Both Uses of

grotesque
in
When the Legends Die

In the prairie dog towns grotesque burrowing owls tilted on their long, slim legs and hissed and screeched.†
Chpt 20 *

Red had a big bruise under his left eye, his nose was skinned, the knuckles on both hands were bleeding, he had lost his hat, and his naked torso was grotesquely white from his neck to his belt.†
Chpt 26

Definitions:

(1) (grotesque)
distorted and unnatural in shape or size -- especially in a disturbing way

or:

ugly, gross, or very wrong
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

More rarely, grotesque can refer to a style of art or instances of it that combines or distorts in a fanciful way natural forms into something that is often ugly or disturbing. Grotesque can also be used specifically to reference a gargoyle-like sculpture without a waterspout.