The Art of Taxidermy has a lot going for it: beautiful writing, excellent crafting, and a look at grief that is nothing short of raw. Lottie's mother has passed, and Lottie has taken up an interest in science and death; specifically, she is captivated by dead animals and taxidermy. Her father indulges her, appreciates her scientific mind, and it's entirely possible that it's an interest she would have taken up with or without the grief she's experienced, but something about the obsessive nature of her thoughts leads me to think there's an implication of something fractured in the way she views the world without her mother in it.

There's also a bit of chat about indigenous people, with a side character, Lottie's friend, being an Aboriginal boy. I didn't actually realize this book was set in Australia at first, and I've never read a book featuring an Aboriginal character, so I really appreciated that as an addition.

The drawback to the entire book, though, and what made it impossible for me to give this more than 3.5 stars, is that I was bored. It sounds like the sort of story that should be innately interesting if only due to its gruesome nature (and it is gruesome, friends! Steer clear of this one if you're bothered by descriptions of dead animals), yet honestly, so little happens, and what does happen feels repetitive and somehow shallow. These are sad topics, yet I found it nearly impossible to feel anything about them, and I think that may be because Lottie is unfazed by anything that doesn't involve taxidermy.

This will be a great book for a lot of people, but sadly, I wasn't one of them.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Art of Taxidermy is a book of heavy verses—snapshots of grief and coming of age angst. I like how the book explores the different ways we hang on to loved ones who are no longer with us. What is the difference between resurrecting a dead bird into a lifeless version of itself and keeping a photograph?

I am not usually a fan of books that are just prose with line breaks and this one was not an exception. The imagery became too repetitive after a while. The story may have been better as a few poems or prose. What a beautiful cover, though!

a touching verse novel about grief and taxidermy; I received a copy via Netgalley and finished it an hour later. lovely descriptive writing that gave me a newfound appreciation for taxidermy