The Avian Hourglass
A surrealist novel about motherhood and the nature of reality
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Dzanc Books
Published:26th Sep '24
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In a surreal world where birds and stars have vanished, The Avian Hourglass explores themes of motherhood, mental health, and the nature of reality.
At once an ode to birds, an elegy to space, and a journey into the most haunted and uncanny corners of the human mind, The Avian Hourglass showcases Lindsey Drager’s signature brilliance in a stunning, surrealist novel. This captivating narrative is perfect for fans of authors like Jesse Ball, Helen Oyeyemi, Yoko Ogawa, and Shirley Jackson. The story unfolds in a town as isolated as a snowglobe, where the birds have vanished and the stars are obscured, reflecting a growing Crisis that engulfs the community.
In this peculiar setting, a woman aspires to be a radio astronomer while raising triplets she bore as a gestational surrogate. Their parents tragically died in a car accident, leaving her to navigate the complexities of motherhood amidst surreal characters who embody the essence of avian life. These inhabitants memorize etymologies and construct enormous nests, drawing the reader into a world where young adults grapple with binary choices—YES or NO—while the haunting fable of the Girl in Glass Vessel looms over them.
As strange events unfold, hinting that the town might represent the entirety of the universe, the woman’s grasp on her reality begins to wane. The Avian Hourglass serves as a profound reflection on mental health, the climate crisis, political division, and our increasing dependence on technology. It invites readers to reconsider their understanding of home, exploring the layers from the globe to one's own body.
"A speculative novel told in fragments peels back the surface of a small town’s reality ... this spare and striking novel is what comes next."—Kirkus Reviews
"Depending on the reader, The Avian Hourglass is a book that one could spend a couple days with or a couple years and still be satisfied or unsatisfied depending on their wont. However far down the rabbit hole the reader wants to go, Drager’s is a novel of surreal literary fiction that opens gateways to a world in which the reader can reflect, indefinitely, on many aspects of their own life."
—Independent Book Review, starred review
"It would be easy to describe The Avian Hourglass as 'haunting' or even 'dystopian,' but neither of those words reflects the vastness of the longing that runs through it. This novel taps into a primordial solitude and its accompanying yearning...The Avian Hourglass is a splendid novel in which many of us will find ourselves, our obsessions, our lonelinesses, and even our sense of wonder."—BookBrowse
"At times, these musings are arresting—at others confusing—but perhaps all the more powerful for it. All in all, The Avian Hourglass is a compelling, intellectual, and emotionally-charged take on climate fiction."
—Sinister Wisdom
"Drager is adept at creating worlds that differ deeply from ours yet are consistent and engaging, demonstrating her substantial literary talents."
—Pop Matters
"The Avian Hourglass is splendidly odd and arresting. Drager establishes her themes of loss and duplication and catastrophe and estrangement and connection and sends them orbiting perfectly around each other, round after round, in an orrery of grieving and wonder."
—Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Ghost Variations and The Illumination
"Drager’s The Avian Hourglass has the mingled timbre of Redonnet & Brautigan: lucid, injured, hope-drunk. It parcels out the world in queries."
—Jesse Ball, author of Census and The Divers' Game
ISBN: 9781950539970
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
212 pages