Mouthful of Birds: Stories

Lovers of strange, haunting fiction will find Samanta Schweblin’s recently translated collection of short stories, Mouthful of Birds, utterly thrilling. On the night of her wedding, a bride is left on the roadside and discovers that other vengeful women have been abandoned before her. A father struggles to accept his daughter’s hunger for live birds. A man is instructed to ruthlessly murder a dog, but his hesitation brings about an unfortunate consequence. A group of people are trapped in the countryside, waiting in desperation for a train that never stops. A couple is consumed by the desire to have an unnamed thing, which they hunt for tirelessly, only to discover its savage nature. A man murders his wife and hides her body in a suitcase, which is publicly praised as an inspired piece of art.

Schweblin’s stories are written with a startlingly pragmatic voice, making the disturbing world she has created feel frighteningly real and ordinary. Schweblin does not waste a single word in her stories; her ability to evoke so much emotion in such a small amount of space is remarkable. There are a few stories that are incomprehensible, but otherwise this is an overwhelmingly strong collection that will leave a lasting unsettled feeling.