Customer Reviews

Little Birds

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Let me begin by saying that I had not previously read Nin before, but was recommended to it. I was familiar with the works of Pauline Reage - but this took my breath away. Where Reage is dark and desparate, and a victim to her passion(obsession?), Nin rejoices in the tastessightssmellssensations of pleasure with the soul of an artist and a gourmet. There is a wealth of emotion here - If anyone is confused about the difference between pornography and erotica, this will set them straight. Erotica is literature, and transcends the purely physical. This is as much an arousal of the mind as of the body. Men especially need to read more works of this type if they are looking for a deeper understanding of how women think and feel about sex.

So, I feel like I'm having a love affair with Anais Nin.

Its a shame really - to fall in love with a writer passed away three years before I was born. Our connection is very much abstract, but I must admit, its a very profitable two-way relationship and she's very generous. She gives me intrigue, inspiration and a close eye look at the wonders of female anatomy intertwined with history and social commentary. And I give her the attention she deserves, a very open mind to her characters and enough admiration that would keep anyone satisfied for a lifetime.
But its through her erotica that our relationship really thrives and I can thank her short story collection, LITTLE BIRDS, for properly introducing us.

Nin stories talk about the sexual frustrations of men and the rebellious women who realized their own sexuality in times where women were seen as modest and only the objects of desire. Her vignettes are short and precise but still give great detail of one's desires for what they cannot truly have. In a way, these stories feel like her own exhibitionism, mildly talking about a woman's enthrallment with their own bodies and their need to be pleased by more than just a husband figure. Though these ideas don't seem revolutionary by today's standards, Nin acts almost like a historian, painting the progression of women's erotic status: Nude models toy with their artists, women seduce each other in spite of the men and little girls flee from an over-eager gentleman. I

In one story, "The Woman on the Dunes", a voluptuous temptress seduces a nervous man on the beach. Afterwards, she tells him about her experience witnessing a public execution, only to be raptured by a stranger standing behind her in the crowds. "A Model" is one of the most extravagant narratives in the collection. A nameless debutant finds work posing for artists, but soon discovers the expectations of the painters. Determined at first to keep her virtues, she eventually has an affair with two different painters, detailing the very mechanical nature of their love-making and yet exploring her changed attitudes towards sex and men. While neither affair turns into a committed relationship, the narrator recalls her transformation as a woman and briefly talks about the man who would become her first real love. As for the artists, they appear juvenile and beneath her.

LITTLE BIRDS is incredible. All the stories are easy reads and will have you begging for more. But be forewarned, reading it may cause an unhealthy obsession with one of the greatest erotica writers of the 20th Century.

I adore this book. It's really erotic, but tasteful and refined; it also is cleverly written and sensual, so much that you'll be transported into the stories. I didn't like two of the tales at all, but if you leave them out, this is a very good book. I also reccomend Anais Nin's diary.

This is a very compelling collection of short erotic stories. Anais Nin does an excellent job of pulling the reader in and captivating them with descriptive and sensual imagery. A highly recommended collection! Also recommended is "Delta of Venus".

Anais Nin has a true gift for the erotic. Her writing is sensual with a touch of hardcore delicately placed so as not to turn the reader away. I was carried along with each character. A wonderful read for those interested in exploring the deeper,slightly darker side of their soul.

"Little Birds" was my first foray into the world of Anais Nin. I haven't decided, after reading this, whether I like this or not. On one hand, I love her use of the English language, her spare style, her sense of character and story-telling. On the other hand, too many of the stories presented here ended abruptly, with no real sense of resolution or how the characters got from point A to point B. The most glaring example is in the story "The Model," in which we get detailed descriptions of the narrator's first two would-be lovers, but almost nothing about the third guy. Flaws aside, this little volume is probably the best way to get acquainted with Nin without investing too much.

Nin, in this interesting collection of very short stories, tersely and quietly impugns the social stigma of promiscuity in a greater context of fantasy and symbol. Virtually devoid of florid descriptions of classical love and the game-like foreplay of courtship, "Little Birds" opens a passage into sedate, frank accounts of tenderness and the force of pure sexuality. Nin knew her audience well, and in tampering with sacrosanct traditions ever so lightly, she caresses the eroticism of taboo as much as that of standard sexual fantasy. This is truly a sublime read.

Anais writes erotica like no other writer. She makes you feel what her characters are feeling. You escape into their world of fantasy. Anais brings out the erotic side in you. She makes you want to experience everything that her characters are experiencing.

Little Birds is far from Nin's best. The stories stop short of true eroticism by leaving the reader abrubtly cut off at the end.

This is an interesting collection of erotic stories written by a master. While the author does touch in several taboo areas, this is not a "trashy" collection by any means. I felt her "Delta of Venus" was great, and to a certain extent, this collection is just as well done. While some of the subject matter verges on the disgusting, it is never-the-less well written and certainly squirms into areas of the mind which, are for the most part, probably shut for most people. The author's command of the language and her skill with words speak for themselves as you read each page, paragraph and sentence. All in all, I think it is a shame more do not read this work simply due to the subject matter. The writing is wonderful and they are missing a real treat.