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Brood

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Brood

By: Jackie Polzin
Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
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About this listen

The coop houses no predators, but the chickens do not know this. A chicken knows only what it can see. A chicken’s life is full of magic. Lo and behold.

Over the course of a single year, our nameless narrator heroically tries to keep her small brood of four chickens alive despite the seemingly endless challenges that caring for another creature entails. From the freezing nights of a brutal winter to a sweltering summer which brings a surprise tornado, she battles predators, bad luck, and the uncertainty of a future that may not look anything like the one she always imagined.

Brood by Jackie Polzin is a darkly funny and startlingly original meditation on life and longing, full of sorrow, joy and unrelenting hope. It will stand beside such modern classics as H is for Hawk and Gilead.

 Animals Family Life Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Funny

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Critic reviews

Brood, which chronicles a year of grief subsumed through care, abounds in wit, charm, and the very mystery of being. (Joy Williams, author of The Visiting Privilege)
This is the most wonderful book! Acutely observed and flawlessly conveyed. Completely original, full of surprise, humor, grief, and wisdom and just the right amount of chickens. I am hugely on board with Brood. (Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves)
All stars
Most relevant
Brought in the sale on a whim and I which I hadn’t. The “unknown narrator” is just unpleasant. There is no warmth or affection towards her observations of her husband (who is a bit of a prat) her best friend (who doesn’t seem a natural companion to her) or her mother. The way she did robes her old neighbour and their daughter was just nasty. At the point where she considers all women only want to get pregnant with daughters and a son would result in that woman having to try for another child so they could have a daughter made me stop gardening to utter “what a bitch” and left me feeling really, really angry.
There is some “keeping the chickens alive” content but basically this is not how to keep chickens happy it’s the yearning of a woman who wants a baby as long as that baby is female.
I couldn’t stand H is for Hawk either, this just isn’t my sort of book and if It was possible I wouldn’t have given it any stars at all. I wouldn’t recommend however if you enjoyed H is for Hawk then give it a go.

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