Sharon Kernot

** Disclaimer – I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

The Art of Taxidermy is a beautifully crafted novel in verse that essentially is about the complexity of grief and how different people deal with it. Set in Australia, the story is told through the eyes of 12-year-old Lottie, who has seen a lot of loss in her young life. Due to what she has experienced, Lottie has a growing fascination with the dead: collecting dead lizards, birds, and rodents as if they are treasures. Lottie's strange hobby draws consternation from her Aunt Hilda, who believes such things are inappropriate for young girls.

For as short and as simple as it seems at first, The Art of Taxidermy is actually a multilayered, complex little novel. Right off the bat, we meet Lottie, who sees the beauty in dead things, and quickly becomes determined to learn how to preserve and immortalize them just like the ancient Egyptians she learns about in class.

The story is revealed piece by piece – the complexities of Lottie's life slowly unfold in the pages. From the death of her mother, to how death has haunted Lottie and her family throughout the decades. But – as I was surprised to discover – this is more than just the story of one family. A dark and not-often-discussed part of Australia's past is explored through Lottie's family history. I ended up doing a lot of secondary research as I was reading this – the lack of context would normally annoy me, instead I was made aware of some important history I knew nothing about previously.

I'm not usually a poetry person, I found the verse to be very readable – I sped through it in one sitting. The way the author discusses grief and death is beautiful and lyrical.

"It is good to feel sad,
It is good to cry,
It is good to grieve.

Tears swelled in my eyes,
Father's voice was soft and gentle and full of pain.

In his eyes I saw
what I felt.
It was as if I had travelled
the distance
to his heart,
to the dark recesses
of his grief."

I felt so deeply for Lottie and her situation. On the one hand, she is a budding scientist, but deep down, handling these tiny dead creatures is how she copes with her loss. Everyone deals with death it in a different way – for Lottie, it's the preservation of dead creatures. While this easily could have been a grotesque book, instead it turns something that might be "gross" into a tender exploration of how a young girl handles death.

My one gripe about this story, is the contentious relationship between Lottie and her Aunt. A large part of the plot is devoted to the struggle between the two, while Lottie's father just sort of stands by with a shrug. Aunt Hilda continuously points out how she believes Lottie's strange hobby is "not fit for girls," and it isn't until the end that things turn around. I had hoped to see more growth between the two characters – as a result, the Aunt's character came off as very two-dimensional to me.

Overall, I enjoyed this story far more than I expected to. It was exquisitely written and atmospheric – I was captivated from page one. Despite being in verse, I didn't have trouble getting into the "flow" of the author's writing, and I didn't find any portions to be too vague or metaphorical. Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised about how much I learned about Australian history from this beautiful little book. Would I recommend it? Absolutely – don't let the verse aspect scare you off, it's more than worth dedicated your reading time to.

Review also posted on my blog.… (mehr)

Representation: First Australian character
Trigger warnings: Fire, explosion, death of grandparent, death of a mother, death of a sister, sexism, animal death, racism

Sounds like a dark and sad book, not the book I would enjoy...
Update: 6/10, well where do I start on this one? This was a very quick read yet I didn't enjoy this at all which is a shame since Australian writers can do better than this, just look at Worse Things by Sally Murphy and The Little Wave by Pip Harry which were good verse novels that touched on heavy topics and they were executed well unlike this novel. There are not a lot of things happening within the story which focuses on the main character, Charlotte or Lottie for short who just likes to dissect and preserve dead animals making her a taxidermist much to her peers and relative's disapproval, she even said that if Lottie were a boy then it would be perfectly fine to do taxidermy but since she was a girl she shouldn't do that. There's a bit of romance when Lottie develops an attraction with a First Australian called Jeffrey but this was set in the 1940s which I only realised when Nazis were mentioned and she describes all the insults Black people and First Australians would face in Australia back then, even the n-word. Was it necessary for the author who is white to put that in? That's kind of racist to be honest.

I felt bad for Charlotte since she lost so many people in her life including her mother, her grandmother and even her sister Annie who died at just six years old. Even though the writing style lacked any finesse or refinements I could still get sucked into the story and characters which I found strange since the writing style rarely features figurative language devices other than some imagery of animal corpses. I would find it hard to recommend this book unless they like verse novels or don't mind the themes of grief and dissecting animals and you can read other books than this but if you enjoyed this one good for you.… (mehr)

2.5 Stars

Updated 19/11/2020 with CW and review

CW: Obsession with taxidermy after mother dies, descriptions of taxidermy process, death of animals with descriptions, racism, sexism as taxidermy is not seen as a 'girls thing'

Well this was a dark and well crafted read. It is atmospheric in parts as Lottie seeks to make sense of death and loss. I am unsure who the target audience is for this macabre little verse novel. Not a lot happens as it is really just about a family coping in their own ways with losing family members.

The following is an extract from the final verse so it is a mild spoiler, but to me it encompasses the themes covered in this novel.

In my makeshift laboratory
when focused on my work,
I felt close to Mother and
dear, dear Annie.

It dulled the bone-heavy
ache of grief-

the revitalisation of life,
the bringing back
from the edge
of decay.

The revival and
re-creation of something
that has expired
is an honour
and a gift.
… (mehr)

“The Art of Taxidermy” left me pleasantly surprised and would definitely say it’s not for everyone specially if you’re not typically taken with verse novels (that is a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose.) It was a unique and refreshing tale that told a tale about coping with loss and the grieving process, and would highly recommended to readers who aren’t afraid to step out their comfort zone.

… (mehr)