This is such a good craft book. Hard to read, but the challenge is kind of the point of the narrative. I love this fairy tale and the layers of writing craft and creativity in such a slim and unassuming package. Five stars.

In a Nutshell: A dark and quirky literary fiction about a poor dear who is haunted by a “Poor Deer”. Grief and hope intermingled with magical realism and atmospheric writing. If all this intrigues you, this book is for you.

Story Synopsis:
Margaret’s first memory is of the day the local school ground flooded. This was also the day when four-year-old Margaret’s life changed forever. With a burden too great for her little shoulders to bear, she turned to fairy tales, both on paper and in her mind, to escape her loneliness.
Now at sixteen, Margaret is penning her confession, goaded by Poor Deer, a strange creature who seems to have great power over Margaret, as she knows her too well.
How much of the confession is true? Is Margaret able to differentiate between fact and fiction in her mind? Who is Poor Deer and why does she have such a hold over Margaret?
Most of the plot comes to us through the frame story of Margaret writing her 'confession' about the past from the contemporary time.

I had first experienced Claire Oshetsky’s writing when I read her debut novel, Chouette – a one-of-a-kind work. It was so visceral an experience that I was mesmerized by its prose though I didn't grasp the allegorical writing in its entirety. (I read the whole book front to back twice!) Chouette is the only book that I've advocated to my friends despite rating it just 3.25 stars. So when I saw Oshetsky’s second book on NetGalley, I didn't hesitate before opting for it.

In almost all ways, this has been a better reading experience than Chouette, not because the writing has improved (it was already excellent!), but because the reality level of this book is more my cup of tea. The surrealism is much toned down, the metaphors are more grounded (my brain can't process too much of 'abstract'), and the pacing is steadier (though not faster, which is expected in literary fiction.)

Where the author truly shines is in her creation of the setting. She has an unbelievable style of writing that helps us regenerate every scene in our minds clearly. At the same time, the descriptions don't go overboard in such a way that you feel drowned under the strain of pure atmosphere with no core content. The text balances plot and prose beautifully.

I liked the decision of presenting this innovative plot as a frame story, and also the style of presentation. The present time is written in Margaret’s first person voice, but she writes about her past using the third person syntax for herself. It is almost as if Margaret of the present wants to distance herself from four-year-old Margaret and the crime she committed.

The basic plot could have been rooted in reality, but the author imbues her lead character with a fanciful creative faculty. Margaret is an unreliable narrator, but not in the way you would imagine. She misguides not to trick you but to present a better picture of herself and to put to paper what she wanted than what she got. Margaret thus has the habit of interweaving facts and fantasy in such a way that you won't be able to spot the seam in between. ”Poor Deer” (I loved the origin of this nomenclature – the unintentionally hilarious creation of a child’s mind!) is the best example of how bizarre her mind gets, and yet, Poor Deer is compelling enough to be considered a tangible part of the storyline. Keeping in mind that contemporary Margaret is just a teenager is vital, as her writing indicates her self-absorption, with her wishful redemption being the nucleus of her confession.

The characters are also memorable, though it is very tough to connect with all of them completely. Margaret's character development is excellent. Her flashback begins when she is four years old, and as is common with adult narrators talking of their childhood, the memories are inaccurate. However, while the typical tone of such writing is nostalgic, Margaret's are varnished with the tint of haunting loss, focussing on the grief and hurts that she tries to offset with her wild imagination. Right from her creative prayers to her habit of seeking escape in books to her chats with “Poor Deer”, she makes for an intriguing lead – an unusual combination of vulnerable yet strong.

The supporting cast is also sturdy, though their roles are much limited as the narration is Margaret’s and she focusses mostly on herself. Her mom Florence and her aunt Dolly have a substantial and impressive presence. Some of the minor characters such as young Agnes, the school teacher Mr. Blunt, and the kindergarten teacher Mrs. Rudnicki leave their marks within the little page space they get. That said, I wanted to know much more about Penny and Glo – their arcs seemed rootless, though not pointless.

