3.5 stars

Vampires and religious trauma? I was absolutely hooked from this premise!

In Fragile Animals, twenty-three year old Noelle travels to the Scottish Isle of Bute where she meets a man claiming to be a vampire. An unlikely connection based on confession forms between the two of them. Their relationship ultimately forces her to confront her past.

This story featured some truly beautiful prose and interesting characters. It was definitely a weird and at times gross book. The first half of the book was quite slow and I struggled to connect with the protagonist. Halfway through the book, however, the plot picked up. My favorite parts were Noelle's flashbacks to her strained relationship with her mother and the discussions surrounding Catholicism and sexuality. By the end, I certainly felt for Noelle even if she was flawed. In my opinion, the vampire in the story merely acted as a catalyst for change and introspection within the main character. I found that I wasn't as interested in his character than I thought I would be.

Ultimately I liked Fragile Animals and would recommend it but it just wasn't very memorable for me. As I stated before, it was quite slow and every time I put it down I found it hard to pick it up again. It wasn't for me but I appreciate the excellent writing and what the story was trying to accomplish.

Thank you to to Netgalley and 404 Ink for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

This is probably the most original novel I read so far this year and I couldn’t stop reading it. The only trouble I had it was that the pace was a little bit to slow and it drag the whole book. But overall is such a interesting book. Is a book that touch many themes homophobia, religion, trauma, plus vampires. I mean who doesn’t love that mix. I really want to read more world of the author and I hope this book got the success it deserve.

“You can’t take the blues to bed, Noelle. They’ll just sleep with you.”

Noelle was dragged up Catholic by an emotionally distant and hypocritical Mother, and finds herself feeling stagnant in her 20s forced to face her trauma and self-sabotage behaviour. Having woken up alone and hungover again, full of hazy memories and regrets from the night before, Noelle books herself an impromptu solo holiday to the Isle of Bute. It is on the Isle that Noelle meets Moses, a mysterious man claiming to be a vampire. Noelle isn’t sure if he’s telling the truth, but does find herself drawn to him in ways she can't understand, let alone explain.

Fragile Animals is a captivating and unique novel and I genuinely can’t believe its a debut. Genevieve Jagger has a beautiful and haunting way with words and will have you laughing one second then crying the next.

*ad-pr: I received a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

This was an incredibly original novel and I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like it. Noelle goes to the Isle of Bute, meets a man claiming to be a vampire and they have deep conversations at the bed and breakfast they’re staying at. Unusual, yes, but very tense and intriguing, with the relationship between the two strangers providing a unique premise for the story. I loved how atmospheric this was, with the setting of Bute coming alive, making this an incredibly absorbing novel. The writing was beautiful throughout and I was captivated by the evocative language used within Jagger’s prose.

However, the plot meandered quite a lot, which slowed down the pace for me, and I sometimes felt like we weren’t getting enough time to explore Noelle and Moses’s relationship or the themes of the novel properly. Religion, sexuality, family, sex and love were prominent themes throughout, but I wanted these ideas to be developed further and hoped the past and present would have a more satisfying link. I enjoyed this overall, but I would have liked the plot to go somewhere else and had more of my questions answered.

All in all this was a compelling read and I can’t wait to see more from the author!

Jagger’s ‘Fragile Animals’ is a dense cake of a book in the best possible way. It is an extraordinary feat of literary prowess.

Noelle, our protagonist, is a deeply enriched character with many flaws. She holds a lot of childhood trauma, trauma that carries her through the rest of her life. When she happens upon Moses, her life is inextricably changed. He acts as a window into scenes from her past, similar to in Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’. All characters in this novel are well-developed.

‘Fragile Animals’ is a powerful tour-de-force exploring religion, shame, trauma, homophobia, and what it means to be consumed. I am keenly awaiting for this to be adapted for the screen.

Jagger is an author to watch out for!

it’s the year of the vampires!!!!

fragile animals is not for the faint of heart. every single page, every long chapter made me absolutely feral with anticipation with what’s to come next and believe me, there was never a dull moment. genevieve jagger wrote a book so captivating and unexpected that i have created a special bond with the story, i didn’t want to let it go. fragile animals is about an ex-catholic woman trying to navigate her life in a gloomy island with a broody vampire. it had all the vibes and wonder of a gothic novel and i’m here for it. sin, confession, and more sin.

it’s the year of the vampires, and fragile animals is a must read!!!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own :)

Fragile Animals is an immensely difficult book for me to rate. To say this is a book about confession featuring a vampire does it a great disservice, especially because our vampire is not as involved in the story as I thought he would be. Rather, this is an incredible intimate look at a mentally ill woman’s life and her incredibly complicated relationship with religion.

