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Oddbody
Striking, visceral, and brutally honest, Rose Keating’s Oddbody is a captivating short story collection that delves into the weirdness of bodies and of existence itself through the voices of social outsiders and outcasts.
In her debut collection, Rose Keating takes you on a bold journey through the intricacies of sex, shame, and womanhood. With ten enchanting short stories, she crafts an emotional masterpiece that challenges us to reflect on the movement and needs of our bodies. Strange yet utterly mesmerizing, Oddbody is a provocative exploration that feels both surprising and sincerely authentic.
In “Oddbody,” a woman finds herself navigating a codependent relationship with a ghost, while “Squirm” portrays a daughter tending to her father as he devours himself from the inside out. “Pineapple” introduces us to a woman who opts to have feather wings surgically attached to her back. In “Eggshells,” a waitress gives birth to an egg during her breakfast shift. Each narrative in this collection is immersive, bizarre, and deeply empathetic, shining a light on women who dare to defy societal norms and invite you to question the conventions and milestones that determine success.
In her debut collection, Rose Keating takes you on a bold journey through the intricacies of sex, shame, and womanhood. With ten enchanting short stories, she crafts an emotional masterpiece that challenges us to reflect on the movement and needs of our bodies. Strange yet utterly mesmerizing, Oddbody is a provocative exploration that feels both surprising and sincerely authentic.
In “Oddbody,” a woman finds herself navigating a codependent relationship with a ghost, while “Squirm” portrays a daughter tending to her father as he devours himself from the inside out. “Pineapple” introduces us to a woman who opts to have feather wings surgically attached to her back. In “Eggshells,” a waitress gives birth to an egg during her breakfast shift. Each narrative in this collection is immersive, bizarre, and deeply empathetic, shining a light on women who dare to defy societal norms and invite you to question the conventions and milestones that determine success.
208 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 1, 2025
107 people are currently reading
11233 people want to read
About the author
Rose Keating
5 books59 followersRose Keating is a writer from Waterford, Ireland. She received an MA in creative writing prose fiction from the University of East Anglia, where she was a recipient of the Malcolm Bradbury Scholarship and the Curtis Brown Prize for best dissertation. She is a winner of the Marian Keyes Young Writer Award, the Hot Press Write Here, Write Now Prize, and the Ted and Mary O’Regan Arts Bursary. She has been published in The Stinging Fly, Apex Magazine, Banshee, and Southword. In 2022, she received an Agility Award from the Irish Arts Council to fund the completion of her debut short story collection, Oddbody.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 346 reviews
September 30, 2025
relatable.
mini reviews for each story!
STORY ONE: ODDBODY
at first i was jealous of this world in which all the most damaged people get a ghost friend (a serious wish contender if i ever met a genie), but it turns out everyone's more like frenemies.
rating: 3.5
STORY TWO: SQUIRM
i can't stress enough that i would never dedicate my life to taking care of a worm in a bathtub full of compost, even if he was once my dad.
rating: 3
STORY THREE: MOUTHFUL
it's a good title for a story about someone who eats everything. that's the nicest thing i have to say.
rating: 2.5
STORY FOUR: BELA LUGOSI ISN'T DEAD
this is like the first story, except if your ghost was specifically deceased hungarian-american stage actor bela lugosi and he had the power to control tv.
rating: 3.5
STORY FIVE: PINEAPPLE
animal mods.
rating: 3
STORY SIX: NEXT TO CLEANLINESS
ooh, ooh, i know this one! godliness!
okay. in this case it's actually juice cleanse-related creatures.
rating: 3
STORY SEVEN: NOTES ON PERFORMANCE
this is another one about getting chopped up into pieces, except this time it's horror movies.
rating: 3
STORY EIGHT: EGGSHELLS
it's important to practice gratitude. periods may be terrible but at least i don't lay nightmare eggs.
rating: 3
STORY NINE: THE TEST
sure.
rating: 2.5
STORY TEN: THE VEGETABLE
sheeps is plants.
rating: 3
OVERALL
being a woman is a body horror in and of itself, so this was fun at first, but after a while...10 stories with identical tone and identical depth and identical purpose gets to be a snooze.
rating: 2.5
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
mini reviews for each story!
STORY ONE: ODDBODY
at first i was jealous of this world in which all the most damaged people get a ghost friend (a serious wish contender if i ever met a genie), but it turns out everyone's more like frenemies.
rating: 3.5
STORY TWO: SQUIRM
i can't stress enough that i would never dedicate my life to taking care of a worm in a bathtub full of compost, even if he was once my dad.
rating: 3
STORY THREE: MOUTHFUL
it's a good title for a story about someone who eats everything. that's the nicest thing i have to say.
rating: 2.5
STORY FOUR: BELA LUGOSI ISN'T DEAD
this is like the first story, except if your ghost was specifically deceased hungarian-american stage actor bela lugosi and he had the power to control tv.
rating: 3.5
STORY FIVE: PINEAPPLE
animal mods.
rating: 3
STORY SIX: NEXT TO CLEANLINESS
ooh, ooh, i know this one! godliness!
okay. in this case it's actually juice cleanse-related creatures.
rating: 3
STORY SEVEN: NOTES ON PERFORMANCE
this is another one about getting chopped up into pieces, except this time it's horror movies.
rating: 3
STORY EIGHT: EGGSHELLS
it's important to practice gratitude. periods may be terrible but at least i don't lay nightmare eggs.
rating: 3
STORY NINE: THE TEST
sure.
rating: 2.5
STORY TEN: THE VEGETABLE
sheeps is plants.
rating: 3
OVERALL
being a woman is a body horror in and of itself, so this was fun at first, but after a while...10 stories with identical tone and identical depth and identical purpose gets to be a snooze.
rating: 2.5
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
July 4, 2025
Irish writer Rose Keating’s debut collection blends “weird girl fiction” with generous helpings of “femgore.” Like Eliza Clark, Sayaka Murata, Camilla Grudova or Heather Parry, Keating constructs bizarre, often grotesque scenarios in order to lay bare the absurdities and taken-for-granted contradictions of women’s experiences. Keating’s particularly invested in exploring ideas around shame from “forbidden” desires to immense self-loathing. Some stories really resonated with me like the wonderfully wry title piece. It’s a variation on a conventional ghost story set in a society where ghosts visibly cohabit with the living, voicing their hosts’ anxieties and inner turmoil. In “Squirm” Laura looks after her dad who’s inexplicably become a giant worm, it’s a perverse but highly effective take on women thrust into carer roles: frequently isolated, torn between feelings of love, intense guilt, and festering resentment.