Why I didn’t go higher in my rating is mainly because of the final quarter or so. Somehow, the climactic scenes didn’t satisfy me the way I expected them to, though they made sense in the flow of the plot. I wanted something more hardhitting but the ending felt quite tame compared to the brilliance of the rest of the story.

If you want something typical or rooted in reality, this isn’t the book for you. But if you are the kind of reader willing to explore the furthest realms of the mind without crossing into the surreal, if you can go with the flow and accept what’s told while grasping what’s untold, if you enjoy character-driven fiction even when the character who drives the story isn’t driving straight - please try this book. This isn't just a novel. It's storytelling!

4.25 stars.

My thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for the DRC of “Poor Deer”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

A heartbreaking meditation on grief and forgiveness, Poor Deer is a fable that follows Margaret, who grows up bearing the weight of the loss of her neighbor, who died during a game the two of them were playing at the age of four. The story focuses itself on the aftereffects on Margaret's psyche- from a young girl watching her mother's love run dry to a young woman whose guilt has taken on a soul-stirring physical form. Themes of isolation, given Margaret's unrepairable reputation, are also expertly woven into this haunting novel.

Oshetsky's writing is absolutely stunning- her choices in regards to perspective were always thoughtful and resonant. Having not read Chouette, this convinced me to give it a try. There were times when the read was difficult, but it always snapped back to life just before it could become tedious.

This is a strange novel, but a great one if you're a fan of the peculiar.

Wow, just wow. I didn’t know what to expect when I started a Poor Deer but wow. Margaret Murphy is an interesting little girl. Some say she was troubled or maybe even trouble. Her first memory is when her best friend died. She can’t remember all the details but she can remember some of it. They were just playing and she doesn’t know how it could happen. No one blames her, well maybe some do. She has a habit of weaving stories around this event and about her life in general. Margarets mom isn’t that supportive of her little girl. She doesn’t speak about the incident and actually tells her own tale about the day Agnes dies. Which confuses Margaret even more. Her aunt can’t console her either. These early years are filled with such tragedy and pain, that Margaret’s world is safe and magical and all the stories have happy endings. As she grows up, Poor Deer enters her made up world. She haunts Margaret and will always try to break her out of her make believe world. Poor Deer won’t rest unless Margaret faces the truth about Agnes’s death. Margaret doesn’t get much peace in life and Poor Deer, a tormenting voice, isn’t going to help her find peace.
This story is heartbreaking and heartwarming. Where a young child is left to her own devices and the adults in her life fail her daily. She is a creative little one and it is no surprise, she has made up these stories, this alternate world to hide in.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a 5 star read for me. This story had all the feels. I was just continuing to root for Margaret. The writing was beautiful and the characters were so real.
I want to thank Netgalley and Claire Oshetsky the author for my copy for an honest review. It was an absolute pleasure to read and review this book. I have continued to think about the story days after I read it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A dark fairytale of a novel, the heartbreaking weight of guilt on a small girl, seen through her eyes, burdened by a lack of understanding, by the failure of adults to explain things, by the turning away of a mother who'd once adored her, an aunt who still does. When Margaret Murphy is four and her best friend Agnes dies, Margaret's life changes as she tries to understand what is going on around her. There is wonderful word play here, the notion of "poor dear" becoming poor deer, the manifestation of Margaret's guilt. Grief and Catholicism, signs, rituals, self-harm, animals and birds, a child making her way in her own childhood way. Seeing the world through the child's eyes is not easy to accomplish, to make it feel real, and though all is heightened in this novel - the fairytale aspect of it - it has the core of truth throughout, as well as the notion of writing one's stories over and over to try to get to a place of comfort, to make things make sense.

Thanks to Ecco and Netgalley for the ARC.

