Pet

by Kathryn van Beek

Pet is a dark and humorous short story collection that explores our relationships with children, lovers, and other animals. In these 18 stories we meet a girl in a standoff with the neighbourhood goose killer, a druggy who turns possums into pop culture icons, and an emotional support animal gone wild.

“Hectic, chatty, very modern New Zealand, very, very readable.”
—Steve Braunias

“These beautifully crafted stories about humans and their animals and animals and their humans are sharp, taut, brilliantly written exposés of our untamed behaviour to each other. Kathryn’s writing is intense and merciless but totally entertaining and gripping from start to finish.”
—Stuart Hoar

Paperback

Published August 1, 2020

Reviews

[Sana Tariq · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple of engaging and interesting short stories in there. Otherwise, the rest of the short stories are really boring. Like a chore to read.

[Ineka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathryn van Beek is another of these multi-talented wāhine we are so lucky to have in abundance in Aotearoa New Zealand – writer, illustrator, playwright, actress, zine creator, the list goes on... This is van Beek’s first short story collection but she’s not new to the game – she's won many awards for her stories over the years.

17 in total: super-readable, short and sharp. Some feature pets and animals, but we also hear about lovers, children (both born and unborn), fans and followers, and the fickle nature of fate and fortune. Many funny tales, some with a shady twist, and some just plain dark - some pets, both animal and human, suffer cruel fates.

Well-structured with completely believable worlds and characters in each - I’m super-nosy and curious about people, and in a world where we're always checking out people's lives online - great short stories like those in 'Pet' are the literary equivalent of having a sneaky little look and lurk under the surface.

I‘ll just touch on two that are set in Tāmaki Makaurau: 'The Lucky Numbers' features a gig in Leigh Sawmill by a band who were so hot back in the day, and are now nervously touring their new album on the regional pub circuit, hoping for a second wind and a spot on a winery tour. I got a real nostalgia hit off this story – I spent a lot of time dancing next to the speakers to bands like the fictional Lucky Numbers. Another, 'The Fishhook' is set in Western Springs Park in a not-so distant future, following two young women who band together at a time when food and resources are scarce and society is starting to fray badly at the edges.

Check Pet out post-haste, along with the Pet podcast where each story is read by a different narrator - this is hosted on the website of Dunedin’s Oar FM.