“Bela Lugosi isn’t dead” and “Notes on Performance” examine the exploitation of women in mainstream horror but from differing perspectives. “Bela Lugosi” echoes, intentionally or not, aspects of David Cronenberg’s iconic Videodrome. Keating combines kitchen-sink realism with the fantastical to comment on fandom. The ways in which female viewers are frequently positioned to identify with predatory male characters – that’s if they don’t want to see themselves solely as victims. The distinctly gory “Notes” deals with the prevalence of violence against women in horror cinema, communicated via the ordeals of a young actor cast in her first major role: dismembered prey in a slasher movie.
Some entries like “Mouthful,” which draws on concepts of the “monstrous feminine,” didn’t entirely convince, despite potentially intriguing parallels with Stephen King’s Thinner - it’s closer to an outline or sketch than fully-realised narrative. But there were also a number of standouts. “Pineapple” revolves around a woman’s unsettling rebellion against her dull, controlling boyfriend and their austere, sterile existence. Jen’s dissatisfaction leads her to Mary; a transgressive artist whose work features extreme forms of body modification. It’s carefully-crafted, inventive and deeply uncomfortable. However, I’m puzzled about Keating’s incorporation of animals here - Rachel Yoder seems a likely influence. But I’m uncertain whether Keating’s animals function purely as donor figures or whether they’re part of a wider cultural critique? Does the plethora of mutilated animals represent a condemnation of speciesism, vivisection or the fur industry? Or do they simply signify Jen’s longing to embrace her animality? Her need to overcome the self-disgust that threatens to overwhelm her, to wholly reject perceptions of her body as intrinsically sullied.
“Next to Cleanliness” also deals with issues around embodiment, specifically capitalism’s commodification of women and the hugely profitable wellness industry. Macabre and inventive, it follows Catherine whose friend suggests she’d benefit from a cleanse, and recommends sessions at a specialist clinic. Lured by the prospect of reinvention, Catherine follows her doctor’s regimen to the letter with catastrophic results. But are these the fault of the cleansing programme or something lacking in Catherine? Another highlight was the enigmatic, surreal, fable-like “Vegetable” with its arresting imagery, menacing men and strange, mutant creatures.
Consumed in quick succession, Keating’s depictions of fractured relationships, alienated girls and struggling women, can verge on repetitive. But she’s a more-than-promising writer; and there’s enough here that’s arresting and insightful to compensate for any shortcomings.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Canongate for an ARC
Rating: 3/3.5
“Bela Lugosi isn’t dead” and “Notes on Performance” examine the exploitation of women in mainstream horror but from differing perspectives. “Bela Lugosi” echoes, intentionally or not, aspects of David Cronenberg’s iconic Videodrome. Keating combines kitchen-sink realism with the fantastical to comment on fandom. The ways in which female viewers are frequently positioned to identify with predatory male characters – that’s if they don’t want to see themselves solely as victims. The distinctly gory “Notes” deals with the prevalence of violence against women in horror cinema, communicated via the ordeals of a young actor cast in her first major role: dismembered prey in a slasher movie.
Some entries like “Mouthful,” which draws on concepts of the “monstrous feminine,” didn’t entirely convince, despite potentially intriguing parallels with Stephen King’s Thinner - it’s closer to an outline or sketch than fully-realised narrative. But there were also a number of standouts. “Pineapple” revolves around a woman’s unsettling rebellion against her dull, controlling boyfriend and their austere, sterile existence. Jen’s dissatisfaction leads her to Mary; a transgressive artist whose work features extreme forms of body modification. It’s carefully-crafted, inventive and deeply uncomfortable. However, I’m puzzled about Keating’s incorporation of animals here - Rachel Yoder seems a likely influence. But I’m uncertain whether Keating’s animals function purely as donor figures or whether they’re part of a wider cultural critique? Does the plethora of mutilated animals represent a condemnation of speciesism, vivisection or the fur industry? Or do they simply signify Jen’s longing to embrace her animality? Her need to overcome the self-disgust that threatens to overwhelm her, to wholly reject perceptions of her body as intrinsically sullied.
“Next to Cleanliness” also deals with issues around embodiment, specifically capitalism’s commodification of women and the hugely profitable wellness industry. Macabre and inventive, it follows Catherine whose friend suggests she’d benefit from a cleanse, and recommends sessions at a specialist clinic. Lured by the prospect of reinvention, Catherine follows her doctor’s regimen to the letter with catastrophic results. But are these the fault of the cleansing programme or something lacking in Catherine? Another highlight was the enigmatic, surreal, fable-like “Vegetable” with its arresting imagery, menacing men and strange, mutant creatures.
Consumed in quick succession, Keating’s depictions of fractured relationships, alienated girls and struggling women, can verge on repetitive. But she’s a more-than-promising writer; and there’s enough here that’s arresting and insightful to compensate for any shortcomings.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Canongate for an ARC
Rating: 3/3.5
March 6, 2025
Oddbody: Stories by Rose Keating is an impressive debut collection made up of ten relatively short stories. As you can probably infer from the title, most of these stories are focused on the body and there’s a good dose of visceral body horror in almost every one. The protagonists are of the slant so popular in a lot of contemporary litfic today: the seemingly apathetic, burdened, and often bafflingly passive young woman/girl. While this gives the collection a tone of sameness throughout many of the stories, each one has its own startling take (which is often where the body horror comes in) that makes it unique. The tone of apathy comes in in the way shocking and often grotesque realities surrounding these characters (and their bodies) are related to the reader through minimal prose and scant description of emotions. And yet, Keating displays a striking ability to convey a lot in a very few words.
