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I Am The Bird
Max Gorshen lives in a dark, hot apartment in a medium-size, though unnamed, north American city with someone he refers to only as "the other [man]," who, Max tell us, lives in the apartment's "long, dim hallway." Max and "the other [man]" never seem to encounter each other in the apartment (although Max sees "the other [man]" mingling with and bedeviling "the interlopers and trespassers" on the city streets below the window Max sits at while he writes the novella), though they talk to one another through letters and brief notes: neither man is certain the other man really exists. Both of these characters live with "Langley," a very talkative and apparently highly intelligent African gray parrot. Something else exists in the big apartment, too, and all three first-person narrators (Max, the other [man], and Langley) lead us to believe that it is something vile.
- GenresHorror
143 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
T.M. Wright
61 books61 followersTerrance Michael Wright (AKA T. M. Wright) is best known as a writer of horror fiction, speculative fiction, and poetry. He has written over 25 novels, novellas, and short stories over the last 40 years. His first novel, 1978's Strange Seed, was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, and his 2003 novel Cold House was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. His novels have been translated into many different languages around the world. His works have been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and many genre magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 26, 2022
synopsis: the man is two men in one man and he lives with himself, by himself. these men overlap and they talk the same way and they talk to, at, and across each other. they watch each other carefully because they are enemies, or at least antagonistic roommates. headmates?
précis: the man has a bird and the bird is the man and the man loves the bird and the man wants to kill the bird who is himself. the bird talks too much, knows too much. there is a history of murders, or accidents; a car tampered with, a wife fell down a well. these are the man's memories. there is a bad smell in the house, something is rotting. is it a memory? that neighbor downstairs better watch herself, else she become another of the man's memories.
summary: the man watches the street and sees them: the interlopers. he catalogues them. are they coming to get him? the reader is an interloper as well, sorting through the man and his memories, by turns confused, dismayed, amused, intrigued, annoyed, appreciative. at least this reader, this interloper felt this way, thought this way, eager to create both connection and distance between himself and the man in the book who is two men and a bird, much like the reader is also two men but with a cat but no longer. I miss that cat.
abstract: the writer is T.M. Wright and after leaving pulp horror behind, paperbacks from hell full of strange ambiguity and shifting identities, he wrote 4 experimental novels, at the twilight of his life, experimental novels full of strange ambiguity and shifting identities. these narratives aren't stable. but they have their patterns, a logic model. I wish T.M. Wright were still around, creating unstable narratives and strange identities. I miss that T.M. Wright.
précis: the man has a bird and the bird is the man and the man loves the bird and the man wants to kill the bird who is himself. the bird talks too much, knows too much. there is a history of murders, or accidents; a car tampered with, a wife fell down a well. these are the man's memories. there is a bad smell in the house, something is rotting. is it a memory? that neighbor downstairs better watch herself, else she become another of the man's memories.
summary: the man watches the street and sees them: the interlopers. he catalogues them. are they coming to get him? the reader is an interloper as well, sorting through the man and his memories, by turns confused, dismayed, amused, intrigued, annoyed, appreciative. at least this reader, this interloper felt this way, thought this way, eager to create both connection and distance between himself and the man in the book who is two men and a bird, much like the reader is also two men but with a cat but no longer. I miss that cat.
abstract: the writer is T.M. Wright and after leaving pulp horror behind, paperbacks from hell full of strange ambiguity and shifting identities, he wrote 4 experimental novels, at the twilight of his life, experimental novels full of strange ambiguity and shifting identities. these narratives aren't stable. but they have their patterns, a logic model. I wish T.M. Wright were still around, creating unstable narratives and strange identities. I miss that T.M. Wright.
December 26, 2017
Suitably ambiguous and rhythmic. Reminds me of The Pigeon's Jonathan Noel's existential crisis, another perennial favourite
January 28, 2011
An odd, ambiguous little novel. I think I've worked it out, but each reader may have his own interpretation.
Want to read
August 28, 2011Stephen King recommended author: "T.M. Wright is a rare and blazing talent!"
July 15, 2023
strange, different, needs to brew a bit
not uncommon stuff coming from Mr Wright
not uncommon stuff coming from Mr Wright
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews