Animals at Night

by Naomi Booth

A woman feeding a baby late at night listens to the animal sounds in the city around her. A grieving widow encounters an injured jellyfish on a deserted beach. A young woman can’t shake the image of dying hare she finds at the side of the road. A dairy farmer hears her herd bellow with fear at night.

Animals at Night is Naomi Booth’s first collection of short stories. Collected here are stories that illuminate the strange nocturnal meetings between humans and other animals.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Horror, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction, Short Story Collection

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2022

About the author

Naomi Booth is a writer and academic. Her fiction tends to explore unsettling landscapes, strange compulsions, dangerous bodies and contamination. Her short fiction has been longlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, the Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize, and included in Best British Short Stories 2019. Her story Sour Hall was adapted into an audio drama by Audible.

Reviews

[Sophy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good collection of short stories by Naomi Booth, some of which (Clean Work and Sour Hall) I remembered I've read before in different anthologies.

There is a recurring theme of motherhood emerging through these stories and which as a 47 year old childless antinatalist, I thought would really put me off, but it works well in the hands of Booth.

The author manages to really convey atmosphere in just a few pages, I really got a visceral sense of night time, earthiness and fatigue from these stories.

My favourites and stand outs are Clean Work, Transcendent Inadequacies, The chrysalides, Intermittent Visual Disturbances and Sour Hall.

A very powerful collection.

3.5 stars

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always find it hard to review short story collections. There are always stories that I prefer, and some I'm not as fond off. This collection is one of the best I've read (unfortunately not a big list to begin with).

My favourite stories are Cluster, Forever Chemicals, Animals at Night, Plausible Objects, The Chrysalides and Lovebirds.

I really appreciated how unapologetically unique this collection is, and how distinctive Naomi's voice is, the parallels between animals and humans and the themes of mothering and relationships.

I also had the pleasure of attending a book club where Naomi was in attendance. It was so fantastic to speak to other readers, compare favourite stores and listen to Naomi explain her thought process and how she writes her novels and short fiction. An amazing author! can't wait to read more of her work!

[küb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naomi Booth’un 14 öykülük Gece Hayvanları kitabına bayıldım. Uzun zamandır bu kadar çok öyküsünü sevdiğim bir kitap olmamasından da olabilir; bir önceki öykü kitabını hiç sevmemiş olmam sebebiyle de olabilir. Her öykü için kendine has, derinlikli ve aslında yeterli uzunlukta diyebilirim. 14 öyküden sadece 1 öykü bana yetersiz geldi. Yabancılar ve Küme öykülerini çok sevdim. Gece Hayvanları, Bana Neyi Sevdiğini Söyle, Aşkın Yetersizlikleri, Ayık Günler öykülerini sevdim.

[Chloe B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read quite a few strange short story collections this year and this is my favourite so far. if I had known that motherhood was such a strong theme throughout, I might not have read it. but I'm glad that I did because Naomi Booth writes beautifully, and each story is as interesting as the next.

[belisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

güzel öyküler ama sanırım beklentim fazlaydı, çok da ilginç gelmedi

[Han Preston · Rating 5 out of 5]

In typical Naomi Booth style, these stories are equally beautiful and disturbing. My favourites are: Cluster, Sour Hall, Forever chemicals, Transcendent inadequacies and Animals at Night.

[S.J. Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely good

[Dave Musson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first time reading Naomi Booth after having her on my list for ages and this did not disappoint!

This was a quite brilliant collection of short stories that contained some of the best writing about grief, about loss, about womanhood and about being a mother that I’ve read in a long time. I found so much of this equal parts charming and haunting - from the front cover all the way through the stories and out the other side.

While I enjoyed everything in this book, here were my standouts:

Strangers: a very moving and haunting piece about a woman taking her mum’s body on a final tour before giving her a natural burial. Musing on ageing, on change, and on loss.

Cluster: a beautiful bit of pondering bound by the image of a new mother up all night feeding her baby, while watching a mixture of interesting and dark things. Some wonderful reflections on what motherhood does to you.

