Claire Oshetsky

This is a strange confessional memoir of a very young woman who bears a burden of guilt from the death, when they were both 4, of her next-door friend. Had she alerted adults, her friend most likely would have survived, but at 4? Old enough to remember, too young for any perspective. Her mother's entanglement with the friend's mother, and her denial that her daughter had any culpability, are the start of an intense dis-association. Told in a scaled form where she has to backtrack, denying the last page or so, and restart "with what really happened" sometimes more than once.
There are moments of astounding beauty and offhanded cruelty.… (mere)

“It’s time to tell the truth.”

Sixteen-year-old Margaret Murphy has spent most of her young life haunted by the memories of a tragic episode from her childhood – an event that resulted in the death of her friend Agnes when they were both only four years old. The whispers, the rumors and her mother’s silent judgment would have made Margaret’s reality even more difficult to bear, but Margaret is an imaginative child with a love for fairy tales. The stories she weaves – the alternate realities in which she chooses to live in her own mind, stories with happy endings, help her cope with her trauma. But her respite, of sorts, is short-lived because an unwelcome character “Poor Deer” has found its way into her life and her story, reminding her of all she wants to forget.

Margaret is pushed by Poor Deer, a magical manifestation of her conscience, to confront her past and come to terms with the tragedy that has shaped her life. As Margaret struggles to separate truth from fiction we follow Margaret through the years, the people, places, and events that have led her to the present day – in a hotel room near Niagara Falls, sharing a room with the ever-present Poor Deer and two strangers who just might become a part of her story.

Poor Deer by Claire Oshetsky is a compelling work of fiction. The author deftly weaves past and present timelines into a fluid narrative that tells a tale of grief, trauma, guilt and hope that is both deeply emotional and profoundly thought-provoking. The author has done a brilliant job of penning Margaret’s thoughts and emotions as she evolves from a confused four-year-old child to the sixteen-year-old we meet at the beginning of the book from the perspective of present-day Margaret Well-thought-out characters, the fairy-tale/fable-like narrative (with dark overtones) that uses magical realism to depict very realistic and complex human emotions and the author’s sparse, yet evocative prose had me immersed in the story from the very first page.

Margaret is an endearing protagonist and her story is one that will stay with you.

“And whether I’m about to be the hero of my own story, or the villain, or the sacrificial lamb, or a person of no importance who is forgotten in the end, I won’t know until I’ve come to the final page.”

Many thanks to Ecco for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.… (mere)

This is a dark fairytale‑like story, and I mean Brothers Grimm level dark. It begins with a tragedy that happened when Margaret was four and years later she still can't come to terms with it, especially since it may have been her fault. She was just a child then, so how much of what she remembers is real - maybe it didn’t even happen that way after all?

I’ve got to admit this book's beginning went far outside of my comfort zone. The level of grief and self-blame I could imagine in Margaret's situation was crushing. There is a journey in this, a search for self-forgiveness and atonement, that I barely followed because the whole premise was beyond anything I could relate to.

My thanks to Goodreads Giveaways and the publisher for an arc to review.… (mere)