Let me preface this by stating that I was absolutely blown away by Bazterrica’s novel Tender is the Flesh, so of course I was beyond excited when I received an ARC for this. I love short stories, but it’s also hard for me to read a whole collection in one go, so I took a break midway through it and then picked it back up recently. Now, as all short story collections, there are always going to be hit or miss ones, because that’s just the nature of short story collections, but overall, I really enjoyed this collection.

What I enjoyed the most is that with almost all of the stories, I didn’t quite know how they were going to end so that was a pleasant surprise.

One of my fave stories was A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound. I know some people don’t like the second person, but I really love the second person POV (maybe because a lot of Italian authors use this POV too?). It’s so descriptive and evocative in all its monstrous ways.

Another of my faves was Candy Pink (also in second person POV), but I love a good breakup story cause that’s when things get really unhinged.

The Solitary Ones is also in second-person POV, but it’s a story that sort of stuck with me, as it’s very creepy and atmospheric, and just the idea of being stuck in tunnels in the dark is very terrifying.

Overall, these twenty short stories range from different genres and POV’s. Some of them have stuck longer than others, but I would recommend this collection if you too love short stories and want to read a genre-bending author. I will say that I did enjoy the fact that these were indeed short stories and not mini-novellas disguised as short stories. This is the perfect beach read since you can finish a story and pick up the book again whenever you want.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Scribner for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

✨ Review ✨ Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica; translated by Sarah Moses

A collection of 20 short stories that are filled with dark, creepy, horror vibes. From the dark humor of the story of a woman who tries to turn herself into a circle (eating round foods, cutting off her limbs) to a story of a soccer fan who dies while watching his favorite team play on tv rather than calling for help. It's filled with dark-humor and the macabre, and definitely isn't for those squeamish about blood, death, etc. etc.

Books like this are still outside my comfort zone but I appreciated the range of this. Not every story hit for me, but many of them pulled me in. If you like dark/horror/creepy short stories, definitely give this one a shot!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: short stories, dark humor / horror
Reminds me of: Eric LaRocca's The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories
Pub Date: out now

Thanks to Scribner and #netgalley for advanced copies of this book!

Each of these stories was so quietly haunting. Nothing outrageous like Tender is the Flesh, but I've enjoyed seeing another side of the author. She's an auto-buy for me.

If you’ve read Tender is the Flesh, you can only imagine how dark and twisted Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is. It’s a quick read, coming in under 200 pages but it’s packed full of sinister stories that will make you think “wtf am I reading?” in the best way possible. I had a few favorites from this anthology, but I really did enjoy them all and can’t wait for more from Augustina Bazterrica. Thanks to Simon and Schuster Book Club Favorites for my physical copy and to Scribner for my eARC. Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is available now.

Although interesting, this wasn’t as good as I’d hope. I do believe there are a lot of people who will love this, but it wasn’t it for me. Some of the stories were so short that it was hard to connect to them. It made reading them harder for me, I didn’t care. That being said, the author is absolutely talented and has a very creepy way of writing that sits with you for a long time and gets under your skin.
I look forward to more of her work, I just wasn’t really feeling this one. I do think if you love horror and/or short stories you should give this a go- you may enjoy it very much! It definitely won’t be for everyone and some of the stories are triggering, which isn’t surprising if you’ve read Tender Is The Flesh lol. Speaking of that book, I STILL think about that ending, it haunts me. So I do want to read more from her, but I’ll stick to her completed stories. Thanks to both the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

The aspects of the stories here that I liked reminded me a lot of Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh — horror-ish, grotesque, unexpected. A few will stick with me and I’ve continued thinking about them well after finishing, like Pink Candy, Nietzsche, and the very last story in the collection. Bazterrica is clearly not afraid to make readers feel uncomfortable. But a few stories felt a little underbaked to me, which isn’t to say they’re bad but just that I needed more to enjoy them or understand their meaning. Even though some stories were very short, the collection started to drag a bit for me, just because of my personal taste.

This book was okay. It had some good spooky stories like I was hoping for, but others were not quite up my alley. I would recommend though!

While, admittedly, I wasn’t THE biggest fan of TENDER IS THE FLESH, I still expected this one to pop off.⁣⁣
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Don’t get me wrong, some of these stories still had me cringing and quite shook, but not all so positively, ya know?⁣⁣
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I guess I only really enjoyed two, maybe three stories (‘Candy Pink’ is for the girls hehe jk I’m fine), but the rest I found to be either boring or just went over my head completely.
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Maybe I just wasn’t the audience for this one this time around because I’ve seen a couple people still sing the author’s praises with this one.

After greatly enjoying Tender is the Flesh, I was excited for a short story collection from this author, and curious how they would pack so much in so few pages (19 stories in under 200 pages?!).

There were several stories I really enjoyed in this collection, and some that went over my head. Many I thought had potential, but didn't leave a huge impact on me personally. Overall averaging my rating out to about a 3 star.