Animals at Night: the stressful interior of a mother’s head - things she didn’t notice like the hard floor, husband holding toddler’s hands up while she walks despite being asked not to. Argh, the hare description! “She feels, in every wonderful moment, that they are teetering on the brink of something terrible.” Excellent

Plausible objects: random, tiny, funny

Tell me what you like: another musing on grief, and the contradictions of being a human who survives losing another

Clean work: dealing with pests, unnerving, maddening

Transcendent inadequacies: featuring a youngest child like my own - biting, bright Angel! A darkly funny tale of haves and have nots, of class, and of sticking it to snobby piano twats

Days clean: a slice of life of someone trying to stay sober. Mundanely beautiful, punctured with a grizzly description of a cat gnawing its own tail off

The chrysalides: a beautiful pandemic story about butterflies, and life.

The mouth of vault: mostly weird and a little annoying before a dark ending. Clever.

Intermittent visual disturbances: reflective, meditative, sad little short but with a positive note to finish

Sour Hall: “It is bright and dark at the same time Like the light in a man’s eyes the moment before he turns on you”
The description of losing baby on p178 was all kinds of holy shit. Dark, bleak, powerful and hopeful.

Highly, highly, highly recommended. It’s literary, it’s beautiful and, in its darker moments, it is horrific too. I will absolutely be checking out more Naomi Booth in the future!

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for a more disturbing read. A lot of stories revolved around motherhood which doesn’t really appeal to me. It wasn’t bad but it just won’t stick with me.

[Enna Tomlinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Went for something different, so this might explain why I struggled to get into this at first. Some stories were great, others dragged a little. 3.5 ⭐️

[Massimo Cherrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

[Sara Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stories I really loved, and two more that I liked. The rest were well written but didn't really grab me. My top three are:
1. Transcendent Inadequacies
2. The Mouth of Vault
3. Sour Hall

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up

Some good stories, some average, and some that weren’t to my personal taste. I think I’ll stick to Booth’s novels in the future.

[J H · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bizarre and eclectic insight into strange little lives

[Chris Deeks · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something objectively brilliant and captivating about Naomi Booth’s use of language. She has a singularly compelling voice, and it is just as strong in this short story collection as it is in her novels.

Collecting 14 stories together, ‘Animals at Night’ has a thematic core at the heart of its stories, nocturnal interactions between animals and humans. Around this core swirl examinations of the beauty of nature and the ugliness of life, the experience of being a daughter and a mother, grief and loss.

It’s an author using the short story form to flex and grow. Yet it is identifiably Booth’s voice here. There are dark, clotting, things, things with wounds and obtrusive thoughts. She is unflinching in her approach, creating something real and beautiful.

This is one of my favourite authors, I’ll always be happy with some of Naomi Booth’s work in my hands, and ‘Animals at Night’ is no exception. If you are new to her work, this would be a great starting point.

Particular stand outs (but they are all good):
Transcendent Inadequacies
The Mouth of Vault
Sour Hall

[Nell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't quite sure what to expect but was intrigued by the summary. Animals and the night were prominent features but didn't appear in all of the stories. Overall a nicely written and thoughtful collection exploring the dualities of motherhood, loneliness and grief. The wild northern settings adding additional gothic textures. Really enjoyed getting lost in each of these offerings.

[Runalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning set of night time set short fiction tales exploring the secret world and lives people have when the sun sets. Surprising, unusual and powerful - a writer I will be looking out for

Full review https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Juliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I didn't know, back then, that some things accumulate in the body forever: first love and polyfluoroalkyl substances.” Animals at Night, a short story collection by Naomi Booth, came out on my birthday last year (I’m catching up!) and I’m mad at myself for denying myself its excellence for so long. So many of the stories are so memorable: ‘Forever chemicals’, which is quoted above; ‘Cluster’, which unfolds in the second person, and involves a woman who cares for a young child while processing her own trauma; the haunting soundscape of a rat infestation in ‘Clean work’; and the dark hilarity of ‘The mouth of vault’, which begins “I hooked up with Death at the Christmas Market.” Some of the pieces are powerfully short: ‘Plausible objects’, barely even two pages; ‘Lovebirds’, barely over two pages (ditto ‘Intermittent visual disturbances’). And many of the stories have vividly striking endings: ‘Tell me what you like’; ‘Transcendent inadequacies’; the final story in the book, ‘Sour Hall’. I liked the title story, a grim friends holiday amongst new-ish parents, who encounter a grievously harmed hare. “What can Ayesha say? That she feels, in every wonderful moment, that they are teetering on the brink of something terrible. That the way she loves Sofia is a kind of catastrophe. Does that mean that something is wrong with her?” And I loved the opening story, ‘Strangers’, where a woman takes it upon herself to manage a funeral procession and burial for her dead mother: “Everyone I had loved was becoming a stranger.” “The light is just beginning. The sky is splitting open above the hills, the night torn through with gold.”

