This collection of short stories from the author of Tender is the Flesh was something I was very much anticipating and while I enjoyed some of the tales, some I did not really care for/could not get into.

My favorites of the collection/the stories that felt the most impactful for me were:
- Mary Carinium
- A Hole Hides a House
- The Solitary Ones
- Candy Pink
- Earth

I really do enjoy Bazterrica’s writing style and how she has the range to write some beautiful, almost poetry like prose about horrific and dark topics but can also go the complete opposite where it’s very unhinged and twisted so you’re a bit stunned by the end, so she’s definitely someone I would love to read from again even though some of the stories within 19 Claws were a miss for me.

While Agustina Bazterrica can write a fantastic future dystopian type story, they fail in the short story category for me.

The writing style was hit or miss in this collection. Sometimes I had to skim some of the story because it was not engaging me. It took me awhile to complete the book. Maybe next time I read some more Bazterrica, it'll be more like Tender is the Flesh.

Thank you #NetGalley for #NineteenClawsandaBlackBird

Y'all, it's with a heavy heart that I report I am pulling the plug on this one. It's a big ole' DNF for me.
I was so excited for this collection and really wanted to love it. I started it last night and read the first four stories, making it, I think to around 20%.

While it is a very short collection, even the thought of picking it back up fills me with dread. I just can't do it. Out of the first four stories, if I had been rating them individually, three of them would have been 2-stars and one of them would have been a 1-star.

I cannot connect with the author's writing style in any way. It says nothing really of this collection; it's personal taste. I know a lot of Readers will pick this up and love it and I can't wait to read their glowing reviews. Sadly, that's just not my journey with this one. I am not leaving a star rating on any social/public sites, as I feel that would be unfair to this author since I didn't complete the collection.

Thank you to the publisher, Scribner, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I'm so sad this didn't work for me and wish this collection all the success upon its U.S. release!

4/5 stars

i was at a loss for words for a while trying to review this. i’ve never read anything like this before- these stories were absolutely brutal. this novel contemplates some of the most insidious and nightmarish parts of humanity supremely well. the exploration of death and the devolution of sanity made me think a lot. the way bazterrica writes about the ways we twist and contort ourselves to fit into each of our own worlds (and the ways we are twisted and contorted by societal oppressors) was haunting, dark, and, often, unfortunately realistic.

there were definitely highs and lows; some stories made me go “oh wow” and others “...what?” i think what made this so interesting as a whole is that it was very engaging despite the stories often being incredibly strange. it maintained enough humanity and small humors to be relatable. it was like, constant gorey symbolism for many issues that plague society today.

i would definitely recommend this to any fans of of disturbing, funky, feminist-leaning horror.

thank you to netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I love horror anthologies, and I went into this one without knowing the author and what their style was. Unfortunately, this ended up not being one I’d read again, but there were definitely some good stories in it! We have…

A Light, Swift And Monstrous Sound 2/5
This was a beautifully written and horrific story about a suicide, but a bit short and vague

Roberto 3.5/5
This was even shorter than the first story, but I thought it was pretty funny (despite the disturbing subject matter!)

Unamuno’s Boxes 3.5/5
Fantasy meets reality in this strange story about fingernail clippings.

Candy Pink 4/5
So far the best in the book, a little story about a breakup and breakdown.

Anita and Happiness 3/5
Are aliens real? Just ask this man…

Dishwasher 4/5
This is, so far, the longest story, and quite a trippy one.

Earth 4/5
Ooh, I liked this creepy little tale of yore…

Perfect Symmetry 5/5
The first five-star story for me - I wasn’t expecting the ending!

The Wolf’s Breath 1/5
This was more of a poem than a short story, and I’m not into it.

Teicher Vs. Nietzsche 5/5
Man, do I love cats! Cats that ruin sporting matches are the best.

The Dead 4.5/5
Where do the dead go after they die? The moon, of course.

Elena-Marie Sandoz 2/5
The ending sentence was good, but I didn’t care for this ghostly story.

The Slowness of Pleasure 3/5
I wanted to love this one because of the beautiful writing, but I didn’t.

No Tears 1.5/5
Eh. This one wasn’t it for me.

The Continuous Equality of the Circumference 4/5
A girl wants to be a circle. You go, girl!

A Hole Hides a House 3/5
This guy really should have fixed his roof…

Hell 2/5
I would have either liked this to be longer or shorter, I’m not sure.

Architecture 1.5/5
I just didn’t care for this one, either.