My favorite stories:
- A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound (intriguing & loved the 2nd person framing)
- Unamuno's Boxes (a very relatable horror of overthinking)
- Anita and Happiness (quirky and fun)
- Dishwasher (engaging)
- Perfect Symmetry (unique and kind of funny)
- Mary Carmimum (spooky cult atmosphere)
- The Solitary Ones (VIBES)

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this story collection! My favorite was candy pink. It was a great exploration into depression and a manic episode with a satisfying end for horror lovers. I found the collection funny and quirky and I enjoyed how some of the stories played into irony and some were a bit more nuanced. Love love love!

The tales in Nineteen Claws and a Blackbird are not for the faint of heart as they draw out some of the most engaging aspects of horror for readers who want to be delightfully disturbed by the uncanny nightmares lurking within Bazterrica’s writing.

After reading and loving Tender is the Flesh, I was excited to read Agustina Bazterrica’s follow-up, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird. This collection is twenty stories, ranging from very short to medium short, none of the stories much more than ten pages long. With the collection being so many stories but the book length being so short, it is easy for me to forget the plots of some of the stories a few hours after reading them. Many of them feel more like scenes, sketches, and character studies than actual stories.

There are some standout moments in this collection, some moments when I am reminded that Agustina Bazterrica wrote Tender is the Flesh, a nasty, incredible novel about people who eat people because they cannot give up meat. Stories like “Unamuno’s Boxes”, “Elena-Marie Sadoz”, “No Tears” and “The Continuous Equality of the Circumference” remind me that Bazterrica is a great writer, a storytelling with dense, powerful language and strong imagery. These are elements that make Tender is the Flesh such a compelling story. Most of the stories I like in this collection are the stories that are longer, because Bazterrica takes the time to give us more so we can be mesmerized in the language of the story’s world, feel what the characters are feeling, and be attached to the conclusions. Most of these stories have horrible outcomes, many of them end in self-harm and suicide, and when we are given any time with the characters, we can feel their emotions before their final acts. It cannot be understated that by the time I have read a few of the stories, I know that most all of the outcomes are bleak, that all of the stories are being told under a black cloud, and that there are no real happy endings to be seen.

Bleakness has been Bazterrica’s style so far. There is not much happiness in the worlds that she creates, and I can appreciate this type of storytelling. Unfortunately there are many times during this collection when I just do not have the time to get attached to the story, and it is over before it has even really started. I would like to read another short story collection by her with the same page count but with half the stories. Her power is in worldbuilding and creating a breathing character, building up a tower before knocking it all down. Many of the stories in this collection are too short for this to happen.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Bazterrica's writing is hauntingly beautiful, weaving together themes of power, mortality, and the complexities of relationships.

Dark, fun, twisty, gross, lots of body horror and reoccurring themes. I didn't know where most of the stories were going to go but I was happy to follow along wherever the author wanted to take me.

Tender is the Flesh got me into reading again, so when I got the chance to read this ARC, I was ecstatic!

This book has everything: drooling men, a black bunny, a perfect circle (in progress), manicured hands, a new dishwasher, crepes

How many times can I mention nostalgia in my book reviews? Whatever! Nostalgia just hits different, and that’s what this book was for me. It brought me back to reading Scary Stories to Read in the Dark at night, but now the horrors are more existential. There were times when my jaw was literally on the floor.

Some of my favorite stories were Roberto, Candy Pink, Anita and Happiness, Perfect Symmetry, The Continuous Equality of the Circumference, and Mary Carminum.

This is definitely one of those books I savored like an expensive whiskey. If you want short stories that pack a punch with all the anxiety-inducing Bazterrica prose, this book is for you!

Thank you, Scribner and NetGalley for the digital ARC! A special thanks to Augustina Bazterrica! All opinions are my own.

These short stories are haunting. A lot are told in prose that skirts around the actual horror, leaving the reader to slowly realize what they’re being told. And that makes each story all the more striking.

This is an easily digestible set of short stories. Like a lot of other reviewers, I typically struggle with short stories. It takes a special touch to hook you in with such a short amount of time. So, some of these did miss the mark for me. But overall it was really moody and enjoyable.

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is a beautifully crafted short story collection. Each story left me staring blankly at the wall; having to let the words sink in before moving on to the next. Some stories moved me while others left me feeling a sense of unease.

Overall, it was a great short story collection.

I'm always skittish when it comes to short stories because I don't feel like I will have enough time to connect with characters or storylines, but Bazterrica continues to hit home runs for me. Some of the shortest of the ones in this collection will have the longest lasting impressions on me.

Pick this one up and be prepared to be disturbed.

Like many, I requested this ARC because of Bazterrica's previous work 'Tender is the Flesh'. The general tone and style of writing in this short story collection is on par with that novel. However, only half of these stories really connect for me. I feel like a collection of short stories can be so hit or miss because of how varied and fragmented the stories can be. I appreciate the more experimental pieces in this collection, but those are also the ones that fell somewhat flat for me. My favorites were like bookends, nestled at the beginning and end. The second to last felt like it would have been an excellent jumping off point for a novel and I wanted to know more about the world being portrayed.

Got an ARC of this book because I am a big fan of Tender is the Flesh. This is a very different book- multiple genres are explored throughout the short stories, but all have a similar underlying feeling of dread.

Not going to lie, some of the stories were really heavy, and I had to stop reading a few times. But I think that’s just a testament to the author/translator’s visceral use of language.