dark and dreary like her other work! i love short stories and think the brevity of these worked in this writers favor. surprisingly funny at times. a few shock tactics in the writing like her novel. this seems to sell well and the cover is really working!

Very interesting and compelling. The cover is gorgeous and what originally drew me in. The writing was haunting and uncomfortable at times, but a fun read.

i just did not enjoy most of these stories… they either just felt icky(not in a good way) or poorly written….

This author is a favorite and her book of short stories was amazing. I found each to have a different and unique voice, some creepy, some disgusting, others completely atmospheric. Not a favorite among my peers, but I honestly loved it. She is an automatic author for me.

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read and review this book. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer simply to advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

I read Tender is the Flesh a couple of years ago and when I found out there was a short story collection by the same author coming out, I immediately had to read it!

I have said this a few times, but Latina women write the absolute best horror! Not only are these stories terrifying, but they are so real, and comment so much on the violence against women, relationships, alienation, and the dystopia we are currently living in.

A wonderful collection!

I loved Bazterrica's debut novella, TENDER IS THE FLESH, so I had high hopes going into this collection of her short stories. I also love any opportunity to support fellow Argentinian authors, so this was really up there on my list of recent releases this year!!

This was a pretty varied collection length and subject matter-wise, with some of the 19 stories spanning several pages, and others lasting only a few paragraphs. I love that these stories have the same distinct voice that the author's debut had, and will say that this collection is just as grim and dark as that book was.

A lot of the collections focus on abuse, especially of a sexual nature, so I think some folks might want to check into content warnings if they know those topics are difficult for them. That said, despite how dark this was, I also found a lot of things that were beautifully written and relatable.

Some of these also gave me a bit of a Black Mirror vibe, which I always love in short story collections!

Overall, this is a great collection if you don't mind the often uncomfortable subject matter - I loved it.

NINETEEN CLAWS AND A BLACKBIRD by @agustinabazterrica is a creepy little book of 19 dark and deadly short stories. Thank you to the author, @netgalley the publisher @scribnerbooks .

This was an interesting group of stories, some that seemed to be intertwined while others were way out there. I particularly love a super short story that packs a big punch and there were certainly a few of those here.

My favorite part of Bazterrica's writing is that there always seems to be an uncanny, absurd amount of dark humor attached to even her scariest of stories which I totally love.

A LIGHT, SWIFT AND MONSTROUS SOUND as well as CANDY PINK were two of my faves in this collection. As a confession, I have still not read TENDER IS THE FLESH by this author and need to get to it here soon! Have you had the pleasure of an introduction to this Argentinian author?

I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. The downfall was that I requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before the book was archived. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it!

Okay, so first things first – Tender is the Flesh is basically one of my favorite books. Now, grabbing Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird? Total excitement overload. This collection is a mixtape of stories – some quick bites, others more like a slow burn. It's this crazy blend of vivid, impactful tales that hang out somewhere between supernatural and deranged. And the best part? These stories dive deep into people dealing with seriously bizarre situations, making choices that'll make your brain do a little somersault. Get ready for a ride through the weird and unique style of this author!

I recently read Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica, and I must say that it was a brilliant collection of short stories. Each of the nineteen stories in the book is a masterpiece in its own right, exploring the dark and disturbing aspects of the human psyche.

The stories in the book cover a range of themes, including violence, alienation, and dystopia. Bazterrica's writing is clever, vivid, and sometimes even darkly funny. The stories are a reflection of our deepest fears and disturbing fantasies, and they explore the complexities of the human experience in unexpected ways.

One thing that stood out to me was the author's ability to create vivid and fully realized characters in just a few pages. Each story has its own unique voice and perspective, and the characters are complex and often deeply flawed. The stories also raise important questions about love, friendship, family relationships, and unspeakable desires.

Overall, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is a brilliant collection of short stories that will leave you thinking long after you finish reading. The stories are unsettling, often thrilling, and always profound. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys dark and thought-provoking fiction.

From the author of one of my favorite dystopian horror novels, Tender is the Flesh, the short story collection, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica is packed full of wild and horrific stories. Although I enjoyed this book cover to cover, the multiple stories that consist of children not fully understanding the situation that they’re in and not being able to ask for help hit me the hardest. Agustina Bazterrica is one of the most unique authors that I’ve ever read. The endings of all of her stories are unpredictable and outrageously entertaining. I recommend this collection to any fan of the macabre.

