Ms. Hen reviews Brood

Ms. Hen eats breakfast

 

Brood

Jackie Polzin

Doubleday

2021

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel, because she learned it is about chickens, and she cannot resist chicken fiction. Sometimes she loves books about chickens, and sometimes she does not. This one falls into the latter category.

This novel is about a woman who has four chickens in her backyard. She takes care of them, and she is depressed. Her husband is a writer, and he's looking for a teaching job in Los Angeles, and if he gets the job, they might have to leave the chickens in Minnesota. She is depressed because she had a miscarriage, and wanted to have the baby. She doesn't do a good job of taking care of the chickens.

Ms. Hen wanted to love this book, since it's about her favorite subject. But she found it depressing, without character and vitality. The woman, who is unnamed, is one of those women who is Sad Because She Doesn't Have Children, which Ms. Hen thinks is tiresome. She doesn't understand this desire that most women have. Maybe because she is a chicken, or because she thinks there's more to life than taking care of children, Ms. Hen can think of ten thousand things better than having a child.

This book lacks charm, which Ms. Hen thinks is one of the most important things in life. If something: a book, a person, a cat, or anything has charm, it makes experiences much more interesting. Charm can open doors, and help you to see the world in a different way. The protagonist in this novel has a bad attitude, and lacks the charm Ms. Hen appreciates and looks for in everything. 

Ms. Hen was glad this novel was short, because it was over quickly. Ms. Hen wishes that someone would write a happy and charming novel about chickens, because that would please her. Her breakfast was delicious, and that was probably the best aspect of this review.