While I do believe that this book will appeal to some readers, it was only so-so for me. It’s a dark, atmospheric novel about a young girl who loses her best friend when both are four years old. This one event colors the remainder of her childhood and young adult years. For me, the child’s behavior was weird and stayed that way. Her interactions with the adults around her are weird too. Having said that, the girl seems to be an unreliable narrator of her story, so it’s hard to know if any of the occurrences she describes really happen.
The author’s prose is good and definitely captures the darkness of the story. I think this book would be a good book club choice as it leaves a lot to interpret and discuss.

Haunting, unique, mesmerizing an amazing book! I sped through this almost unable to put it down. It’s brutal and yet beautiful. A young child’s future shaped so tragically from a horrific event so vividly written.

Four year old Margaret has suffered a loss she doesn’t quite understand. Her friend Agnes is gone. Where she’s gone isn't entirely clear. To a better place? Passed away? In the ground? In Poor Deer Margaret tries to make sense of what happened and the role she may have played in Agnes leaving. Fueled by a compendium of fairy tales, Margaret makes up stories to help her forget the moment when everything went wrong and Agnes left. To top it off, Poor Deer is always following her around whispering in her ear. In Margaret’s world (or the stories she spins) fact and fiction are indecipherable. Just when you think you know what’s happening it’s clear you don’t and you're taken right back to the start.

Oshetsky sets this story in an extremely bleak and rigidly structured world of stark contrasts, particularly at the beginning where we are plunged into constant judgements. This is a story about grief but also how our environment shapes how we navigate big complex feelings and experiences. What is “right” and “proper” and “good” and “bad” is always there and shapes Maragaret’s response. It is a unique exploration of the narrative we create for ourselves in our own heads that constantly changes and is influenced by external factors and what is projected onto us by others and their judgements. In many ways, like Margaret, we have never been in charge of our story. Sometimes it is easier to escape than face reality and create an imagined reality for ourselves that is far from fact.

I wrote multiple pages of notes while reading, mostly questions. Poor Deer gave me so much to think about. I’m still contemplating what this book “means” for me and I’m sure readers will take different things from it. With Poor Deer’s grounding in fairy tales and fables I am looking for the moral at the end. I’m not certain I know what it is, or that there’s just one. I love that. I love a book that stays with me and allows me to continue making meaning out of it long after I’ve put it down. This is that kind of book. I strongly recommend it.

Thank you Ecco and Netgalley for the eARC.

This seemed like an impactful story of trauma and coping. I can see why it would be enjoyed, but the writing style wasn't for me. I DNF'd 56% of the way through.

Traumatic events have a way of molding life’s outcomes, especially when tragedy strikes at a young age. Margaret’s best friend Agnes dies at age four while they are playing a game, and Margaret’s hand in that death is what drives the narrative.

Raised by a devout single mother and doting aunt, religion is an enveloping presence in this story. While lighting a candle and praying for Agnes’s immortal soul brings Margret joy and hope, the church visit also lends symbolism to other moments in the story. It is then that Margaret hears the whispered: “Agnes Bickford—Poor Deer.” Poor Deer, the creature who will stalk her. The judge, conscience, and misguided mentor who hounds her to admit to others what she has done. Kneeling in prayer, Margaret sees in Baby Jesus’s face the soft gray silt in which Agnes had played. The color of Madonna’s robe will reappear as will her damaged hand and nubby yellow teeth.

The unique approach to structure and point of view perfectly mimics the way the mind works when we mull over the past, reworking the truth, remodeling memories. In her confession that Poor Deer forces her to write, Margaret attempts different versions of that fateful day, hoping to land on one she can endure. If only Poor Deer would allow it.

While the themes in the book are weighty, it is not without hope. I finished this read with a deep appreciation for the level of artistry and craft in these pages.

