Investigations on fracturing (cracking) processes in shale, specifically crack initiation, -propagation, and - coalescence contribute to the understanding of shale behavior. This is important for stability and deformability problems encountered in civil and mining engineering. It is also very important in the context of hydraulic fracturing for hydrocarbon extraction. Vaca Muerta shale is a petroleum bearing formation in the Neuquén Basin in Argentina for which the application of hydraulic fracturing is considered. To provide a basis for understanding the hydraulic fracturing mechanisms in this material, it is necessary to conduct experiments on specimens without hydraulic pressure first, and this is what is presented in this paper. The paper provides some background on mineralogic and mechanical properties of the material. Specimen preparation will be discussed in detail given its importance and challenges posed by the Vaca Muerta shale in this regard, but also given its importance for experiments with other shales. The fracturing process will be investigated on prismatic specimens with two different flaw- (preexisting cracks) geometries subjected to uniaxial compression. The use of high-speed and high-resolution video makes it possible to interpret the fracturing process in detail. The interpretation shows that flaw geometry has a strong effect on the resulting crack pattern and controls crack coalescence.