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A review by albon
At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
1.0
2019 review:
i'm sure it's a classic for a reason, and that reason is probably that people are smarter than me, but in my opinion this wasn't interesting and there were no funny bits. if anything it just felt like proof that men in the 1930s could write literally any words in a completely random order and publishers were just like "ah. yes. genius". i know it's unfair to start drawing comparisons when you've just finished a really good book, but i'm gonna do it anyway: this book was first published in 1939. i just finished The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter yesterday, which was published in 1940. without having read anything else they've written, carson mccullers was a better writer when she was 23 than flann o'brien was at 28. women stay winning.
i'm sure it's a classic for a reason, and that reason is probably that people are smarter than me, but in my opinion this wasn't interesting and there were no funny bits. if anything it just felt like proof that men in the 1930s could write literally any words in a completely random order and publishers were just like "ah. yes. genius". i know it's unfair to start drawing comparisons when you've just finished a really good book, but i'm gonna do it anyway: this book was first published in 1939. i just finished The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter yesterday, which was published in 1940. without having read anything else they've written, carson mccullers was a better writer when she was 23 than flann o'brien was at 28. women stay winning.