Mary Carminum 4/5
This one was humorous and a great tale of karma. Catholic karma?

The Solitary Ones 4/5
This could’ve been a good episode of The Twilight Zone!

I love when anthologies end with a good one, and this one did. Overall, I think this author isn’t for me. It could be the translation, but I think it’s more the story type. Some stories were vague and cryptic, the ramblings of a mind. I prefer more plot-driven stories, even if they’re only a few pages long. The writing was flawless, and quite poetic (even when the subject matter wasn’t) - the stories just weren’t my style overall. 2.5/5, rounded up because the writing truly is stellar.

(Thank you to Scribner, Agustina Bazterrica, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on July 20, 2023.)

When I learned about the upcoming English translation of Agustina Bazterrica’s Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, I was eager to pick it because their unique and thought provoking novel Tender is the Flesh definitely left an impression on me. My eagerness to pick up this book quickly dimmed when I learned that it was short stories, which are usually an automatic no for me. But my interest in reading more of Bazterrica’s work won out and I decided to take a chance. I’m glad I did. This collection of nineteen stories is quite dark and deals with a number of heavy topics with writing that can definitely pull you right into a story. Please be sure to check trigger warnings for this one! Standouts for me are:

-A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound: a neighbor’s suicide forces the narrator out of their ordered happiness and shatters their life of comfort.
-Candy Pink: a second person story full of crazed emotions after a breakup.
-Dishwasher: a story where Jane makes peace with being one of the “crazies.”
-Earth: a daughter is abandoned after taking action against the father that hurt her.
-Perfect Symmetry: a man's final wish is granted and he creates a perfectly composed last meal.
-Mary Carminum: an absurd date with a rock band full of Mother Marys.

A few threads I found interesting stories were thoughts around whether inanimate objects or plants have feelings and the act of burying yourself.

There were a few stories I didn’t connect with or enjoy as much but I think this is to be expected with short story collections and makes it more likely everyone can find something they appreciate.

This unique short story collection is an interesting combination of disturbing and dark humor. Agustina Bazterrica has some captivating ideas and explores themes of abuse, murder, suicide, and violence. As with all short story collections, some are more memorable than others and I think I would have preferred a little more horror overall. If you enjoy dark short stories, I would give this one a try!

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner Books for the arc!

So I have had this author on my list for some time now and am so glad I finally got my hands on some of her work. This will not be the last piece by her I read!

I think going into her short stories just having an idea of the genre was all I needed to know to know I’d enjoy this. I may have read through this very quickly, but I find that these stories will not be quickly forgotten.

These are dark short stories, but I read them as one would listen to tales told by the fireside. These felt like old legends and fairy tales, but so fresh and different from your typical expectations. She’s definitely bold with her descriptions and plots.

For each story, no matter the length of it, I was fully immersed in the description or mindset of the different characters. These were stories that I could see clearly visually as well as feel and hear and smell. All senses are brought to life for the reader while experiencing these tales.

Thank you so much to the author, Agustina Bazterrica, the translator, Sarah Moses, Scribner and NetGalley for the eARC of Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird in exchange for my review!

This book is full of short stories. I have never read a short story collection before, however I have read Tender is the Flesh and gave it 5 stars. This collection started off with the first two stories being 5 stars for me. So I had high expectations. As I kept reading, each story started to bore or confuse me. I was eager to keep reading, looking for another 5 star, until about the half way mark. At this point I was still interested in reading but read for it to be over.

Most of the stories are unfortunately forget for me, except the first two.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ebook!

I received an Advanced Reader's copy of this book via NetGalley. I wanted to read this book of short stories after having read the author's other translated book, Tender is the Flesh. This set of nineteen stories has left me mind-boggled on how I feel about it, because while I thoroughly enjoyed some of the stories, others just seemed to really miss the mark for me and even though this ebook was only 107 pages long, I felt as though it took forever to finish. Bazterrica has a beautiful way with words, even when describing the macabre, but several of the stories still lacked for me. I am also very critical of short stories because typically, they leave me disappointed that they weren't fully developed into larger novels. While Bazterrica writes in prose, it honestly reads almost like poetry. She does a fantastic job of exploring supernatural and paranormal horror, but I feel her real talent seems to be in showcasing the disturbing and terrifying realities humans face in the world.

If you enjoy your horror with a side of dark and twisty humor, this is a great short story collection to check out. Some of these stories are hilarious, and at the same time, wildly disturbing. Other stories are just outright terrifying. Read with caution.

