Review: Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
Nightbitch: I’m Howlin’ For You
In the debut novel Nightbitch, a Midwestern mother notices a peculiar patch of black hairs growing from the back of her neck. In a humorous tone, maybe serious too, she jokes to her husband that she must be turning into a dog. What starts as a joke unravels as much more: long strands of chin hair, fuzzy patches upon her feet, and pointy canine teeth. The exhausted mother anxiously searches on the Internet for an answer, to no avail.
The mother often takes care of her only son alone, as the father works as an engineer, on the road for work most weeks. By the time the weekend comes, with her husband finally home, the mother is very tired. After one too many sleepless, summer nights, Nightbitch emerges from the mother as an animalistic rage, canine one might say. Curiously, her husband is able to always sleep soundlessly through their son’s crying fits. Nightbitch barks at her son to go back to sleep, too exhausted to try anything else. With a cup of coffee in the light of the next day, the mother does what most of us would do: laugh it off with her husband. She is Nightbitch, she chuckles with her husband. Deep down, however, the mother knew this rage always existed within her.
Until now, I hope I have not scared you away, reader. Though this plot sounds rather surreal like a Dalí painting, author Rachel Yoder’s words play off the page—absurd, hilarious, and thrilling all at once. Our protagonist, an unnamed mother, is deeply relatable, talking to us as if we are her close friends. Nightbitch did not envision becoming a mother until later in life. She thought she would work at the community art gallery, her dream job. For a while, she attempts both, her days at work interrupted by pumping milk in a tiny, stuffy closet of a room. Only after work and multiple trips to the lactation room, the mother would see her son for two hours, before watching him sleep the night away. So she makes the practical choice to stay at home with their son, her husband has a higher salary after all. This decision Nightbitch refers to as, “agony, just of a different sort.” Through comedy, Yoder writes about maternal rage in an authentic way.
As any woman with two Master’s degrees does, the mother takes her son with her to the library in hopes of figuring out her reality. In the aisles of the Dewey Decimal System, she discovers a book that will change her life, A Field Guide to Magical Women: A Mythical Ethnography by Wanda White. Over the course of the weeks ahead, Nightbitch asks the book life questions, similar to a game we played with the radio growing up. Before the mother-son pair leave the library, they will stumble upon “Book Babies,” children’s story hour with stay-at-home moms. Though apprehensive at first, the mother becomes friends with the Book Babes trio, in a wild and unexpected way.
Rachel Yoder’s novel Nightbitch explores themes relating to feminist rage, adult friendships, and art in capitalism. Though I am not yet a mother myself, Yoder’s brave fictional story gave me a glimpse into a nuanced approach to motherhood in the 21st century. Like her character Nightbitch, Yoder’s artistic approach to her debut novel deserves much praise. As the popular indie rock song by The Black Keys goes, Nightbitch, I’m Howlin’ For You.
In an effort to support Bookshop.org, this post contains affiliate links. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Thank you for the support!