"Men abandon their new brides on the side of the road when they take too long in the bathroom. A woman, unprepared to have a child, reverses her pregnancy. A man murders his wife and stuffs her in a suitcase and receives accolades for his brave new work of art. Reading Mouthful of Birds, like reading Fever Dream, was an uncanny experience of being completely unable to tear my eyes from the page, but also being unable to skim even slightly. Reading Mouthful of Birds was like crawling inch by inch along the ground in a park with a magnifying glass, out of scale and time, fixated on the alien strangeness of the moss and twigs that make up your daily surroundings."
Publisher Riverhead Books
Publication Date 2019-01-08
Section New Hardcover - Fiction / All Staff Suggestions / Fiction Suggestions
Format Hardcover
ISBN 9780399184628
"Superb" -- Vogue
"What makes Schweblin so startling as a writer, however, what makes her rare and important, is that she is impelled not by mere talent or ambition but by vision." -- New York Times
A powerful, eerily unsettling story collection from a major international literary star.
The brilliant stories in Mouthful of Birds burrow their way into your psyche and don't let go. Samanta Schweblin haunts and mesmerizes in this extraordinary collection featuring women on the edge, men turned upside down, the natural world at odds with reality. We think life is one way, but often, it's not -- our expectations for how people act, love, fear can all be upended. Each character in Mouthful of Birds must contend with the unexpected, whether a family coming apart at the seams or a child transforming or a ghostly hellscape or a murder.
Schweblin's stories have the feel of a sleepless night, where every shadow and bump in the dark take on huge implications, leaving your pulse racing, and the line between the real and the strange blurs.