The descriptions of bodily functions, trauma, and injuries that make up the horror of these stories often made reading them an uncomfortable experience, but once I sat with them and took the time to process the meaning and message of each work, they became that much more impactful and appreciated. Of course, I won’t say that I “got” them all, but I do love the use of body horror to reflect emotional and psychological trauma and Keating does it well.
My favorites included:
“Oddbody” – This is probably the most on the nose story in the collection, a metaphor for depression and mental illness, but it was still pretty devastating.
“Pineapple” - A woman in a stifling relationship undertakes of new hobby of extreme body modification.
“The Vegetable” - A woman living alone tends the isolated family farm which has an unusual harvest, when a potentially threatening stranger sets up camp nearby. This is the story from which the beautiful cover art is taken.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for a digital advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. Oddbody: Stories is set for release July 1, 2025. I’d highly recommend this one for fans of weird girl lit and body horror. I’m excited to see what Rose Keating comes out with next.
The descriptions of bodily functions, trauma, and injuries that make up the horror of these stories often made reading them an uncomfortable experience, but once I sat with them and took the time to process the meaning and message of each work, they became that much more impactful and appreciated. Of course, I won’t say that I “got” them all, but I do love the use of body horror to reflect emotional and psychological trauma and Keating does it well.
My favorites included:
“Oddbody” – This is probably the most on the nose story in the collection, a metaphor for depression and mental illness, but it was still pretty devastating.
“Pineapple” - A woman in a stifling relationship undertakes of new hobby of extreme body modification.
“The Vegetable” - A woman living alone tends the isolated family farm which has an unusual harvest, when a potentially threatening stranger sets up camp nearby. This is the story from which the beautiful cover art is taken.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for a digital advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. Oddbody: Stories is set for release July 1, 2025. I’d highly recommend this one for fans of weird girl lit and body horror. I’m excited to see what Rose Keating comes out with next.
August 8, 2025
A collection of short stories showcasing the female condition through the strange and the weird – mental illnesses as ghosts following certain women in their everyday life, being a caretaker of a father who turned into slug, having an appetite a eat everything and anything, playing along with stereotypes given to you in horror fiction, extreme body modification which displease the boyfriend, grotesque health cleansing programs, these stories are twisted and weird, and that's awesome. I found the reactions of the main characters to their surroundings (or maybe the narrative voice) strangely passive, which only highlighted the craziness of said surroundings. Recommended!
January 28, 2025
At first, I thought I was in for a collection that would be decent, but maybe nothing too groundbreaking. The first story contained a ghost as a pretty clear metaphor for Depression, and it was good but not the strongest opener. But then, each piece became stranger and more interesting than the last until I was obsessed with this, and now "Oddbody" is the best book of short stories I've read in a long time. It's one of my new favorites. I don't think a short fiction writer has made me feel this way since Mary Gaitskill. But honestly, I liked this more. I don't think my review is going to do it justice, unfortunately.
Rose Keating does a thing in her writing that I love and appreciate, which is to incorporate bizarre magical realism elements into these stories as if they’re just a part of the accepted reality. (Example: There's a story where a woman lays an egg every morning. No one is shocked by this. It is simply a biological inconvenience.) Her concepts are weird to start with, and then unsettling or violent things tend to happen on top of that. (Warning: maybe not the best read for animal lovers.) Every new tale is a unique new experience and you have no idea what's about to happen.
My favorites:
- "Squirm," A story about a woman who takes care of her father, who is literally a big worm that lives in a bathtub. By far one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever encountered. It bothered me on a deeply personal level and I was thinking about it for days.
- “Mouthful,” in which a woman is eating everything she owns and more. Physically painful to read. Ended a bit too abruptly for me, but despite the cringing (and the obvious suspension of disbelief required as with all of these stories), I was fascinated.
- “Bela Lugosi Isn’t Dead,” A 14-year-old girl is friends with a vampire who is probably imaginary and may also be a harmful predator.
- “Pineapple,” A woman receives body modifications from an artist and begins to question her relationship as a result. This one was such an amazing portrayal of feeling like something is off with the intimacy in your domestic situation.
Most of these pieces actually straddle the line of becoming heavy handed with the metaphors, but instead the creativity and the language are so good and she makes it relatable. In some of the stories the messages are pretty straightforward, and in others there’s something much more complex going on. But they're all very disturbing and sad. Bold and unapologetically sexual. Keating isn't afraid to take things to profoundly uncomfortable places. I had gotten burned out on story collections because I frankly got a little tired of constantly being let down, but there is not one dud in this whole thing. I was taking my time in between chapters so that the book would last longer. I want to read a hundred more stories by this author. I want her to write a novel. I feel like there are additional layers to the stories that I’m not even seeing, and I will definitely read them again. Highly, highly recommend for anyone who likes their fiction on the dark, upsetting side!
I'm so grateful to Netgalley and to the publisher for offering me this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own, and this book wasn't even on my radar until I received their email.
Biggest TW: Suicidal Ideation, Bodyshaming, Domestic abuse, Bodily fluids, Animal harm/death, Sexual Assault
Rose Keating does a thing in her writing that I love and appreciate, which is to incorporate bizarre magical realism elements into these stories as if they’re just a part of the accepted reality. (Example: There's a story where a woman lays an egg every morning. No one is shocked by this. It is simply a biological inconvenience.) Her concepts are weird to start with, and then unsettling or violent things tend to happen on top of that. (Warning: maybe not the best read for animal lovers.) Every new tale is a unique new experience and you have no idea what's about to happen.
