#claire oshetsky

[mythologyofblue]

Even in the most terrible chapters of my life, I’ve always known a certain savage beauty.

-Claire Oshetsky

[llovelymoonn]

claire oshetsky chouette

kofi

[exhaled-spirals]

— Claire Oshetsky, Chouette

[starencrustedtinfoil]

oh yea, i read chouette a couple of months ago. i didn't mind it, but it was. i dunno, it was strange. outside of literally being surrealist, im not sure what the message was about Chouette.

the story is about Tiny, the mother, yea? I can't help but wonder about Chouette, though. I'm not so sure I like how she's treated as anathema to all things "civilized", like there's no way for an autistic child to exist in the world.

that is the point, though, isn't it? maybe.

i want to crawl into the story, though. there's something so. entrancing about it, isn't there?

chouette isn't the only wild critter, her mother is too. Tiny is as much owl as her Owl-Lover, as her owl-daughter. She just happens to have been able to "civilize" herself. more like the dog-people. there is no world where they can be themselves and be safe. no world where you can remain who you are.

maybe that's what kills me. maybe i wish there was a world where chouette would be alright to be

[litandroses]

Very late post but here are my favorite reads of 2024 🫶

(* = reread)

[godzilla-reads]

✨ New Books ✨

[alexsfictionaddiction]

Review: Chouette by Claire Oshetsky

I’m not sure what made me request this book but the synopsis promised a very strange, unsettling read and as I’m sure you know by now, there are few things I love more on long, dark nights.

Tiny is a pregnant cellist and her husband is thrilled with the news but he doesn’t know that the baby isn’t his. This baby belongs to Tiny’s owl-lover and she is pregnant with an owl-baby. When the baby is born, she is small and broken. Tiny is left to care for her unique daughter, who she names Chouette, and she is determined to nourish and celebrate her baby’s true self. But Chouette has a penchant for violence and disturbing behaviour and Tiny’s husband is determined to find a ‘cure’ for his daughter. Can Tiny come round to his way of thinking or will she continue allowing her daughter to embrace her owlish identity?

The very first page let me know that this was going to be a very strange, memorable read. Both the magical realism and the queer elements are introduced straightaway and I spent the rest of the book trying to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. I was sure that the whole thing was a metaphor for something and I had a great time figuring that out.

Tiny doesn’t fit in with her husband’s family and this only intensifies when Chouette comes along. There is a lot of bird imagery throughout the book but her mother-in-law rescues injured birds, so it is very strong in these scenes. I wasn’t exactly sure of the particular significance of this but perhaps it alludes to the suggestion that even amongst other broken birds, neither Tiny nor Chouette belong. 

Of course, the overriding theme of the book is motherhood and its impact on the woman its bestowed upon. Tiny talks about the pain and stress that comes with raising a child like Chouette while maintaining how in love she is with her daughter. I know that this is exactly how so many mothers feel, even those who aren’t raising a child with challenging behaviour. Caring for a newborn is all-consuming and can completely reshape the mother’s life, which is exactly what Chouette is all about.

Tiny and her husband’s main source of conflict is over how to raise Chouette. Tiny wants to fully embrace her innate animal instincts while her husband is desperate for a ‘normal’ child. This was a really interesting argument to follow because I could see the merit in both sides. When you see how destructive Chouette can be, it’s obvious why her father would want to stop that but of course, everyone should be able to express who they naturally are. Again, I wasn’t sure exactly what Chouette really was -whether she was literally part owl or whether she’s severely disabled- so it was hard to decide which side of the debate I fell on.

Towards the end, the book gets quite philosophical and perhaps it always was but this is where it becomes most clear. The nature vs nurture questions are thrown around and explored in Tiny’s troubled mind and it makes for some interesting thinking. The ending is a satisfying one albeit heartbreaking for Tiny. However, I felt that she had come a long way since she fell pregnant and I had hope for her beyond the pages of her life that I got.

Chouette is a very visceral, haunting and disturbing read that I won’t be forgetting in a hurry. The writing is quite lyrical and the descriptions flip between incredibly graphic and ambiguous, so it felt like a light was flickering the whole time I was reading. I was kept in the dark enough to form my own opinions but was also treated to a healthy dose of bizarre bloodthirst too. Very thought-provoking and strange, Chouette can only be described as an unforgettable story of motherhood and its life-changing effects.

[mythologyofblue]

"I prefer to speak in metaphor: That way, no logic can trap me, and no rule can bind me, and no fact can limit me or decide for me what’s possible."

-Claire Oshetsky, Chouette