Reviews

Mouthful of Birds: Stories by Samanta Schweblin

kimmahkimmah's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

cozylifewithabby's review against another edition

4.0

 

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell) is a short story collection that was originally published in 2010 and translated into English in 2019. As with all short story collections, some stories really stood out to me, and then there were those that I did not enjoy as much. The stories in this book are abstract and strange. They take real life and focus on or highlight something until it becomes bizarre and warped. I know that the author also writes horror and some of the stories gravitate toward that. They weave magical realism into alternate realities and the stories have a hypnotic quality to them. Below I have ranked the stories from my favorite to least favorite with little descriptions of each. I am not sure if I will read her other work as I am not a horror fan, but this work is worth checking out. 

• Preserves: A young couple is not quite ready to start a family.
• Headlights: Women are abandoned by their husbands on the side of the road over and over again. 
• Mouthful of Birds: What would you do if your daughter started eating live birds? 
• The Heavy Suitcase of Benavides: What does it mean to be an artist? 
• Butterflies: Explores parenting and the impact we have on our children. 
• The Underground: An entire village of children go missing 
• Santa Claus Sleeps out Our House: Explores infidelity, depression, and poverty through the eyes of a child. 
• The Rage of Pestilence: Hunger 
• On the Steppe: What if what you long for isn’t what you think?
• The Size of Things: A man lives at a toy shop and reverts to childhood. 
• The Merman: Controlling relationships and the problem of putting life off for another day. 
• Towards Happy Civilization: A man waits for a train that never stops
• Irman: Reminiscent of Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, but actually about death
• A Great Effort: Therapy and Parenting 
• Slowing Down: A man’s death 
• My Brother Walter: Depression, Family
• The Digger: A man digs a hole, but for what purpose? 
• The Test: What makes us human? What is the value of human life? 
• Heads Against Concrete: What is art? What is friendship? How does racism and bias shape us? 
• Olingiris: Very strange. I don’t think I understood it. 

_golddustreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

If you want to escape reality while having that eerie, disturbing, and unsettling feeling, then Mouthful of Birds might be your book. It explores animals and humans as it themes + possession, violence and transformation. The book is composed of 20 stories. Some stood out, giving you that uncomfortable feeling because of how the supernatural and reality meet at certain stories. Some were underwhelming because it seemed like they were underdeveloped. Some would make you feel like you were in a nightmare. Some would leave you confused as hell. 

Here are my top 5 stories (no particular ranking though)
1) Mouthful of Birds
2) The Test
3) Rage of Pestilence
4) The Size of Things
5) The Heavy Suitcase of Benavides (glad this was put in the end) 

Honorable mentions:
1) Preserves, My Brother Walter, and The Digger

biblioleah's review against another edition

2.75

i finished this and i cannot remember a single story, they were just not memorable at all

chronicznymol's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

barschil's review against another edition

dark

3.0

juph's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

3.5

vault_g1rl's review against another edition

1.0

I won this book through Goodreads Giveaways.

I wasn't a fan. I found the stories to be lacking in any sort of meaningful purpose and had to struggle to finish the book.

ronanlynchfanclub's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

germangfeler's review against another edition

4.0

Samanta nos entrega estos 15 relatos en menos de 140 páginas donde situaciones que comienzan siendo bastante realistas terminan deformándose en escenas absurdas, inesperadas o a veces hasta terroríficas.

Disfruté mucho de su prosa y de los giros de la historias. Me reí fuerte con algunos, debo confesar. Esta lectura viene dentro de mi intento por leer más autoras mujeres y también más autores nacionales. Cumplió con creces las expectativas y quiero leer más de Samanta en el futuro próximo.

Relatos preferidos: cuando me puse a pensar en esto me di cuenta de que me gustaron casi todos, pero si me tengo que quedar con unos pocos: Conservas, Papá Noel duerme en casa, Pájaros en la boca, Cabezas contra el asfalto, En la estepa.