- the silent grave of birds 4/5
- so what if it’s supposed to rain 3.5/5
- among chameleons and other shades 4/5
- when foxes die electric 5/5
- the underside of a wing 3.5/5
- mermaid girls 4.5/5
- finding houdini 2.5/5
- a trick of the dark 4/5
- everyday horror show 4/5
- pandora 3.5/5
- cobwebs 2.5/5
- the silent grave of birds 4/5
- so what if it’s supposed to rain 3.5/5
- among chameleons and other shades 4/5
September 19, 2023
4.5 rounded up
“𝙃𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙃𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙬𝙚𝙗𝙨. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙, 𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮, 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙣𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.”
A debut story collection that merges elements of horror, speculative fiction, feminism and ecological/technological unease—Her Body Among Animals achieves something special and unnerving in these varied tales that stick with you.
There was a story about a woman who struggling under the expectations of her husband, turns into a spider that kept me up all night on vacation. There was a story about a sex robot gaining sentience and rebelling against her inventor. One about a dystopian future where every household has an AI “mother” judging your every action as you try to raise you kids. There was a story about a boy being haunted by both dolls and the actions of the group of bullies he runs with that I found hard to get into but then really hit me in the feels. There’s a girl desperate to stop her sister from turning into a mermaid like her absent mother. A college student carrying an actual albatross around her neck. A couple planning to go to mars, road tripping across the USA, until something weird begins to happen with her shadow.
There was so MUCH in this collection, Ferrante has so much to say about toxic masculinity, the societal pressures and expectations put on women to be therapist, mother, maid, nymph then a virgin, nurse then a servant—(hey siri play Labour by Paris Paloma)—and then once we’re in those relationships how it diminishes and transforms a person. Where our future is going and how to resist it. Her writing is vivid and bold, and though it takes a minute to warm up to each tale, once you sink into these worlds you feel for the characters deeply.
Short story collections aren’t for everyone but if you can give these a chance they might burrow into you and keep you thinking about them long after you close the book.
Perfect for spooky season.
Many thanks to @zgstories and @bookhugpress for the review copy in exchange for my honest review. I hope you keep publishing books like this!
“𝙃𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙃𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙬𝙚𝙗𝙨. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙, 𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮, 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙣𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.”
A debut story collection that merges elements of horror, speculative fiction, feminism and ecological/technological unease—Her Body Among Animals achieves something special and unnerving in these varied tales that stick with you.
There was a story about a woman who struggling under the expectations of her husband, turns into a spider that kept me up all night on vacation. There was a story about a sex robot gaining sentience and rebelling against her inventor. One about a dystopian future where every household has an AI “mother” judging your every action as you try to raise you kids. There was a story about a boy being haunted by both dolls and the actions of the group of bullies he runs with that I found hard to get into but then really hit me in the feels. There’s a girl desperate to stop her sister from turning into a mermaid like her absent mother. A college student carrying an actual albatross around her neck. A couple planning to go to mars, road tripping across the USA, until something weird begins to happen with her shadow.
There was so MUCH in this collection, Ferrante has so much to say about toxic masculinity, the societal pressures and expectations put on women to be therapist, mother, maid, nymph then a virgin, nurse then a servant—(hey siri play Labour by Paris Paloma)—and then once we’re in those relationships how it diminishes and transforms a person. Where our future is going and how to resist it. Her writing is vivid and bold, and though it takes a minute to warm up to each tale, once you sink into these worlds you feel for the characters deeply.
Short story collections aren’t for everyone but if you can give these a chance they might burrow into you and keep you thinking about them long after you close the book.
Perfect for spooky season.
Many thanks to @zgstories and @bookhugpress for the review copy in exchange for my honest review. I hope you keep publishing books like this!
September 8, 2024
What an interesting collection, this was actually my second attempt at reading as the eARC I received from the US publisher was unreadable. Influx Press kindly gifted me this copy and I’m forever grateful for their generosity.
Theres a lot to love in this collection, I found myself falling down minute rabbit holes that flit between disorienting and harrowing.
For me, there was just one too many of the stories in here that needed some more pages to truly come to life. Which is not a bad problem to have.
Theres a lot to love in this collection, I found myself falling down minute rabbit holes that flit between disorienting and harrowing.
For me, there was just one too many of the stories in here that needed some more pages to truly come to life. Which is not a bad problem to have.