While I liked Tender if the Flesh, this book fell short for me. I really enjoy short stories but some of the stories felt like they had no point? They felt like they were just describing something instead of creating a story. I also don’t know if it was the translation, but I found the writing style to be kind of choppy and hard to get into. I would be open to reading another book by this author though!

This was spectacularly haunting. Each story was so visceral and engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories!

I think this author should stick to longer fictional pieces. This collection was interesting.

Some stories were good, some were okay and some were just bad.

After reading Tender is the Flesh and it being one of my top 3 reads of 2022 when I saw this I knew I needed to read anything by this author I could get my hands on. Typically I am not a short story reader because I want more time with the plots and characters. I found this entertaining, and yes found myself wanting more from some of these stories.

Sticking with the same style these stories are dark, shocking and bloody. Her writing style is so is haunting and will provide quite the ride to all readers looking for something different and shocking.

A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

2/5 - It was okay.

Agustina Bazterrica excels in creating stories that are deeply atmospheric and disturbing, with a bizarre tinge to them that gets underneath the reader's skin and creeps one out in a subtle, nearly imperceptible way. This book consists of 20 extremely short (2-5 pages) stories which do exactly this. Which sounds spooky and fantastic for a horror line-up... but here comes the flaw: the stories are so stylized and atmospheric that they often sacrifice plot for feeling, ending up with narratives that range from fascinating and scary to bizarre to utterly incomprehensible. Unfortunately, the ones in this book tended towards the latter and for this reason, my reading experience was just okay. Readers with more of a preference towards ambiguity or spooky "vibes" may appreciate this book more.

I read this as a part of my "October spooky reads" challenge; while it fits that bill, this was mostly just a very strange vibe. I'm not a huge fan of short stories, but the novelty of the strange subject matters got me through this.

3/5 stars - Perhaps like most short story collections, the stories aren't all great. In fact, most of them were a bit too esoteric to fully get into, stymied by the phrasing and loftier literary verbiage. But some of them were great - perfectly succinct, strange, disturbing, visceral. If you're a fan of "Tender is the Flesh" and don't mind a short story, give it a shot and know that you can enjoy the ones you like and skim past the ones you don't.

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is a thought-provoking, fascinating short story collection by Argentinian author Agustina Bazterrica, author of the shocking and unforgettable Tender is the Flesh. As with any collection, there were some stories that missed the mark (and that I've already forgotten) but there were several that completely dazzled me with their inventiveness, dark humor, and unsettling execution.

Some of my favorites were:

"A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound." Bazterrica starts the collection off strong with a deeply psychological story about a woman whose upstairs neighbor commits suicide on her patio. The imagery of falling dentures, followed by a falling body, will definitely stick in my mind.

"Roberto." A young girl is convinced she has a bunny hiding between her legs. She names him Roberto, and then makes the mistake of telling people about him. This story was so uncomfortable and disturbing, and the ending took me completely by surprise in a way that I loved.

"Candy Pink." A guide for getting over -- or failing to get over -- an ex-boyfriend. Bazterrica's ability to combine humor with serious, devastating subject matter is on full display here, and the actions of the woman in the story felt so authentic -- up to and including the explosive ending.

"Teicher vs. Nietzche." Teicher lives alone with only his ex-wife's cat, Nietzche, for company. After years of abuse at Teicher's hands, will Nietzche finally get his revenge? This story reminded me of that episode of The Twilight Zone where the man just wants to be alone to read, and then the world ends and his glasses break. It has that kind of dark, pleasing irony to it.

"The Continuous Equality of the Circumference." One of the wildest stories in the collection, and definitely my favorite, it's about a woman obsessed with turning herself into a circle -- doing whatever she has to in order to form her body into that shape. It's such a searing, visceral portrait of mental illness.

"Mary Carminum." A male chauvinist gets more than he bargained for when he goes on a blind date to a rock concert. It's giving Ari Aster vibes, and I'm here for it.

Overall, Nineteen Claws and a Blackbird is a great introduction to Bazterrica's writing -- I'd recommend reading this first if you're interested in Tender is the Flesh, since these short stories serve as a worthy introduction to the dark, shocking themes she writes about. This collection is also a great choice for both Hispanic Heritage Month and Spooky Season.