Literary Review

Review: 'Penguin Noir' by Nicelle Davis

At the edge of ice, the human shape warps

Neil Czeszejko

02 Jun 2025 — 2 min read

Penguin Noir, as the title suggests, fuses noir with anthropomorphism. One probes the cruelty and strangeness of the world; the other assigns human traits to non-human beings. Together, they mount a thrilling takedown of Man’s god complex.

Davis’ novel in verse centers on this narrative, fracturing freedom into a cage and exposing the clinical pornography of human-controlled insemination. In doing so, it strips away the illusion of human exceptionalism.

By blending poetry with dramatic writing, it then confidently challenges the belief that humanity stands apart from the animal kingdom—the very same it oppresses, whether for gain or enjoyment.

Though the narrative is bleak, its execution is spectacular. Words—aching, violent, and suggestive—mirror emotional states and physical experiences through rhythm and form, drawing the reader into their pattern.

Every mind can glimpse fragments of itself in Penguin Noir’s cast: the female penguin aching for a child, the multitude dreaming of freedom in a world governed by human hands, or the spectacle-starved zoogoer, gazing on in hollow awe.

Davis goes further still, drawing a sharp parallel between the destructive love of life that seeks to cage and possess, and the human world where life itself becomes a threat.

More precisely, the fear of its loss expands into a cell of its own—one that won't let the mind rest while humanity continues to inflict its greatest horrors upon itself. Yet Davis’ language, far from crushing, traces every boundary with exquisite care; its muscled membrane thrums beneath the mind's fingertips, delivering a subtle but relentless pressure.

Ultimately, Penguin Noir presses its beak against the language of dominion and control, warping it just enough to reveal its cracks. In that distortion lies a truth we rarely confront: that even our most human impulses—love, grief, longing—are not ours alone.

An advance copy was provided by Livingston Press at the University of West Alabama.