Noelle’s loneliness was very, very relatable, as was her complex relationships with her parents. Those two aspects of her character hit a little too close to home and made me root for her in a sad, forlorn sort of way. There were so many silent indicators of her need for help and it enraged me that the people who needed to look out for her let her continue to destroy herself rather than pushing her to get help.

That said, there’s something about this story that feels missing. I loved the prose and the nonlinear timeline that the plot follows. I also loved the gloomy setting and the swan scene, in particular. Objectively, all of those make for a very, very good book. But still, the reader is lacking something on the last page and that leaves a sense of dissatisfaction behind.

On the other hand, and because I like giving things the benefit of the doubt, I do think that there is some intent in leaving the reader dissatisfied, but I’m honestly rambling now.

All in all, Fragile Animals is deeply introspective and rife with gorgeous imagery. I enjoyed my experience with this novel even though it did leave me feeling incredibly sad.

of the description - “when an ex-catholic woman develops a sexual relationship with a vampire, she is forced to confront the memories that haunt her religious past” - I knew that I was going to love it.

The prose is beautiful: silky smooth, yet gritty and earthy - it is a slow and wondrous read that pulls you in closer with each chapter, like a strong tide not wanting to let you go. We learn so much about Noelle’s life through her ‘confessionals’ with the vampire, Moses, and her processing of her harsh and confused upbringing. These pieces slowly come together to create a magnificent artwork upon its final sentence.

The characters were unique and the glimpses we get of them over the course of the novel build a complex web of narratives that explain Noelle’s struggles.

I did not want this to end: I deliberately paced myself with this one because there was so much to digest and savour.

Description:
Noelle has been having a hard time lately, so she leaves her stuff behind and travels to a small island in Scotland to figure her shit (and overwhelming Catholic guilt) out. Instead, she meets a vampire.

Liked:
Some nice imagery, flowery prose, and a believably confused protagonist with interesting Shit Going On. Sparsely but well-populated with memorable characters.

Disliked:
The 'vampire' element feels like a bit of gimmick… a bit anaemic, if you will :P There's an argument to be made that it's crucial to the plot, but there's no real reason for that element to be vampiric specifically. I wouldn't have minded/noticed this at all, were it not for the marketing and tagline. The prose is often TOO flowery; not in the sense of being difficult to understand, but just because it feels a bit overwrought. If it had been a little more sparing with the poetic language, I think the sprinkles of it might have shone a bit more. The dialogue is noticeably free of this and feels quite standout because of it.

Would recommend - it’s an interesting and short piece.

Anything Else:
This was coming in at a high three stars versus low four stars mark, so I’ve gone for four.
Also, beautiful cover, eh?

In the search for a perfectly written vampire book? Then this is one your should really consider! This story follows an adult woman who develops a relationship with a vampire and explores the complexities of religion, growth, and sexuality. We see the main character, Noelle, forced to confront her religious trauma and family trauma all while trying to sort out her guilt and new forbidden relationship. Genevieve Jagger does a perfect job at illustrating a dark, twisted, emotional, and reflective tale with a satisfying ending.

Disclaimer: thank you to NetGalley and 404 Ink for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I went into this thinking that it would be a story about a woman, and her affair with a vampire.
And though it is a book about a woman and a man, who may or may not be a vampire, it is more a navigation of Catholic guilt, and a woman’s fraught relationship to her mother—and how these are often tangled up together.
Beautifully written passages, while also containing some gloriously gory bits. All of which make it an impossibly human story.

this book’s prose is SO good! i’m super picky with that and i was pleasantly surprised by how much i liked the writing and how it could suck me into the world. i loved the way you can track noelle’s mental state and journey through her language (the evolution of how she refers to her mother, switching to third person when she dissociates).
i found noelle and moses' relationship dynamic so interesting, i did notice i was occasionally impatient reading noelle's flashbacks to get back to them. the flashbacks were well paced themselves, but i think that i was just craving more from them especially at the end of the book because their chemistry was amazing. overall a really beautiful story with some shocking scenes that kept me on my toes, that left me wanting a little more closure at the end, but i’m not too mad about it. (also, the cover art is absolutely amazing). thank you for the e-arc!

"Fragile Animals" is a strange, beautiful and maddeningly sexy book with a streak of Catholic guilt running through it like a stick of Blackpool Rock. Despite its short length, it is dense and best experienced in short, sharp bursts. I loved Genevieve Jagger's use of language and the characters of Noly and Moses felt incredibly real (or as real as you can get when one of the main characters is a vampire.)

It's also one of the most emotionally devastating books I've read in a long time, and one that - much like a vampire's kiss - will linger in me for a long time. The only small quibble I have about it is that I would like to have explored the strange character of the priest on the island a little bit more. He seemed like a figure of menace who knew more than he was letting on, and I kept expecting this narrative strand to be developed a little further than it was.