My favorites:
- "Squirm," A story about a woman who takes care of her father, who is literally a big worm that lives in a bathtub. By far one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever encountered. It bothered me on a deeply personal level and I was thinking about it for days.
- “Mouthful,” in which a woman is eating everything she owns and more. Physically painful to read. Ended a bit too abruptly for me, but despite the cringing (and the obvious suspension of disbelief required as with all of these stories), I was fascinated.
- “Bela Lugosi Isn’t Dead,” A 14-year-old girl is friends with a vampire who is probably imaginary and may also be a harmful predator.
- “Pineapple,” A woman receives body modifications from an artist and begins to question her relationship as a result. This one was such an amazing portrayal of feeling like something is off with the intimacy in your domestic situation.
Most of these pieces actually straddle the line of becoming heavy handed with the metaphors, but instead the creativity and the language are so good and she makes it relatable. In some of the stories the messages are pretty straightforward, and in others there’s something much more complex going on. But they're all very disturbing and sad. Bold and unapologetically sexual. Keating isn't afraid to take things to profoundly uncomfortable places. I had gotten burned out on story collections because I frankly got a little tired of constantly being let down, but there is not one dud in this whole thing. I was taking my time in between chapters so that the book would last longer. I want to read a hundred more stories by this author. I want her to write a novel. I feel like there are additional layers to the stories that I’m not even seeing, and I will definitely read them again. Highly, highly recommend for anyone who likes their fiction on the dark, upsetting side!
I'm so grateful to Netgalley and to the publisher for offering me this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own, and this book wasn't even on my radar until I received their email.
Biggest TW: Suicidal Ideation, Bodyshaming, Domestic abuse, Bodily fluids, Animal harm/death, Sexual Assault
February 14, 2025
I’m sorry but had to DNF at 40% I just can’t wait animals being harmed in books and this one hit home a little too hard and it really upset me to the point where it actually made me tear up at work thinking about it. Maybe I’m just a baby but f it, I’m turned off!! Maybe the rest is okay, I loved the first story, second story was alright, third story was what made me very upset. Just a piece of advise to writers, please just don’t include animal harm or cruelty in your books. Nobody wants to read about that. Sure i have read books that I’ve enjoyed with these unfortunate themes in place but my fuse is getting short. I really wanted to like this one, maybe once it’s out and I see more reviews about it I will revisit it and just skip that story but for now I’m putting it down.
September 9, 2025
I loved this collection of body-horror stories. They smartly deal with themes like family caretaking, toxic wellness culture, and exploitation in the entertainment business in offbeat and unexpected ways. I wouldn’t recommend this to the squeamish, as the horror gets pretty gory, but everyone else should read this collection because it was just incredible! It’s feminist horror at its finest.
October 13, 2025
Surreal, contemplative, and unsettling, this is a masterful collection. The ten stories in this collection all share a sense of gentleness, even though the topics and ideas they are exploring are anything but. Rose Keating steps sideways out of the expected world to offer dark meditations on mental health, grief, loss, autonomy, family, societal expectations, wellness, power, and more. There feels like a continual search to find oneself, to test borders and boundaries and try and understand what it means to be in the world. That might mean that sometimes our ghosts haunt us in public, or that we offer our body as the canvas for experimental artists, but in every case it demands attention and care. There is nothing particularly graphic in these stories, but they linger around the edges of the mind in a disturbing way, existing in muddled shadows between light and dark. The collection is short but contains multitudes, and I just wanted to take time and sit with every story after finishing it.
Contemplative and surreal are the optimal adjectives to describe this collection as a whole, I think. None of the stories are fast-paced or showy; they take their time and are just off-kilter enough to make your brain itch. It is hard to point out exactly what it is about these stories, but they get under your skin and demand attention in a quiet, delicious way. They are evocative and ethereal in concept yet quite corporeal in their explorations. These stories are like walking into a room to find a bunch of chopped vegetables, neatly prepared, next to a cutting board and knife dripping with blood. Everything is a few shades away from being what is expected, and in that way remarkably inviting and compelling.
Contemplative and surreal are the optimal adjectives to describe this collection as a whole, I think. None of the stories are fast-paced or showy; they take their time and are just off-kilter enough to make your brain itch. It is hard to point out exactly what it is about these stories, but they get under your skin and demand attention in a quiet, delicious way. They are evocative and ethereal in concept yet quite corporeal in their explorations. These stories are like walking into a room to find a bunch of chopped vegetables, neatly prepared, next to a cutting board and knife dripping with blood. Everything is a few shades away from being what is expected, and in that way remarkably inviting and compelling.
May 18, 2025
release date; 1 July 2025
I can see why this short story collection might not be for some people but it was a hitter for me & I cannot wait to get my grubby hands on a physical copy!
Oddbody is a collection of ten short stories touching on themes like womanhood, sexuality, fear & shame. every story gets even more bizarre but I literally could not flip the pages fast enough!
it's not just weird for the sake of being weird, each story has a metaphor underneath that makes you think. some are clear & straightforward while others you might need to read through again before they click.
the writing was so descriptive, the body horror was great & I really like how the author weaved magical realism throughout each story.
my favorites: notes on performance(this was literally so so good), pineapple, & oddbody.
if you're into weird girl fic & body horror, this is for you.
*Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review*
I can see why this short story collection might not be for some people but it was a hitter for me & I cannot wait to get my grubby hands on a physical copy!
Oddbody is a collection of ten short stories touching on themes like womanhood, sexuality, fear & shame. every story gets even more bizarre but I literally could not flip the pages fast enough!
it's not just weird for the sake of being weird, each story has a metaphor underneath that makes you think. some are clear & straightforward while others you might need to read through again before they click.
the writing was so descriptive, the body horror was great & I really like how the author weaved magical realism throughout each story.
my favorites: notes on performance(this was literally so so good), pineapple, & oddbody.
if you're into weird girl fic & body horror, this is for you.
*Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review*
December 17, 2025
Okay wow, now this is weird-lit at its finest. I really quite enjoyed this short story collection.
“Oddbody” definitely had to be story that stood out to me the most.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.
“Oddbody” definitely had to be story that stood out to me the most.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.
August 2, 2025
4.25 stars
David Cronenberg + Junji Ito, Oddbody is a potent collection of short stories observing the female experience in today's society (relationship, sex, beauty standard, etc), through the wonderfully grotesque imagination of Rose Keating. Thoughtfully written with intense frankness, this might not be suitable for the faint of heart, as the stories and description involve a lot of body distortion, violence, and very detailed, textural description of unearthly things. (the cover art is beautiful and peculiar, but how this 'thing' actually shows up in its story is much more monstrous and unsettling.)
My only small gripe is the overall curation; there's a bit of redundancy with some of the stories featuring very similar characters and scenarios—it's as if the author has written versions of the same story, and simply put all the iterations here to beef up the page count. Still, overall this is an excellent introduction to a new-to-me author, and definitely a fresh literary voice I will keep my eye on in the future. Personal favorites from the collection: Oddbody, Squirm, Pineapple.
- - -
Oddbody: 4.5 stars
A great opener, a dark comedy about a woman and her 'third wheel' ghost. Very candid and readable. It can easily be interpreted metaphorically.
Squirm: 5 stars
This is some Junji Ito level weirdness and I love it!
Mouthful: 4 stars
Kirby comes to mind! Another enjoyable, visceral read, if very short and ends rather abruptly.
Bela Lugosi Isn't Dead: 3.75 stars
Quite a fever dream, a whirlwind of ideas and interesting juxtapositions, feels a little frenzy and unfocused as a whole.
Pineapple: 5 stars
Exploring being comfortable in one's skin in a literal sense—has some very unsettling scenes that give me goosebumps.
Next to Cleanliness: 4 stars
Still really good, but feels like a remix of elements already seen in some of the previous stories. At this point the impact is not hitting as hard.
Notes on Performance: 3.5 stars
An interesting reversal focusing on the 'non-final' girls in a slasher, but could've gone much deeper.
Eggshells: 4 stars
A very outlandish, fascinating premise, it's more vibe than plot, but I really enjoyed it.
The Test: 3.75 stars
Really like the fairy tale elements (vastly different from all the previous stories), the ending is a little strange and inconclusive.
The Vegetable: 4 stars
Similar to my reaction to Eggshells, containing a very memorable key visual, but the narrative surrounding it emphasizes more on vibe than plot.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
David Cronenberg + Junji Ito, Oddbody is a potent collection of short stories observing the female experience in today's society (relationship, sex, beauty standard, etc), through the wonderfully grotesque imagination of Rose Keating. Thoughtfully written with intense frankness, this might not be suitable for the faint of heart, as the stories and description involve a lot of body distortion, violence, and very detailed, textural description of unearthly things. (the cover art is beautiful and peculiar, but how this 'thing' actually shows up in its story is much more monstrous and unsettling.)
My only small gripe is the overall curation; there's a bit of redundancy with some of the stories featuring very similar characters and scenarios—it's as if the author has written versions of the same story, and simply put all the iterations here to beef up the page count. Still, overall this is an excellent introduction to a new-to-me author, and definitely a fresh literary voice I will keep my eye on in the future. Personal favorites from the collection: Oddbody, Squirm, Pineapple.
- - -
Oddbody: 4.5 stars
A great opener, a dark comedy about a woman and her 'third wheel' ghost. Very candid and readable. It can easily be interpreted metaphorically.
Squirm: 5 stars
This is some Junji Ito level weirdness and I love it!
Mouthful: 4 stars
Kirby comes to mind! Another enjoyable, visceral read, if very short and ends rather abruptly.
Bela Lugosi Isn't Dead: 3.75 stars
Quite a fever dream, a whirlwind of ideas and interesting juxtapositions, feels a little frenzy and unfocused as a whole.
Pineapple: 5 stars
Exploring being comfortable in one's skin in a literal sense—has some very unsettling scenes that give me goosebumps.
Next to Cleanliness: 4 stars
Still really good, but feels like a remix of elements already seen in some of the previous stories. At this point the impact is not hitting as hard.
Notes on Performance: 3.5 stars
An interesting reversal focusing on the 'non-final' girls in a slasher, but could've gone much deeper.
Eggshells: 4 stars
A very outlandish, fascinating premise, it's more vibe than plot, but I really enjoyed it.
The Test: 3.75 stars
Really like the fairy tale elements (vastly different from all the previous stories), the ending is a little strange and inconclusive.
The Vegetable: 4 stars
Similar to my reaction to Eggshells, containing a very memorable key visual, but the narrative surrounding it emphasizes more on vibe than plot.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
February 3, 2026
Surreal short stories, loosely themed around voluntary and involuntary transformations of the body. After the generally unsettling vibe of the first three, I approached the rest tentatively, like poking a stick into dirt not sure what's under there...
Keating is great at ramping up her tales but struggles with how to resolve them. You can strain yourself to assign metaphors to the weirdness or (like me) you can respond to the abrupt endings with an “Oh, ok.”
The standout stories are: Oddbody and Pineapple. Couldn’t find a solid entry point to relate to many of these, but you might! There’s no harm in reading strange for strange’s sake.
Keating is great at ramping up her tales but struggles with how to resolve them. You can strain yourself to assign metaphors to the weirdness or (like me) you can respond to the abrupt endings with an “Oh, ok.”
The standout stories are: Oddbody and Pineapple. Couldn’t find a solid entry point to relate to many of these, but you might! There’s no harm in reading strange for strange’s sake.
