Un nuovo animale

3.5 Stars: “New Animal” by Ella Baxter could have been called “she’s come undone!” Poor Amelia Aurelia finds herself in a tailspin when her mother unexpectedly dies. Amelia is stunned and more than confused as she has worked in her family’s funeral home business for years. She is a cosmetic morticia Leggi tutto

More of a 3.5 rounded up I loved the beginning and end of the book. I was immediately interested in the story and felt like it was unique and quirky without being too artificial. The main character seemed relatable and real. However the middle section sort of turned her into a caricature and introduc Leggi tutto

eroticism. grief. emptiness and the paradoxical search for it. human connection to the point of fusing with one another. bodily fluids, an awful lot of it. nature as a place to heal. motherhood. more grief. brutality. metamorphosis. bdsm as a way of coping or the necessity of coping to practise it.

New Animal is Ella Baxter's debut novel. Notwithstanding the provocative blurb, this is fundamentally a book about grief, how we deal with tragedy in ways that can be personal and yet communal. I liked the premise but none of it worked for me. The prose hovers between overwrought and pedagogical, re Leggi tutto

⭐️4 Stars⭐️ Oh wow this was different and like nothing I’ve ever read before! Some of the elements in this novel are confronting, it’s a story of a young woman’s journey through grief. New Animal is an impressive debut novel. Amelia is a cosmetician/embalmer at her family’s mortuary business and she l Leggi tutto

A short sharp and punchy debut by Aussie author Ella Baxter. It tackles death and grief in a whole new light. I love that the author doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortable, with some highly disturbing and impactful scenes and the authors ability to show the extreme sides of grief makes this book po Leggi tutto

3.5/5 ngl that one scene with the tampon was traumatising