I love the range that is covered in these stories; from children that do murder to a guy that will choose to fall in love with an alien woman, these are highly imaginative and expertly written. Just like Bazterrica’s novel Tender is the Flesh, a lot of these stories will be lurking in my subconscious for the foreseeable future.

Content warning: violence; sexual assault; murder; gore; body horror

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!

As someone who enjoyed Tender is the Flesh, I was shocked and happy I was approved to read this on NetGalley. Though I ended up rating them the same, I can say I liked Tender is the Flesh more.

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is a collection of 19 horror short stories. When I read collections like this, I really prefer when the short stories don't drag on. You might be questioning me on that, but some short stories really do feel like they go on forever. That wasn't the case here. A lot of important topics are explored in this collection, and I think the author handled each one well, for the most part. Some of the topics were explored in more than one story but in different ways.

There were some stories that I was not a fan of, such as: 'Roberto,' 'Hell,' and 'Architecture.'

I thought the first story, 'A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound' was an intriguing story to start things off. 'The Solitary Ones' gives off classic horror vibes and it was a great way to end everything.

Was very excited for this author's new book but unfortunately this fell flat. Only about two good stories in the entire book. Will not be recommending.

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is Nineteen nightmare stories you won’t be able to turn away from.

I absolutely loved how this collection kicks off. I was immediately sucked in. The author has such a unique way of writing horror. I can’t get enough of it.

I will say Agustina Bazterrica writing style is so beautiful and poetic that it can be a bit hard to understand. The middle stories in the collection were hard for me to get into. I feel like they went over my head.

Overall I had a fun time with this collection. I loved the first couple stories and the last two stories the most. If you love complex poetic writing with great horror thrown in then this book is for you.
3.5/5 Stars

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sensing me an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Loved these short stories. Extremely scary sending chills.I enjoyed that each story was written in a different person. Each story had deep meaning that have stayed with me.

This collection was not only a quick read, but it really explored so many different aspects of horror in such a small amount of pages. I was so happy to read what the author of Tender is the Flesh had created after that incredible debut and this did not disappoint. If you are a fan of horror and short stories alike you should check this out. Thank you to the publisher for this e-arc.

I had really enjoyed Bazterrica's previous work, Tender is the Flesh quite a bit, however, I didn't feel like any of the stories really stuck or left an impression on me. I will continue to read whatever Bazterrica puts out in the future but I don't think this collection was for me.

"Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird" is a collection of good ideas without impact. I wish many of these concepts were removed to have their own developed individual novels because I believe they were interesting enough to hold their own. The other half (or more) of these stories were so boring that I almost couldn't finish. Compiling over 10 stories into one collection is a little overambitious and never satisfies me personally as a reader. In the future, I think I'll hesitate before applying for short story collection arcs and wait for other reviewers' opinions instead. I also found Bazterrica's writing to be quite wordy and unnecessarily tedious at times which made 5-page stories feel long. I enjoyed "Tender is the Flesh" so I could see myself reading from this author again.

Conclusively, I'm going to give this collection a 2.5.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this collection.

NINETEEN CLAWS AND A BLACK BIRD 🐦‍⬛
By Agustina Bazterrica

Those who are intimidated (or still recovering from) by Tender is the Flesh may fare well with this short story collection.

The writing is slightly different than Tender, but still very dark and heavy. The stories are all very odd and slightly uncomfortable, but occasionally dark humor lifts the dread.

If you like the strange, (denchers and suicide, a woman who will go to any lengths for a circular body, a man who thinks his partner is an alien, serial killing uber driver fetishist etc) this may be for you.
The stories are always interesting, some quite short. There is more enigma than clear explanation in most of the stories, and some are much stronger than others. Overall this is a solid (death-heavy) horror effort that made me hungry for another longer, fleshed out work. 😉

Good entry point for newcomers, and promise for what's on the horizon.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the advanced copy.

When I first started reallllly reading, I read a bunch of essays collections, but haven't read many since. Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird brought me back to my roots and reminded me how much I love short stories/essays.

I loved how concentrated each of these stories were. I wasn't left unsatisfied at any of them and I appreciated the fullness and vulnerability each provided. After reading only the first two short stories, I went to the bookstore and purchased Bazterrica's first book, Tender Is the Flesh because of how captivating her writing it!

My favorites were Roberto, Unamuno's Box and Earth, but all of them packed a punch and fully engrossed me into the story, even if it was only 3 pages long.