July 4, 2025
“oddbody” definitely lives up to its advertising of portraying the “weirdness of bodies.” this short story collection follows a wide variety of strange characters in modern-esque worlds that are always, somehow, slightly off. from a daughter taking care of her father who has literally turned into a worm to a woman harvesting sheep trees, these stories are bizarre and grotesque.
unfortunately, i don’t think these were for me, and that’s ok! i found some of the horror elements and descriptions to be a little too visceral for my liking and occasionally seemed utilized more for shock value than for storytelling. while i appreciated that every story contained some sort of real-world commentary (on mental illness, plastic surgery/body modification, the entertainment industry, and the patriarchy, to name a few themes) i felt that the messages were either very heavy-handed or otherwise were a little too ambiguous. it’s nice in literature to have room for interpretation, but i’d just like to know the point of some of these stories.
some stories had very little depth to the characters, and by the time we got to know them (if at all), the story was over. and, being the type of reader i am, my favorite stories are ones where i get to know a character, learn how they view the world and why, and see some sort of change in them (for better or for worse) or even connect with them on some level. and i know some will say, it’s a SHORT story, they’re intended to be short—to which i would say i have read other short story collections that have allowed the reader to build connections with the characters, sometimes in even fewer pages!
i found that some of my favorite stories were the longer ones in this collection, where i could bond with the characters to some degree (e.g.: “oddbody,” “squirm,” “next to cleanliness”).
credit where credit is due, keating is clearly a talented writer. at a craft level, she knows how to tell a compelling story and the fact that, as i mentioned earlier, some of her descriptions gave me visceral reactions, is a testament to her writing capabilities. some of these stories were fascinating, even if i didn’t particularly enjoy them or struggled to understand the deeper meaning. if keating were to write a novel one day, i’d be very interested to read it. i think this collection would be perfect for fans of the grittier, grosser sides of the weird-girl fiction genre, like fans of eliza clarke, ottessa moshfegh, and the like. “oddbody” just wasn’t totally my vibe, and that’s ok.
thank you to simon and schuster for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
unfortunately, i don’t think these were for me, and that’s ok! i found some of the horror elements and descriptions to be a little too visceral for my liking and occasionally seemed utilized more for shock value than for storytelling. while i appreciated that every story contained some sort of real-world commentary (on mental illness, plastic surgery/body modification, the entertainment industry, and the patriarchy, to name a few themes) i felt that the messages were either very heavy-handed or otherwise were a little too ambiguous. it’s nice in literature to have room for interpretation, but i’d just like to know the point of some of these stories.
some stories had very little depth to the characters, and by the time we got to know them (if at all), the story was over. and, being the type of reader i am, my favorite stories are ones where i get to know a character, learn how they view the world and why, and see some sort of change in them (for better or for worse) or even connect with them on some level. and i know some will say, it’s a SHORT story, they’re intended to be short—to which i would say i have read other short story collections that have allowed the reader to build connections with the characters, sometimes in even fewer pages!
i found that some of my favorite stories were the longer ones in this collection, where i could bond with the characters to some degree (e.g.: “oddbody,” “squirm,” “next to cleanliness”).
credit where credit is due, keating is clearly a talented writer. at a craft level, she knows how to tell a compelling story and the fact that, as i mentioned earlier, some of her descriptions gave me visceral reactions, is a testament to her writing capabilities. some of these stories were fascinating, even if i didn’t particularly enjoy them or struggled to understand the deeper meaning. if keating were to write a novel one day, i’d be very interested to read it. i think this collection would be perfect for fans of the grittier, grosser sides of the weird-girl fiction genre, like fans of eliza clarke, ottessa moshfegh, and the like. “oddbody” just wasn’t totally my vibe, and that’s ok.
thank you to simon and schuster for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
November 15, 2025
Very enjoyable collection. Not sure if I can add to Alwynne's usual thoughtful and detailed review.
Standouts were the (opening) title story, "Squirm" (eewww), "Pineapple" (one of very few short stories where I think the verbosity is justified, and the detailed descriptions of art practice didn't annoy me), "Notes on Performance", and the final "The Vegetable"; pretty good bookends for the collection, eh?
More notes:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
[3.5 stars, rounded down a little harshly]
Standouts were the (opening) title story, "Squirm" (eewww), "Pineapple" (one of very few short stories where I think the verbosity is justified, and the detailed descriptions of art practice didn't annoy me), "Notes on Performance", and the final "The Vegetable"; pretty good bookends for the collection, eh?
More notes:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
[3.5 stars, rounded down a little harshly]
April 19, 2025
So weird, so odd, so transfixed.
This collection of short stories is EXACTLY the kind of weird I search for.
To comprehend some of them, just be sure to take any concepts of our current reality out of your brain. 🧠
One story really brought a new outlook to the saying “would you love me if I was a worm?”🪱 That was hands down my fav. My only complaint w the book was I just wanted MORE stories. Hoping for a second one in the future.
Thank you NetGalley, publishers, and author for this ARC read!
This collection of short stories is EXACTLY the kind of weird I search for.
To comprehend some of them, just be sure to take any concepts of our current reality out of your brain. 🧠
One story really brought a new outlook to the saying “would you love me if I was a worm?”🪱 That was hands down my fav. My only complaint w the book was I just wanted MORE stories. Hoping for a second one in the future.
Thank you NetGalley, publishers, and author for this ARC read!
June 29, 2025
arc!
So weird and weirdly good! More complete review soon.
So weird and weirdly good! More complete review soon.
July 24, 2025
Um, no, yeah, I love spending time on books that are just not good, totally.
First of all, the writing style. I get that this is a debut, but if I had to go through 10 more pages of "She stood. She sat. She twirled." I would be ending my reading career. Short sentences with little detail play a role, when they are used correctly. When they are used all the time because "everything just moves so quick" the story becomes a list and that's not a compliment.
You can go on and on about the feminist message of the book and all of the metaphors, but that doesn't matter even a little bit, when we are presented with the same story over and over again, where a woman experiences body horror, is straight forward with a man and he leaves her. Like, I love chocolate covered candy, but when I buy a variety box, I would prefer to see some variety.
