Under Review: The Life of a Creature by Nadja Lubiw-Hazard

From its opening pages, the collection draws on Lubiw-Hazard’s real-life experiences as a veterinarian. Unflinching in its depiction of animal suffering and, at times, animal cruelty, it is also fearless in its explorations of loss, death, and abuse. It can be a bruising read, but this is balanced by Lubiw-Hazard’s thoughtfully curated, lyrical turns of phrase, which are exquisite

Though Lubiw-Hazard’s style is wholly unique in its ability to find art in the unexpected, it brings to mind Michael Christie’s elegant blend of beauty and trauma in his debut collection The Beggar’s Garden as well as Shannon Burke’s novel Black Flies, which drew on his lived experiences as a paramedic.

In the opening story, which is the title story, Lubiw-Hazard describes a veterinarian who treats a German Shepherd puppy with parvovirus who has “liquid, bloody diarrhea squirt[ing] out of him, splattering everywhere like the last bits of ketchup from an almost empty bottle.”

The vet loses him to the virus and, as a balm, stumbles into a relationship with a woman with “grey eyes and confident hands.” As she burns the roof of her mouth on ratatouille, “it feels good, raw and blistering.” Soon after, she rescues a Lab–pit bull mix she names Orpheus, who survives a serious illness and becomes a steadfast companion. Later, when she has a baby with a different partner, she describes him as having “eyes as black as my midnight dog” and goes on to bury her placenta in the same place where she buried her beloved dog after he lived a long life.

It’s these details and this careful symmetry, along with her ability to confront her characters’ greatest challenges and fears, that ask the reader to do more than bear witness—to invest deeply in the fates of each animal and each person.

“The Bone Seeker” and “Between Breaths” deal with the agonizing aftermath of the loss of a young child. To say that these stories affected me profoundly is an understatement.

“You’ve Changed,” which is written masterfully in the second person, references both Jesse Harris’s iconic graffiti mural in Toronto and Lubiw-Hazard’s characters from her incredible novel The Napaway Hotel (Palimpsest, 2019). I always love the opportunity to revisit characters whose story moved me, and getting to see Carter and Ori in this state of intimate, emotional immediacy as the story tackles profound mental health struggles was very powerful.

The story ends with Carter being given a kitten, “a gentle vibration against your palms… real,” underscoring the vital role animals play in providing unconditional love and companionship without veering into sentimentality.

In the final story, the heartbreaking “River’s Wake,” about a person losing their partner to pancreatic cancer, the imagery is particularly striking: “the whole sky seemed to descend toward them… flesh, blood, bone, starlight, stardust.” The Life of a Creature feels most magical when, in a single sentence or story, Lubiw-Hazard is able to simultaneously capture all five.

The Life of a Creature by Nadja Lubiw-Hazard

Arsenal Pulp Press, 28 September 2026

183 pages

$21.95