A review by eagerfrank13
At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien

adventurous challenging funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

In the reviews for this book I've seen that most people don't have an idea about this book. Probably due to a lack of understanding of Irish mythology and culture of old. Many elements of the book are pastiches of the form of Irish mythos, such as the use of extended, dramatic simile to describe something or the weird behaviour of nature, magic and Catholicism. O' Brien had such a deep knowledge of Irish myths and their nonsense mechanics that it would be like gibberish to anyone unfamiliar. Not to spoil chunks of the book too much but the entire retelling of the story of King Sweeny is totally accurate and the backwards, tumbling over itself that Irish stories have inherent in their structure is not too dissimilar to the output of Orlick and the boys at the end of the book, revising, going back over, forgetting bits. It's an expression in 20th century literature of the idiosyncrasies of oral story telling done to great comic effect. None of what I've said has really made much sense but honestly, I love this book too much to not exalt it's virtues.