Is it too soon to be thinking about our books of 2024? Because 'Fragile Animals' will definitely be one of mine. Thank you 404 Ink!

The unusual, dense writing style of this novel drew me immediately. The anxiety of the protagonist is felt from the very first page, giving the work a rich wholly human quality that is difficult to replicate. Noelle is constantly consumed by decision-making and the worry that her actions will condemn her to hell. 

The use of capitalization of She and Her was particularly engaging with the pronouns subtly comparing her mother's looming presence to God Himself. This adds a whole new perspective to the protagonist's 'brutally catholic' upbringing and her feelings of self-worth under 'divine' parentage. 

The vampire that stalks this novel plays a key role in unravelling Noelle. As she destroys herself both physically and mentally over the consequences of sin he sits as a counter to this. As a supposed immortal he cannot go to hell and face the final judgement that Noelle fears so much. He is sin but is without sin. I would have liked to read more about this dynamic, and how its complexities lead to self-reflection and change. Overall this novel felt underwhelming in the execution of its themes.

Trigger Warning: self-harm, sexual abuse, religious trauma, homophobia, internalised homophobia.

Fragile Animals is a brilliant gothic debut novel from Genevieve Jagger. It's full of atmosphere, and will stay with readers long after the final page is turned.

absolutely gut wrenching. the final few lines tied this whole book together perfectly; even reading them in isolation i want to cry.
the intertwining of the story of noelle on the island, her childhood with her mother & father, and what happened with lomie was executed so well. i was desperate to know what happened in each part of her life and the movement back and forth was incredibly well paced. i was expecting more focus on the vampirism & her relationship with moses from the description i read, but i was surprisingly glad we didn’t really get that. it felt a lot deeper to have that presented as merely the thing that caused her to assess her life and how she ended up there.
also i always love a catholic guilt story, what can i say.

thank you netgalley & publishers for this ARC <3

Fragile Animals is a haunting novel about religion, sex, family, and the idea of sin. Noelle flees her life as a hotel cleaner in Leith to the Isle of Bute, staying in a hotel in which she meets Moses, who tells her he is a vampire. As they draw closer to each other by confessing lovers, the lingering trauma of Noelle's Catholic past and her mother's affair with their priest surfaces, and maybe a vampire was exactly what she needed to confront her own ideas of sin and weakness.

This book is an experience, a fascinating way of using a vampire as a plot device in a book that is a literary exploration of sexuality, guilt and religious trauma. Jagger plays with the audience, making Noelle at times unreliable and with a distinctive narrative style that luxuriates in hot and cold, in sensations and specific wording. Noelle is torn between binary ideas of good and evil, straight and gay, right and wrong, and she's an interesting protagonist because of this, someone searching for certainty she can't get. The book is gothic and luscious, but it's also about bodily fluids and dirt, and mostly about what people desire and what they actually do.

On a personal level, I found it funny that it had a few elements/details that I'm particularly familiar with (the fact that Satanism isn't actually what it sounds like, the village of Crail) and I liked that it had sharp realistic details whilst also being dreamy and unreal at times. I imagine people going into it for the vampire sex element might've expected there to be more, but the build up feels like the more plot-crucial part. I really liked how Noelle's relationship with Lomie was slowly explained through the book—it could've been a separate book itself, but instead, it's like a faux-background plot that Noelle is purposefully positioning as such.

Fragile Animals is a book about religious trauma and sexuality that happens to contain a vampire, and there's something very funny about that. I thought near the start that I had a handle on what the book would be, but actually it was quite different, in a refreshing way that made it much more of a literary journey through a character's troubled past than a 'bad boy vampire' story (not that there's anything wrong with the latter—I love vampire books—but I liked the complexity of this version).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review!

4 stars!

The premise of this, specifically, 'There, she meets a man who claims to be a vampire, and a relationship blooms between them based solely on confession' - GRIPPED me by the neck and compelled me to try for nab an ARC. And I'm damn well happy I did.

I will say this right now, the writing of this, GOOD GOD. The way Genevieve Jagger wrote some scenes, the details, the emotion, the metaphors, JUST THE WAY I found some quotes and lines I will happily try to remember for as long as I can.

However, I will say this I was disappointed that the relationship between Noelle and Moses didn't last as much as I wanted. Their dynamic was fantastic. I just liked how they spoke to each other. Compelling stories and confessions, truths etc. I wanted more from them as that's what really kept me engaged in the story. So, I was a little sad to how little their relationship is focused on in the story. But the meaning behind it and Noelle's upbringing, like as if Moses is a figure of all sin she's been told about as a kid, but here she is intrigued but also disgusted. I loved the explore and conversation about sexuality too. I could do on but wow!

