Oddbody - by Rose Keating (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Compassionate, gross, deeply compelling. A must-read." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Striking, visceral, and brutally honest, Rose Keating's Oddbody is a captivating short story collection that delves into the weirdness of bodies and of existence itself through the voices of social outsiders and outcasts.

In her debut collection, Rose Keating takes you on a bold journey through the intricacies of sex, shame, and womanhood. With ten enchanting short stories, she crafts an emotional masterpiece that challenges us to reflect on the movement and needs of our bodies. Strange yet utterly mesmerizing, Oddbody is a provocative exploration that feels both surprising and sincerely authentic.

In "Oddbody," a woman finds herself navigating a codependent relationship with a ghost, while "Squirm" portrays a daughter tending to her father as he devours himself from the inside out. "Pineapple" introduces us to a woman who opts to have feather wings surgically attached to her back. In "Eggshells," a waitress gives birth to an egg during her breakfast shift. Each narrative in this collection is immersive, bizarre, and deeply empathetic, shining a light on women who dare to defy societal norms and invite you to question the conventions and milestones that determine success.

Review Quotes

"Ten lurid stories of magic, metamorphosis, and real-world longing...Keating builds a macabre world in which her characters are utterly free even within their various compulsions, constraints, and grotesque circumstances. Compassionate, gross, deeply compelling. A must-read."
--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"The search for love and fulfillment takes bizarre turns in Irish writer Keating's fearless debut collection... Not only are these stories delightfully weird, but they offer a deeply empathetic exploration of shame, desire, and loneliness."
--Publishers Weekly

"This is weird girl fiction at its finest - an uneasy, bold and subversive collection of astonishing tales that left me hungry for more. With Rose Keating, we are witnessing the birth of a rare and precious talent in literature."
--Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb


"Truth is stranger than fiction; this is stranger than both. Yet our tender, prickling, ungainly human condition beautifully shimmers from these stories the more surreal they get, and in a relatable everyday way. A brilliant debut about our curious existence that would have been notable at any time in history, by an author we can expect to celebrate again."
--DBC Pierre, Winner of the Man Booker Prize and author of Vernon God Little

"There's an impish playfulness and a deeply potent blight spreading from each story collected in Rose Keating's marvelously unnerving Oddbody. This superior collection of short fiction revels in the absurdity of human and non-human existence, gleefully celebrates the power of the uncanny, the atrocious and the bizarre... one of the most audacious and thought provoking collections I've ever read."
--Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

"Oddbody is a compendium of the contemporary female experience, red in tooth and claw. Rose Keating writes as if armed with a diamond blade; her stories are visceral, surreal, and savagely good."
--Mary Morrissy, author of Prosperity Drive

About the Author

Rose Keating is a writer from Waterford, Ireland. She received an MA in creative writing prose fiction from the University of East Anglia, where she was a recipient of the Malcolm Bradbury Scholarship and the Curtis Brown Prize. She is a winner of the Marian Keyes Young Writer Award, the Hot Press Write Here, Write Now Prize, and the Ted and Mary O'Regan Arts Bursary. She has been published in The Stinging Fly, Apex Magazine, Banshee, and Southword. In 2022, she received an Agility Award from the Irish Arts Council.