The Crane Husband

The Crane Husband, by Kelly Barnhill

The Crane Husband is so short but it packs quite a punch. I read it directly after reading We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian and found it paired really well in a way I hadn't planned out. It's not just that both books are about abuse and neglect, it's that both touch on many of the same nuances and complexities: parents can love their children and also harm them, a family can be necessary for physical and emotional survival and also a threat to survival. A mother can be a genuinely brilliant artist whose own traumas and ambitions make her real and understandable and lovable, and she can also be dangerous to her children. A girl can be a bright, responsible caregiver, and also kind of a trainwreck of a person who takes after her mother. Because in the end, the book isn't really about the crane--the sharp beak and claws, the strong wings, the feathers everywhere. It's about the mother who invites the crane home to stay.

Strongly recommend this novella, it's literary and haunting, the protagonist has a great voice, and the setting is also weirdly familiar-feeling in spite of being a near-future dystopia (or is it?). Barnhill has a delicate hand and has created a sharp stab of a book.

Sidenote, I am deeply in love with this cover. What amazing art design. 12/10