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A review by vie_bibliophile
Fowl Eulogies by Lucie Rico
3.0
What a strange story! If anything, Fowl Eulogies is a novel you should read to be surprised (shocked, even?) and not for its literary value or the depth of its writing. I found the theme of human-animal relationships and the underlying critique of capitalism and the meat industry to be interesting to reflect on, but the writing was poor, the characters were shallow and there were so many plot holes in the story. Paule, the main character/narrator, is supposed to be an unlikeable, unreliable character but because of the shallow writing she just comes off as confusing. I had such a difficult time understanding her and why she behaves the way she does. For instance, we are told she becomes a vegetarian after watching her mother slaughter a chicken when she was a kid, which makes one assume that she would have a problem with slaughtering chickens, but after taking over the farm she has no problem killing these animals which she claims she has a close emotional connection with. In fact, she even finds pleasure in killing them. This was so unrealistic and confusing for me; the book is filled with lines where Paule explains how much she loves a chicken and how special the animal is, only to be followed by the usual "So then I killed him." I guess the point there was that she thinks of these killings as some sort of spiritual, sacrificial act but I don't think the novel does a good job in demonstrating how exactly that is the case. A deeper understanding of the character would have allowed the reader to interpret these scenes differently, but the way it was written, it made no sense to me. The book also does a lot of telling and not a lot of showing; there is little room for the reader to contemplate because every message or takeaway of the novel is spelled out to you constantly.
Fowl Eulogies was also incredibly disturbing to read and I wonder if it was meant to be this way. The vivid descriptions of chickens being killed, people being punched or shot and all the psychological manipulations that took place were all very triggering yet the novel presents them as completely ordinary events. My confusion arose from the fact that I am not sure whether my reactions stem from my very urban (and, perhaps, soft) upbringing or if the novel was meant to create this disillusionment through the contrast between the casual narration and the horrific plot that is narrated. I hope the latter is the case, because the discomfort I felt while reading was a unique experience. It made the book more captivating.
Overall I would say Fowl Eulogies will be a book unlike any you might have read before. Don't go into it with high literary standards, but expect to be surprised and entertained.
Fowl Eulogies was also incredibly disturbing to read and I wonder if it was meant to be this way. The vivid descriptions of chickens being killed, people being punched or shot and all the psychological manipulations that took place were all very triggering yet the novel presents them as completely ordinary events. My confusion arose from the fact that I am not sure whether my reactions stem from my very urban (and, perhaps, soft) upbringing or if the novel was meant to create this disillusionment through the contrast between the casual narration and the horrific plot that is narrated. I hope the latter is the case, because the discomfort I felt while reading was a unique experience. It made the book more captivating.
Overall I would say Fowl Eulogies will be a book unlike any you might have read before. Don't go into it with high literary standards, but expect to be surprised and entertained.