April 23, 2025
learning to appreciate short stories for what they are this year, this book was good but i was definitely bored during a couple of the chapters. my favourites: when foxes die electric, everyday horror show.
April 6, 2024
Her Body Among Animals is a collection of tightly rolled short stories with a whisper of the uncanny. Or sometimes a scream.
November 7, 2023
Oh how I dream of collections of short stories like Her Body Among Animals. I literally seek them out in every bookstore and in every little library in my neighbourhood!
A collection of short stories that has short pieces and the almost novella length story that brings us into the world of characters we fall in love with, characters who are striving, struggling, thriving, failing, characters who are like us, but also beautifully weird stories where a woman is a spider, a college student is an albatross, a young boy haunted by dolls, must grapple with witnessing his brother commit a crime, and a girl trying to stop her sister from turning into a mermaid.
Paola Ferrante gorgeous prose and mastery of the short story form is a joy to read. I hope you will all pick up this collection because IMHO, WE NEED MORE COLLECTIONS OF SHORT STORIES!!!!
A collection of short stories that has short pieces and the almost novella length story that brings us into the world of characters we fall in love with, characters who are striving, struggling, thriving, failing, characters who are like us, but also beautifully weird stories where a woman is a spider, a college student is an albatross, a young boy haunted by dolls, must grapple with witnessing his brother commit a crime, and a girl trying to stop her sister from turning into a mermaid.
Paola Ferrante gorgeous prose and mastery of the short story form is a joy to read. I hope you will all pick up this collection because IMHO, WE NEED MORE COLLECTIONS OF SHORT STORIES!!!!
January 18, 2025
I liked:
When Foxes Die Electric
and
The Silent Grave of Birds
When Foxes Die Electric
and
The Silent Grave of Birds
September 23, 2023
Haunting, harrowing, mind-bending, current . . .
How did the book make me feel/think?
Paola Ferrante's “Her Body Among Animals” is a genuinely mind-altering literary experience. This work of fiction has the incredible power to evoke deep emotions and provoke contemplation on various aspects of our society and the human condition. Its themes delve into crucial issues such as abuse, gender dynamics, environmental concerns, and the overwhelming sense of helplessness in a rapidly changing world.
Ferrante’s storytelling acts as a reflective mirror, allowing readers to examine and confront the realities of our world. It provides a means for exploration and encourages readers to face complex issues head-on.
As I delved into the pages of these harrowing and remarkable stories, a burning desire to break free from the confines of my bubble grew within me. The stories compelled me to confront uncomfortable truths and challenge my own perspectives. They inspired personal growth and, hopefully, serve as a catalyst for individuals to act and advocate for positive change in their communities or even on a global scale.
“Her Body Among Animals,” though a work of fiction, serves as a cautionary tale that grapples with the trajectory of humanity. It paints a vivid picture of the urgent need to find the emergency brake to give humanity (possibly) one last chance to change its course.
This is the impact that the book had on me.
WRITTEN: 23 September 2023
How did the book make me feel/think?
Paola Ferrante's “Her Body Among Animals” is a genuinely mind-altering literary experience. This work of fiction has the incredible power to evoke deep emotions and provoke contemplation on various aspects of our society and the human condition. Its themes delve into crucial issues such as abuse, gender dynamics, environmental concerns, and the overwhelming sense of helplessness in a rapidly changing world.
Ferrante’s storytelling acts as a reflective mirror, allowing readers to examine and confront the realities of our world. It provides a means for exploration and encourages readers to face complex issues head-on.
As I delved into the pages of these harrowing and remarkable stories, a burning desire to break free from the confines of my bubble grew within me. The stories compelled me to confront uncomfortable truths and challenge my own perspectives. They inspired personal growth and, hopefully, serve as a catalyst for individuals to act and advocate for positive change in their communities or even on a global scale.
“Her Body Among Animals,” though a work of fiction, serves as a cautionary tale that grapples with the trajectory of humanity. It paints a vivid picture of the urgent need to find the emergency brake to give humanity (possibly) one last chance to change its course.
This is the impact that the book had on me.
WRITTEN: 23 September 2023
October 9, 2023
This was a hard book to rate, because the strong stories were SO strong, and the writing is very skilled. Obviously the star of the collection is the first entry, but there are other stand outs here too that do an excellent job of building unease and exploring a theme. I loved Ferrante’s creativity, the venturing in and out of horror, spec fic, magical realism, sci fi, to touch on very real events and global existential challenges and the stories of women. This was a challenging read in tone-some were just absolutely heartbreaking on all fronts (thinking about The Silent Grave of Birds here), and all were dark and dabbling in hopelessness alongside the themes of liberation.