Many thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Margaret Murphy is an endearing and heartbreaking unreliable narrator. For most of Poor Deer, Margaret is a child simply trying her best to interpret a world of adults - namely her single mother and aunt. Oshetsky excels at writing what feels like a genuine child's perspective of the world. Margaret is adept and intuitive and yet so deeply underestimated. Though never explicitly stated, there's an implication of neurodivergence in a time and place in which adults had little to no understanding of such things.

As a whole, Poor Deer is an empathetic and imaginative look at the stories that we tell ourselves in order to survive. And the circumstances that push us to develop a complex and self-punishing interior world.

While this book was not for me, I can definitely see the audience that will love it, and I did talk about it wholeheartedly on our bonus Indie Press List episode. For this reader, I was unable to handle the young girl protagonist's guilt over her friend's death.

Absolutely loved this book. Told through the eyes of a little girl as well as when she's in her late teens, she's grappling with the death of her friend and understanding what she did to contribute to her death.

"Poor Deer" by Claire Oshetsky is a Blend of Literary Fiction and Magical Realism!

Margaret Murphy is a four-year-old child who experiences the tragic loss of Agnes, her best friend. Her mother forbids her to talk about what happened that day. She insists to Margaret and all who will listen that her daughter was home with her, inside the house, that entire day.

But Margaret feels the whispers swirling around her and now she's forced to keep that day hidden away.

And, so begins Margaret's journey from creating her own written language and making up stories that only have happy endings, to meeting the thing that crouches in corners and taunts her, Poor Deer...

I love Oshetsky's debut novel "Chouette" for its creativity, uniqueness, and brilliance. Its noisiness caught my attention and its boldness captured me completely.

"Poor Deer" feels much softer, quieter, and more reflective. Yet it's a sad, somewhat shocking, and mesmerizing story with simple beautiful writing and storytelling that is thoughtful, thought-provoking, and at times, holds a shadow of darkness.

I enjoyed traveling the many pathways of Margaret's story where the lines become blurred between real and imagined. It does have a fairy tale quality to it, but it also offers lessons of an allegory about understanding, forgiving, and embracing the child within us. My heart did ache for poor dear, Margaret.

"Poor Deer" is the essence of what a five-star read is for me. Original. Creative. Different. I now know that when I begin reading a book by Claire Oshetsky, it's an opportunity to feel the joy of letting my imagination fly. I highly recommend this book!

5⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, Ecco, and Claire Oshetsky for an ARC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.

"There's always a price to pay for our sins and follies, Bunny, and you'll be paying that price forever and a day."

Margaret is only four, not yet in school, when the bad thing happens to her friend Agnes. Now her new friend, Poor Deer, is here to stay, riding around on Margaret's back like a bundle of sorrows for the rest of her days. This is a beautiful, completely immersive tale of guilt, anger, sadness, grief, and redemption. You may not like many of these characters, but it's not likely you'll forget them any time soon.

A fairy-tale, fever dream of a book. The narrator is haunted by a supernatural creature who pushes her to tell the truth about the day her childhood friend died. A moody, and dark novel about guilt, trauma and healing.

"Even in the most terrible chapters of my life I have always known a certain, savage beauty"

Sometimes books feel true, and that makes them hard to read. I started this brief and brutal book months ago and initially struggled to move past the first few chapters, which describe the death of a young girl and the fallout for her friend Margaret, who feels responsible, and maybe is.

Margaret is four when this death occurs and a teen when she narrates the story; as a result, Poor Deer is supercharged by the imaginative power of childhood and the solipsism of adolescence. To Margaret, stuck forever in a moment remembered through the technicolor prism of young childhood, story and memory are one and the same. The tales she tells herself to explain her friend's death, products of continual revisiting and revising of what is true, become woven into her understanding of the event itself. The resulting narrative feels akin to magical realism or a dark fairytale. The setting and characters register as real (almost painfully so), but the plot is unconstrained by the bounds of probability. Focusing on accuracy of emotion allows Oshetsky to grapple meaningfully with big questions: What power does grief have to shape the future we can imagine for ourselves? What is the physical shape of shame, and in what voice does it speak? I don't know that I would say I enjoyed reading Poor Deer, but I'm glad I did.