[A W · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman takes the body of her dead mother on a macabre farewell tour prior to carrying out a DIY burial, the owners of a dairy farm encounter an ancient curse, and a young woman is haunted by the sight of a dead hare she sees lying at the roadside.
Anyone worried about the health of the short story as a literary form need only read this collection to be reassured that it is fighting fit. Booth, already the author of three acclaimed novels, has crafted a set of tales that demonstrate empathy, imagination, and a knack for unsettling her readers.
Booth writes about a world that is recognizably the one we occupy, but that has been tilted out of kilter somehow. A place where the mundane and the weird rub uncomfortably together inhabited by people who have been pushed to the margins of their own lives.
On the strength of this collection of stories and her novels, Naomi Booth shows the potential to become one of the most powerful and original voices in contemporary British fiction.

[Bridey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cannot reiterate enough just how much I love an anthology / collection of small stories, especially when it comes to horror but I did find myself struggling to get through this as quick as I thought I would. However the nature of an anthology means that there is bound to be at least one thing that anyone who reads this can find and enjoy.
That being said, I did quite enjoy the extent of topics covered, from the ambient night-to-night of fresh motherhood to some of the more visceral tales. Booth truly has a way with words that is so cutting, vivid and illustrative.
I'm honestly surprised this isn't included in more 'weird girl book' recommendations because it it so in that vein without being so surface-level.

[Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most short story collections, some stories are better than others. Naomi Booth's writing style is emotive, intense and unusual, and takes a while to get used to. Sadly, I was underwhelmed by this book - most stories don't have much of a plot, and are more about humans doing human things and nothing to do with connecting with animals. Most of the animal encounters are very brief, and don't have much significance to the stories. This is more lit fic than anything else.

My personal favourite stories (in order) were:

1. Forever Chemicals
2. Transcendent Inadequacies
3. Plausible Objects

The rest of them were a bit "meh".

[lou !! · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always difficult to rate a short story collection but I really enjoyed this one. The writing is beautiful and vivid. The characters are intriguing. The emotion evoked - ache, humour, and horror - is impressive for how short these stories are. My only critique was that I feel as though some of these stories (especially in the first half of this collection) had some very repetitive themes. Had the collection been marketed as an exploration into the theme of new motherhood, it wouldn't have been as jarring, but, as it wasn't, one or two stories felt redundant. Aside from that, I loved this and will be looking into more of Booth's work!


As always, my favourite stories were: 'Animals at night', 'Transcendant inadequacies', 'The chrysalides', and 'Sour Hall'. 'Forever Chemicals' also stuck with me.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these stories. They all felt relatable in their writing style, even where the subjects were outside of my experience. I enjoyed the theme of motherhood which flowed through a few of the stories. I could probably write more but my brain is a bit fractured from many work related travels!

[Tim Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

The scenario is usually established early. Mothers are common. Men don't come out of it well. There's often a key theme with a related symbol that returns at the end. I liked "Strangers" most. Changes in characters are usually represented by some event - which is why my descriptions are rather long on http://litrefsreviews.blogspot.com/20...

[Annette Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable collection of short stories about women and their relationships (in the widest sense) all set in and around Yorkshire and involving animals in one way or another. Birth, life, death, it's all in there and is often quite unsettling.

[Antonia Elliston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading these on my way to work or on my lunch break because the stories are small yet captivating. I just don’t think short stories are my sort of thing but this was still an interesting read

[liv]

the cover intrigued me at waterstones and since then i can’t stop thinking about it, why am i responsible with money? why didn’t i just get it?

[Rachael Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant- my first Naomi Booth book or collection and it won’t be my last

[fran ☻ · Rating 4 out of 5]

a super unique collection of borderline unsettling stories that i absolutely consumed. naomi booth’s other books will be on my list to read!

[ellie · Rating 2 out of 5]

not into short stories. i like the hare