Review by Freya Bennett
Ella Baxter’s Woo Woo is nothing short of a fever dream—a haunting and chaotic exploration of anxiety, obsession and art. I devoured this novel during the dark hours of the night, when my baby’s teething woes created a backdrop of interrupted sleep and unsettled emotions, perfectly mirroring the tumultuous nature of the book.
The story centres on Sabine, a conceptual artist preparing for her provocative show, Fuck You, Help Me. As the show’s opening night approaches, her stress is compounded by the presence of a stalker whose escalating intrusion into her life causes her mental state to deteriorate. Her distress is further fuelled by her quest for validation from her ever rational husband, Constantine.
Baxter’s dark humour and raw intensity are palpably shaped by her own harrowing experience of being stalked. Originally dismissed by Baxter as “too nuts to ever publish,” Woo Woo was a visceral, cathartic response to her own circumstances. After the birth of her baby and with the stalker’s escalating menace, her fierce anger and protective instincts drove her to defiantly share Woo Woo with the world.
Woo Woo is a testament to Baxter’s stunning ability to channel personal trauma into a gripping and introspective narrative, making it a profoundly resonant read.