𝑨 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒚𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒙𝒊𝒄 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔.

This novel tore at my heart. What the tale accomplishes with perfection is express the confusion minds that are just forming experience and how attempting to draw a curtain over facts with easy lies (well-intentioned or not) can poison a child’s future. Two little girls are running outside looking for adventure, Margaret Murphy and her next-door neighbor Agnes Bickford, both are four years old and the exact same size. They are drawn to the schoolyard, where big kids attend classes, further than they should be venturing, but where are their mothers and why aren’t they being watched over? Just the day before snow stood upon the grounds but now a wonder has taken its place, a small lake, calling to bold Agnes, who cannot resist wading in while her best friend watches. It isn’t long before they are chased off by Mr. Blunt, a third-grade school teacher. Ordered to go home, the girls decide to disobey him and look for adventure. They decide they will play a favorite game of theirs in the old toolshed in Agnes’s backyard. It will be their doom.

Through tragedy, guilt and trauma Margaret comes of age, not quite moving forward as time passes. Sifting through the confusion of what she remembers and what her mother refutes, Margaret struggles to process the past. Tortured by the death of her vibrant friend Agnes on that ill-fated day and haunted by visions of a Deer with boggy breath who calls her a liar and provokes her to remember the brutal truth, Margaret must finally finish the tale. After losing Agnes, she is gobbled up by loneliness. Time behaves strangely, terrible things keep happening to her, and shame oozes from her pores. She is a clever child, but grief, guilt and dread are feelings that should belong in the world of adults. Can accidents be a sin? Is she the villain or the victim? She will spend many years asking herself that very question. As she tells herself many variations of that day, with angry Poor Deer urging her to stop her dirty lies, will she arrive at atonement? Will she make peace and be able to allow herself love?

A haunting, original tale. Oh yes, read it! What a writer!

Publication Date: January 9, 2024

Ecco

My first five star read of 2024 came early! Poor Deer is the story of a young girl named Margaret grappling with her complicity in the tragic death of her friend when they are 4 years old. Margaret's mom blames her as well in not so many words, but will not let the truth come out. Margaret is left alone to deal with the fact that her first real memory, her first real emotion, is true grief. Not the normal sadnesses of a child like losing a toy. She pushes these feelings away in any attempt to cope.

Poor DEAR is a line frequently directed towards Margaret. This is where the title comes in. Poor DEER is a physical yet imaginatory deer like being that becomes Margaret's shadow. Poor Deer is there to make sure Margaret atones for her wrongs.

I loved everything about this book. It reads like a fairy tale in the most untraditional sense. Oshetsky is doing unique things with her story telling with narratives shifting, making it so I truly could not put this book down. It is literary and accessible and magical and tender. Viewing grief and guilt through the eyes of a child as she grows give me chills and I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

I went into this book completely blind as to the plot and ended up absolutely loving it. It is a dark story, particularly in the beginning. But beyond the darkness is an interesting look at one young girl's grappling with grief.

Poor Deer is told by an older Margaret, looking back at the time when her friend Agnes dies. She is haunted by guilt surrounding this death, manifested in the form of a terrible creature she calls "Poor Deer". Margaret attempts to tease out an account of her friend's death, but is constantly drawn off track to a more idealized version of events. Poor Deer pulls her back on track each time she goes astray, dragging her back into the darker version of events.

As dark of a story as this was, I loved the way that Oshetsky deals with the different layers of grief and guilt in this story, both from Margaret's perspective and what we hear about Agnes' mother's suffering. Because of the way the story is told, the reader is never quite sure what the truth really is. You will start to read one thing, only to be interrupted by Poor Deer chastising Margaret for not telling the truth. It's an interesting discussion of who is guilty in the wake of an accidental death.