Reviews

Compared to Patrick Suskind's other books this one is surprisingly wholesome. I love the writing style. It's a unique look into a man's complete mental breakdown over the presence of a pigeon that sends him into an introspective spiral of his own rigidity and wasted life.

entry_level's review

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reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

ed_moore's review

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dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was so absurd yet absolutely hilarious I am obsessed. Patrick Süskind’s ‘The Pigeon’ follows a bank security guard in Paris, Jonathan Noel, and the way his day is completely transformed by the domino effect of a pigeon being outside his door that morning. It is almost a satirical retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’, yet in its absurdism very Kafkaesque in tone so immediately set out to be a book I would love, and just that was the case.

The descriptions of the spiralling stream of consciousness fronted with the pigeon are so funny and also brilliantly written, the pacing in sublime and the following descent into madness is a wonderful read, simply because of a pigeon, and that is the beauty of it. It’s so short too, I read it in a sitting, yet offers so much. It also sort of resonated with my brain in the manner which the smallest of changes in routine can completely disrupt and ruin the whole day, and in a way that added to ‘The Pigeon’s’ charm on a personal level. And it’s the simple fact that all the chaos throughout the novel is the direct effect of the presence of a pigeon.

ecstasia's review

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3.0

we're one misshapen away from totally losing it

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