I think this collection just suffered from being too long, which amplified the repetitiveness of the theme to a point that it felt belaboured. Probably four stories could have been cut here to let the stand outs really shine, and I found myself absolutely slogging through the last two. I’d actually really love to read more from this author despite that-she has a beautiful voice and her world building is very good-and I always love to support a fellow Canadian. It’s a 3.75 for me.
I think this collection just suffered from being too long, which amplified the repetitiveness of the theme to a point that it felt belaboured. Probably four stories could have been cut here to let the stand outs really shine, and I found myself absolutely slogging through the last two. I’d actually really love to read more from this author despite that-she has a beautiful voice and her world building is very good-and I always love to support a fellow Canadian. It’s a 3.75 for me.
September 12, 2023
Her Body Among Animals is a cohesive collection of haunting short stories. It is a difficult task to try and put these stories in one genre so I’ll list a few: horror, sci-if, speculative and literary fiction.
There were a lot of stories that I connected with and really enjoyed and only a couple that I didn’t love.
Some of the highlights include:
- The theme of if the pain or suffering isn’t seen or heard then it doesn’t exist. I noticed this explored in a couple of her stories and it really stuck out to me. You just never know what people are going through.
- That first story 🤖! There were so many good quotes in this one, I couldn’t stop underlining
- Bringing up emotions in the reader (the good, the bad, and the disturbing)
- The climate change undertones, I’ve been wanting a good book that brings up this issue in subtle and relatable ways just as these stories do 🌍
This was my first time reading Paola Ferrante’s work and it will not be my last.
Thank you to Book*hug Press for the copy of this book! 📖
There were a lot of stories that I connected with and really enjoyed and only a couple that I didn’t love.
Some of the highlights include:
- The theme of if the pain or suffering isn’t seen or heard then it doesn’t exist. I noticed this explored in a couple of her stories and it really stuck out to me. You just never know what people are going through.
- That first story 🤖! There were so many good quotes in this one, I couldn’t stop underlining
- Bringing up emotions in the reader (the good, the bad, and the disturbing)
- The climate change undertones, I’ve been wanting a good book that brings up this issue in subtle and relatable ways just as these stories do 🌍
This was my first time reading Paola Ferrante’s work and it will not be my last.
Thank you to Book*hug Press for the copy of this book! 📖
August 23, 2023
AH! OMG I AM SO SPOILT BY BOOKHUG*PRESS!!!!! Yall, this is one of my most anticipated reads of 2023, and I know I say that a lot, but I'm always right and always, always in good company, book-wise. Her Body Among Animals is set to publish on September 12, 2023 and I have Bookhug*Press, Paola Ferrante, and Netgalley to thank for the advanced digital and physical copies.
YALL KNOW I'm a HOE for a good collection of short stories, especially when they convey an eerie angle of sorts, and Her Body Among Animals did just that. Positioning women as the subjects who endure pain and traumas from their male companions, karma is delivered in a slew of sci-fi and speculative manners that left me thinking, "Good for Her." If you're in your "Good for Her" era, this book is FOR YOU, a thousand times over and over again.
YALL KNOW I'm a HOE for a good collection of short stories, especially when they convey an eerie angle of sorts, and Her Body Among Animals did just that. Positioning women as the subjects who endure pain and traumas from their male companions, karma is delivered in a slew of sci-fi and speculative manners that left me thinking, "Good for Her." If you're in your "Good for Her" era, this book is FOR YOU, a thousand times over and over again.
May 25, 2024
This short story collection started off really strong and I was really into the first few stories, particularly When Foxes Die Electric and Mermaid Girls. Unfortunately I didn't love the later stories quite as much. I always have a hard time rating short story collections when there's an even mix of stories I loved and stories I didn't enjoy and that's how I felt with this. I ended up taking a very long time to finish this collection because I just lost interest. 3 Stars I guess seems fair...the stories I enjoyed I really enjoyed, but about half of the stories just weren't for me. If you like unsettling, eerie, atmospheric writing I would still recommend - there are some really solid stories here!
Thank you NetGalley and Book*hug Press for the ARC!