When I started this book I didn’t think i would love it as much as i did.

Prose, sentences carefully crafted, religion pulled apart and stuck back together, the mullings of a young girl who caused a divorced (not really), slept with a vampire (really), and learned to accept parts of herself she was avoiding all wrapped into roughly 230 pages. I can not wait to get a physical copy and annotate the entire thing.

Because of the dense sentences, the metaphors, hyperboles, similes, imagery, and heavy mess of emotion this is a slower read. I was never once bored, I never was tired, I never thought about DNF-ing. I would throw caution if slow books put you in a reading slump, but otherwise I have found an author I will be looking for more of their writing from. And I hope others do too.

What a dense maze of a book that plunges the reader into the paranoia, anxiety and wholly human qualities of the mind in such a visceral and rich way. Wholly unique and unlike anything I have read before and yet so believable and engrossing. Jagger does not shy away from the gore of humanity nor the fragility of being human. Based around a girl in her young twenties, Noelle, who has arrived on a remote Scottish island on an impromptu holiday, the book slowly and insidiously unfurls what has led her to attempt such an escape both in exploring her childhood trauma and how this has followed her through life.

At the core of this book is the impact of faith, and being raised 'brutally Catholic' on the human mind, and it is painful to read as Noelle ties herself in frantic knots trying to decode whether her actions will condemn her to hell or whether she is worth of forgiveness. Jagger powerfully conveys this internal torment both through the twisting, question-driven internal narrative and the jarring, sudden references to her self-harming, both actively cutting herself, and a disregard for her health and hygiene. The plot draws a powerful link between religious approval and the approval of her emotionally distant, hyper religious mother (cleverly given a capitalised pronoun akin to God himself), and the challenges of functioning when appear to fail to gain both the approval of a social and societal hub like the Church and of a fundamental foundation of your family structure. Both are divine beings in the eyes of a child and both can control and shape your outlook on life irrevocably. Over the course of the novel, through unnerving references towards prior events and the slow unwinding of her past, you learn what led to Noelle breaking with the church, and with her mother, and the ways these twist and align.

Jagger also powerfully explores the legacy of Catholicism in relation to the LGBTQ+ community, and this is where Noelle as a walking contradiction plays out most powerfully. She adores her 'almost uncle', Lorne, who is a gay man and yet refers to being gay as 'having it' like it's a catchable disease. Her relationship with Loamie, which is similarly slowly unpicked, is also where she becomes the most unreliable narrator. both in presenting their dynamic, her role in it, and her feelings towards her 'half flatmate'. Repeatedly, Noelle presents herself as powerless, Loamie leading the the physicality of the relationship, and her flatmate even being the one to give Loamie a key, and yet, as the story unravels, the complexity of Noelle's psyche, and her own issues are seen to play a much larger role in the relationship than she immediately admits.

Upon arrival at the island, Noelle stays in a B&B with the owner, Cairstine, and an elusive man, Moses. Moses presents himself as a vampire and a taxidermist, and his dynamic with Noelle is perhaps one of the most interesting and engaging aspects of the book. Despite repeatedly claiming that she is 'too open', it appears that Moses is the one to unfurl many aspects of her trauma that others, including Loamie, are not as privy to, and the raw, animalistic nature of their attraction and behaviour towards one another is so charged and absorbing. Perhaps the most powerful moments are not when they are physical, but rather as they navigate the spaces in their relationship, and engage in the tug and pull dynamic. If anything, I simply would have enjoyed more time delving into this dynamic, and its complexities. He represents the sin that she is both constantly drawn to and yet eternally repulsed by. His supposed immortality suggests that he may never meet the fate or final judgement that Noelle fears so much. Their ending, although perhaps fitting, is almost stinging in how it leaves the reader with more questions and a desire for more.

While Jagger handles the questions and tensions within the novel masterfully, perhaps equally engaging and haunting is her prose. She has a distinct command of the language, and her words often read like poetry as Noelle navigates both her physical and mental landscape. Every word is chosen with care, and every image is striking, precise and evocative: 'He feels objects like a hound: tongue first.' The flashbacks built around the church and her family home are rich, and adopt a strangely childlike reminiscence even as these memories are poisoned by what comes after. As Noelle's sense of self blurs and cracks, the confusing blend of first and third person narration as her mind splits from her body is also ingenious and delivers the reader into the same confusion and blur of action and thought that the protagonist herself is feeling.

This is a memorable, haunting, beautiful book that I will think back to and revisit often. The ending feels perfect in its incompleteness, and, while I will always want to delve back into Noelle's complex existence, I am more than excited to see what Jagger comes up with next.