When We Were Birds

Took me a bit to getting into the rhythm of the writing but once I did, I fell in love with the characters and the world. Beautiful story, and I love stories that talk about folklore or cultural tales from other places so this was a perfect read. It's a perfect mix of the supernatural/spiritual and the real world.

I found this a frustrating read. In many ways I respect that it is written in Trinidadian English, but as someone not used to the tense structure used in that vernacular it was a somewhat jarring read for me. My bigger issue was with pacing though - this novel starts extremely slowly and only marginally ups the pace. The magical realism is intriguing - the concept and theming of the book was done in a nice a haunting way, really leaning into some of the folk mysticism surrounding death in Caribbean cultures. The two main characters were likeable in there own way, but the fact it took until over halfway for them to come in contact left the start of book dragging.

Literary fiction is often a bit heavy for me and this was definitely on that side of the scale for me - I would call this a literary magical realism novel if I am trying to categorize. The prose is pretty, but again it acts as a speed bump on the story (my usual criticism of the more literary styles). For people who enjoy that style of writing, this is an excellent example of it. The fantastical elements were intriguing, but the pacing dragged to much for me to really enjoy it.