Thank you NetGalley and Book*hug Press for the ARC!
October 31, 2023
My three favourite stories were:
📖 So What If It’s Supposed to Rain
📖 Among Chameleons and Other Shades
📖 When Foxes Die Electric
These stories were very poetically written and full of beautiful and enchanting symbolic references. I loved the the exploration of motherhood in So What If It’s Supposed to Rain, especially the concept of The Mothers.
The journey in Among Chameleons and Other Shades was very endearing and I enjoyed the dystopian like world building going on behind the scenes.
Thankyou to NetGalley and Book*hug Press for the ARC!
📖 So What If It’s Supposed to Rain
📖 Among Chameleons and Other Shades
📖 When Foxes Die Electric
These stories were very poetically written and full of beautiful and enchanting symbolic references. I loved the the exploration of motherhood in So What If It’s Supposed to Rain, especially the concept of The Mothers.
The journey in Among Chameleons and Other Shades was very endearing and I enjoyed the dystopian like world building going on behind the scenes.
Thankyou to NetGalley and Book*hug Press for the ARC!
September 12, 2023
Happy pub day to HER BODY AMONG ANIMALS by Paola Ferrante! I really enjoyed these short stories! I first read Paola’s story The Underside of a Wing in the anthology After Realism which was one of my fave books last year so I was eagerly awaiting to read this debut collection. I was delighted to see that story included in this book. I found the blurb on the cover very apt as this whole book is very unsettling. These eleven speculative stories have a feminist mindset that also touch on technology and climate change. My fave stories are the first two stories in this collection When Foxes Die Electric and The Underside of a Wing. The first story is very heavy and I loved the setting in the second story. It’s set in Vancouver and mentions Commercial Drive, Lions Gate Bridge and Stanley Park. The title is very fitting as there are many animals in this book such as fox, albatross, mermaid, spider, birds and chameleons. If you’re looking to pick up this book I saw it on the new & notable table at Upstart & Crow on the weekend!
Thank you to Book*hug Press for my ARC!
Thank you to Book*hug Press for my ARC!
May 23, 2024
Fantasy/scifi collection of short stories that ends with three novellette or even novella sized stories.
It's obvious throughout that Ferrante is enjoying playing around with the concepts and having fun. Unfortunately I had a hard time connecting with the stories on the same level. A me thing rather than an author thing.
Favourite story is When Foxes Die Electric.
Good stories for people who enjoy fantasy, scifi, climate anxiety, and motherhood reflections.
It's obvious throughout that Ferrante is enjoying playing around with the concepts and having fun. Unfortunately I had a hard time connecting with the stories on the same level. A me thing rather than an author thing.
Favourite story is When Foxes Die Electric.
Good stories for people who enjoy fantasy, scifi, climate anxiety, and motherhood reflections.
September 30, 2025
Deffo a 3.5 for me. I really enjoy short story collections, especially ones that are weird, that explore real and everyday feelings, situations n things but twisting them to make them even more weird n yet real at the same time. Loved the last story especially, n how multiple stories covered uncomfortable/ taboo topics but not in a way that felt uncomfortable or romanticised to read about. I also got some serious Black Mirror vibes from certain stories which I loved.
July 17, 2023
A haunting collection of short stories that encourage one to think about the outside perspectives surrounding the standard lanes in life. Some stories are slightly more eerie than others, and so I would recommend this book only to someone who enjoys hair-raising and slightly bizarre tales.
(ARC review via NetGalley)
(ARC review via NetGalley)
January 22, 2024
i loved this collection. exploring the overlap and intersection womanhood and our more-than-human kin is always so relevant in considering how we are socialized to treat and conceptualize the value of bodies beyond the cisgender heterosexual human male. favorites were "when foxes die electric", "the underside of a wing", "finding houdini", "pandora", and "among chameleons and other shades".
December 28, 2024
4.5
Short horror-esque stories that all link to a womans daily experinces. The way nonsters and tales are able to be built out of the female experiences is amazing. I found the book a great read and initially didnt even know how it was all about womens lived experiences then the moment I did it added a whole new fantastic layer.
Short horror-esque stories that all link to a womans daily experinces. The way nonsters and tales are able to be built out of the female experiences is amazing. I found the book a great read and initially didnt even know how it was all about womens lived experiences then the moment I did it added a whole new fantastic layer.
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