Ella Baxter first wowed us with her debut novel New Animal, a darkly humorous exploration of grief’s deepest nooks and crannies and a young woman’s adventures into the BDSM scene. In 2024, Baxter returns to the literary scene with yet another thrilling, eccentric novel—Woo Woo. Woo Woo follows Sabine, an uninhibited and unconventional artist whose inspiration for her creepy, disturbing art stems from her neuroses. She seeks validation in all her relationships, including her marriage with her highly rational husband, Constantine, whose stoic, methodical, and meticulous nature severely juxtaposes Sabine’s wildness. Sabine navigates the frequently unforgiving wilds of the Gez Z TikTok generation, the ruthless pursuits of a violent stalker, and the comical musings of the ghost of conceptual artist Carolee Schneemann. Baxter delivers Sabine’s story with the dark-humored, minimalist effects that define Baxter’s writing style, and Woo Woo launches an honest, emotional, and empathetic discussion about art, mental health, and relationships in the modern world.
Sabine’s unpredictability drives the novel’s momentum, and her constant waffling her in marriage with Constantine is one of the primary mirrors in which her unpredictability reflects. At first, her affection for Constantine appears as complete romantic devotion, but as the novel progresses, we see that her affection is another tool she manipulates in order to receive Constantine’s validation. Her other behaviors cues us into the severity of her neuroses. She randomly disappears from their home and ventures to parties while Constantine sleeps. In one memorable scene, she visits the restaurant where Constantine works as a chef and causes a raucous by sitting at a table and shrieking hysterically, much to Constantine’s embarrassment. For Sabine, these acts are yet another extension of her art, though she seems to not realize the emotional—even physical—toll her actions take on others.
Then, when Sabine’s stalker—whom she calls Rembrandt Man—begins making more and more appearances at her house, the fine lines between Sabine’s reality and artistic lives blur even more—thanks to social media. Sabine’s TikTok following might be small in comparison to other TikTokkers, but it is humorous. Viewers with screennames like Motorised_Cooter hijack Sabine’s artistic, philosophical lectures by contributing commnets like “Once I was high on mushrooms & idk if it was a gallery or an aquarium or what, but as soon as I walked in, the walls turned into oceanic portals to another dimension, and so I sprinted out of there so weird.” Others, like Pignut666, offer “She’s so healing to watch like she’s not self conscious about her stomach at all.” Most humorous of all are the response by the gallery in which her exhibition is set to appear: “What a thought-provoking piece Sabine provided for us this evening. Brings to mind such questions as what fear is, why we run, who the man represents, what is considered safe—an so many more! Great work tonight, Sabine! We were all right there with you! Brava! (Dare we say, encore?)” However, the superficiality of the viewers’ comments also reveals a darker side of social media: that even when it is, in Sabine’s case, used to broadcast a serious—even life-threatening—situation, the platforms’ entertainment factor dictates its audiences responses and engagements. Baxter’s mastery of the dark arts of dark humor not only create satirical, hilarious scenarios from Sabine’s stalker’s intrusions; they also create a juxtaposition that reveals the severity of Sabine’s situation.
The incorporation of Carolee Schneemann’s ghost also adds outstanding humorous effect to Baxter’s novel. Initially, Carolee Schneemann appears as a philosophical entity, one which offers Sabine subtly snarky life insights: “‘Lemons were made to be sliced into our drinks, and juiced into curd, and squeezed over our fishes, do you agree?’” Nonetheless, Schneemann’s figure soon becomes the voice of wisdom which ultimately saves Sabine’s life as she literally and figuratively tackles her stalker, going so far as to warning Sabine about the stalker’s presence: “‘I did not come all this way to simply talk to you … He’s coming, can’t you hear it?’” Amazingly, once Sabine heals, Carolee’s presence dissipates, and Sabine is left to her own creative—and healing—devices.
Woo Woo is a fantastic novel, rife with psychological and emotional twists and turns that leaves us laughing, questioning why we’re laughing, and then thinking philosophically about the ethical, moral, and social crossroads artists frequent. Sabine is an unforgettable character, a creative heroine who does not let her trauma define her. Instead, she navigates—quite adeptly—the creative hurdles the modern art world and her stalking incident’s overwhelming trauma. Most of all, she is a heroine that proves that art is a mechanism that can carry anyone through even the darkest moments of their lives.
Woo Woo, by Ella Baxter. New York, New York: Catapult, December 2024. 272 pages. $27.00, hardcover.
Nicole Yurcaba (Нікола Юрцаба) is a Ukrainian American of Hutsul/Lemko origin. A poet and essayist, her poems and reviews have appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Atlanta Review, Seneca Review, New Eastern Europe, and Ukraine’s Euromaidan Press. Nicole holds an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University, teaches poetry workshops for Southern New Hampshire University, and is the Humanities Coordinator at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. She also serves as a guest book reviewer for Sage Cigarettes, Tupelo Quarterly, Colorado Review, and Southern Review of Books.
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