This wasn't written well and I hope that the author continues to grow with their writing style in future works.
First of all, the writing style. I get that this is a debut, but if I had to go through 10 more pages of "She stood. She sat. She twirled." I would be ending my reading career. Short sentences with little detail play a role, when they are used correctly. When they are used all the time because "everything just moves so quick" the story becomes a list and that's not a compliment.
You can go on and on about the feminist message of the book and all of the metaphors, but that doesn't matter even a little bit, when we are presented with the same story over and over again, where a woman experiences body horror, is straight forward with a man and he leaves her. Like, I love chocolate covered candy, but when I buy a variety box, I would prefer to see some variety.
This wasn't written well and I hope that the author continues to grow with their writing style in future works.
June 4, 2025
I am in awe of Rose Keating's debut. This short story collection sheds light on the intricacies and complex feelings of what it means to have a body perceived, a body enjoyed, and a body disgusted. I found this work to be playful at times, and mesmerizingly painful in others. These various worlds that Keating drops us into has me pondering their themes and meanings long after the stories finish. If you’re interested in diversifying your genre tastes and want to immerse yourself in something entirely new and creative, pick this book up!
January 4, 2026
[edit, 1/3/2026:] okay I’ve thought about this book constantly since I read it. And have talked about it with a friend who I made read it. Oddbody was definitely one of my favorites of 2025 (and probably would have been top if I hadn’t read the Earthsea cycle then) and deserves a 5 star from me. The horror elements and ideas and language have stuck with me.
[edit, Thoughts Update:] Keeping this at a 4 star but it’s an enthusiastic 4. I like horror elements in stories but don’t usually read full-on horror (or at least the kind of squirmy body stuff in this) so I can’t decide if I like or LOVE this book, y’know?
All of these stories felt like anxiety dreams to me. They were absurd, even funny, but disturbing and true and deeply emotional. The absurd or un-reality elements (usually about bodies) are treated as assumed and mundane. Instead, the women narrators’ struggle or inability to handle these elements is what often invites judgment from others. One’s own body is disgusting, beautiful, fluid, full of fluids, changeable, shamed, shameless, endlessly hungry, on open display, hidden.
My favorite stories were “Oddbody,” “Next to Cleanliness,” “Eggshells,” and “The Test.”
The most disturbing stories for me (so I can’t tell if I loved them or hated them) were “Squirm” and “The Vegetable.”
…
[Story synopses:]
🪡“Oddbody” - second person POV of a woman who is haunted by a ghost while struggling with body issues.
🪡“Squirm” - a twenty-something woman lives at home and takes care of her dad, who has turned into a large worm.
🪡“Mouthful” - a woman starts eating everything, to her own distress.
🪡“Bela Lugosi Isn’t Dead” - a young girl is haunted by the reality-warping apparition of Bela Lugosi as his Dracula persona.
🪡“Pineapple” - a woman experiments with body modifications while navigating self esteem and her romantic relationship.
🪡“Next to Cleanliness” - a woman undergoes strange and reality bending “cleanses.”
🪡“Noted on Performance” - an 18 yo girl is cast as a “dead girl” when she auditions for a final girl part, with meta commentary throughout the story.
🪡“Eggshells” - a woman navigates laying eggs every day that are influenced by her state of mind.
🪡“The Test” - a teenage girl participates in a competition to pick the fairy king’s new bride.
🪡“The Vegetable” - a young woman encounters a man living in a camper next to her farm of living sheep-plants - but which one of them is threatening the other?
…
[July 17th, original post:]
This short story collection of “weird girl” horror fiction was a fun book to finish on the plane while feeling jet lagged, sick, and like I want to bite everyone’s heads off.
Giving this one a 4 star for now but might change my mind later if I want to up it to 5. I gotta chew on these stories (ha ha get it theyre about bodies and eating and stuff ok I’ll let myself out). Will describe and share thoughts on each story later.
[edit, Thoughts Update:] Keeping this at a 4 star but it’s an enthusiastic 4. I like horror elements in stories but don’t usually read full-on horror (or at least the kind of squirmy body stuff in this) so I can’t decide if I like or LOVE this book, y’know?
All of these stories felt like anxiety dreams to me. They were absurd, even funny, but disturbing and true and deeply emotional. The absurd or un-reality elements (usually about bodies) are treated as assumed and mundane. Instead, the women narrators’ struggle or inability to handle these elements is what often invites judgment from others. One’s own body is disgusting, beautiful, fluid, full of fluids, changeable, shamed, shameless, endlessly hungry, on open display, hidden.
My favorite stories were “Oddbody,” “Next to Cleanliness,” “Eggshells,” and “The Test.”
The most disturbing stories for me (so I can’t tell if I loved them or hated them) were “Squirm” and “The Vegetable.”
…
[Story synopses:]
🪡“Oddbody” - second person POV of a woman who is haunted by a ghost while struggling with body issues.
🪡“Squirm” - a twenty-something woman lives at home and takes care of her dad, who has turned into a large worm.
🪡“Mouthful” - a woman starts eating everything, to her own distress.
🪡“Bela Lugosi Isn’t Dead” - a young girl is haunted by the reality-warping apparition of Bela Lugosi as his Dracula persona.
🪡“Pineapple” - a woman experiments with body modifications while navigating self esteem and her romantic relationship.
🪡“Next to Cleanliness” - a woman undergoes strange and reality bending “cleanses.”
🪡“Noted on Performance” - an 18 yo girl is cast as a “dead girl” when she auditions for a final girl part, with meta commentary throughout the story.
🪡“Eggshells” - a woman navigates laying eggs every day that are influenced by her state of mind.
🪡“The Test” - a teenage girl participates in a competition to pick the fairy king’s new bride.
🪡“The Vegetable” - a young woman encounters a man living in a camper next to her farm of living sheep-plants - but which one of them is threatening the other?
…
[July 17th, original post:]
This short story collection of “weird girl” horror fiction was a fun book to finish on the plane while feeling jet lagged, sick, and like I want to bite everyone’s heads off.
Giving this one a 4 star for now but might change my mind later if I want to up it to 5. I gotta chew on these stories (ha ha get it theyre about bodies and eating and stuff ok I’ll let myself out). Will describe and share thoughts on each story later.
Read
July 15, 2025The body keeps the score. This one also keeps mucous, ghosts, and eggs.
3.25⭐️
3.25⭐️
July 14, 2025
3.5 stars It’s always tricky reviewing short story collections—some stories inevitably resonate more than others. Unfortunately, in this case, I only really connected with two pieces out of the entire collection.
One standout for me was Squirm. I genuinely wish it had been developed into a full novel. It gave off strong “Would you still love me if I was a worm?” energy—and for the record, no, I would not. But I was hooked by the tone, the strangeness, and the sense of underlying dread. It had so much potential to go deeper.
The writing across the collection was solid—sharp, smart, and clearly promising. That said, I think I would have appreciated this debut more if it had been a full-length novel. A longer format might’ve given me the chance to really sink into one character, one arc, one emotional payoff. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for future work from this author, but this one just didn’t quite hit for me overall.
One standout for me was Squirm. I genuinely wish it had been developed into a full novel. It gave off strong “Would you still love me if I was a worm?” energy—and for the record, no, I would not. But I was hooked by the tone, the strangeness, and the sense of underlying dread. It had so much potential to go deeper.
The writing across the collection was solid—sharp, smart, and clearly promising. That said, I think I would have appreciated this debut more if it had been a full-length novel. A longer format might’ve given me the chance to really sink into one character, one arc, one emotional payoff. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for future work from this author, but this one just didn’t quite hit for me overall.
April 3, 2025
This story collection was certainly “odd”. The stories contained in this collection were all very strange, but they were strange enough to keep me reading without being too weird. But, the stories all just seemed to lack a conclusion. On some of these, it’s almost as if the author just stopped writing and I had no idea where the stories were going. I really liked the fantasctial world where some of these stoires took place becasue they were so strange (sheep growing on stalks like corn: very interesting), but I just wish the author did more with the worlds and build stronger stories around them. Not a win for me at least.
October 4, 2025
yeah, freaky. not sure i understood it all though lol I also fear 10 stories was maybe too much.
*3.5 i guess
*3.5 i guess
November 29, 2025
Very unique stories, I just wanted more from them. They all felt like they stopped too abruptly. TW for animal abuse in chapters three and ten.
May 4, 2025
Thank you so much to Canongate for the ARC!
4.5
WOW!
First off I have to just say if you like Weird girl lit, this is for you!
This collection was one of my most anticipated reads and I was so happy to be able to get an arc and I was expecting to enjoy this BUT not the way that I ended up.
The first short story, I'm sorry but I just have to go on about how that was just absolute perfection for me. I sobbed. I full on began to sob while reading it. It hit close to home, may not to some but as a reader and reading something that felt so SO close and personal was so jarring and just raw that I was destroyed by it and loved every seconds loooool
each story holds it own horror to it. With it being literally something horrific happening like physically, emotionally, or mentally. We also see a lot of things that are pressed onto women in society.
Another story I loved was Notes on Performance - sooooo much I could go on about the dynamics of how women vs men are treated within that story. UGH YES!
Surreal to the max and just such a wonderful collection! wow!
4.5
WOW!
First off I have to just say if you like Weird girl lit, this is for you!
This collection was one of my most anticipated reads and I was so happy to be able to get an arc and I was expecting to enjoy this BUT not the way that I ended up.
The first short story, I'm sorry but I just have to go on about how that was just absolute perfection for me. I sobbed. I full on began to sob while reading it. It hit close to home, may not to some but as a reader and reading something that felt so SO close and personal was so jarring and just raw that I was destroyed by it and loved every seconds loooool
each story holds it own horror to it. With it being literally something horrific happening like physically, emotionally, or mentally. We also see a lot of things that are pressed onto women in society.
Another story I loved was Notes on Performance - sooooo much I could go on about the dynamics of how women vs men are treated within that story. UGH YES!
Surreal to the max and just such a wonderful collection! wow!
February 10, 2026
a very surrealistic and dark set of short stories; the titular short story, 'oddbody,' is definitely my favorite for the way it feels and speaks to all levels of human feeling and consciousness, but i did also love 'squirm' for its unapologetic, unhinged nature and the strangeness made into normalcy, with a hint of loneliness burrowed at its center. i enjoyed 'mouthful' and 'notes on performance' for the way the author so perfectly describes the inner workings and hesitations of the inner mind. truly a great short story set!
August 19, 2025
I have to say that the story "Squirm" grabbed a hold of me and wouldn't let go. I really couldn't get into the other stories in the book because that one, got under my skin. My dad? He was definitely a worm.
The other story that I resonated with was "Notes on a Performance" where her struggles mirrored mine with my cancer treatment. The feeling of being ripped apart and sewing yourself together is something I relate to on the daily.
This has bizzaro fiction wrapped all around it. These worlds the author builds, you believe them even if they aren't the same as the world we know.
The other story that I resonated with was "Notes on a Performance" where her struggles mirrored mine with my cancer treatment. The feeling of being ripped apart and sewing yourself together is something I relate to on the daily.
This has bizzaro fiction wrapped all around it. These worlds the author builds, you believe them even if they aren't the same as the world we know.
December 1, 2025
Disgusting and wonderful.
December 5, 2025
What a fresh breeze this book was. Full of quirky surprises. I truly enjoyed the short stories.
August 4, 2025
Sometimes terrifying, often painful, and consistently weird. A very human collection, that leaves me feeling known above all else. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the chance to read Rose Keating’s works. They’ll stick with me.
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