The Strange Bird: A Borne Story: VanderMeer, Jeff: 9780374537920: Amazon.com: Books

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Jeff VanderMeer

The Strange Bird: A Borne Story Paperback – February 27, 2018

by Jeff VanderMeer (Author)

4.5 1,122 ratings

Related to: Borne

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The Strange Bird―from New York Times bestselling novelist Jeff VanderMeer―expands and weaves deeply into the world of his “thorough marvel”* of a novel, Borne.

The Strange Bird is a new kind of creature, built in a laboratory―she is part bird, part human, part many other things. But now the lab in which she was created is under siege and the scientists have turned on their animal creations. Flying through tunnels, dodging bullets, and changing her colors and patterning to avoid capture, the Strange Bird manages to escape.

But she cannot just soar in peace above the earth. The sky itself is full of wildlife that rejects her as one of their own, and also full of technology―satellites and drones and other detritus of the human civilization below that has all but destroyed itself. And the farther she flies, the deeper she finds herself in the orbit of the Company, a collapsed biotech firm that has populated the world with experiments both failed and successful that have outlived the corporation itself: a pack of networked foxes, a giant predatory bear. But of the many creatures she encounters with whom she bears some kind of kinship, it is the humans―all of them now simply scrambling to survive―who are the most insidious, who still see her as simply something to possess, to capture, to trade, to exploit. Never to understand, never to welcome home.

With The Strange Bird, Jeff VanderMeer has done more than add another layer, a new chapter, to his celebrated novel Borne. He has created a whole new perspective on the world inhabited by Rachel and Wick, the Magician, Mord, and Borne―a view from above, of course, but also a view from deep inside the mind of a new kind of creature who will fight and suffer and live for the tenuous future of this world.

Praise for Borne

*“Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy was an ever-creeping map of the apocalypse; with Borne he continues his investigation into the malevolent grace of the world, and it's a thorough marvel.” ―Colson Whitehead

“VanderMeer is that rare novelist who turns to nonhumans not to make them approximate us as much as possible but to make such approximation impossible. All of this is magnified a hundredfold in Borne . . . Here is the story about biotech that VanderMeer wants to tell, a vision of the nonhuman not as one fixed thing, one fixed destiny, but as either peaceful or catastrophic, by our side or out on a rampage as our behavior dictates―for these are our children, born of us and now to be borne in whatever shape or mess we have created. This coming-of-age story signals that eco-fiction has come of age as well: wilder, more reckless and more breathtaking than previously thought, a wager and a promise that what emerges from the twenty-first century will be as good as any from the twentieth, or the nineteenth.” ―Wai Chee Dimock, The New York Times Book Review

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Print length

128 pages
Language

English
Publisher

MCD x FSG Originals
Publication date

February 27, 2018
Dimensions

4.95 x 0.3 x 7.5 inches
ISBN-10

0374537925
ISBN-13

978-0374537920
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The Strange Bird: A Borne Story

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Customers enjoy the book and find it enjoyable. They find the storytelling compelling, evocative, and challenging for their imaginations. The book expands on the world of Borne and is described as a beautiful short read that fills in some gaps. Readers appreciate the complex, imperfect, and believable characters.

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Storytelling Enjoyment Pacing Readability Character development

28 customers mention "Storytelling"22 positive6 negative

Customers find the storytelling compelling and evocative. They say the book challenges their imagination and provides closure to the previous book. Many describe the narrative as haunting, beautiful, and poetic.

"...their own wildly evocative, surreal and for me at least profoundly compelling narrative. I'll definitely listen to it again in the next few days...." Read more

"Jeff VanderMeer’s new novella, The Strange Bird, is ingenious, provocative, and deeply moving. At times, it’s almost too painful and too beautiful...." Read more

"...It is a sad story. Painfully so. But like Borne, It raises fascinating and timely questions about the nature of intelligence, technology and..." Read more

"...It is harrowing and beautiful in parts and never failed to hold my attention. You could probably read it in one sitting and be completely captivated." Read more

26 customers mention "Enjoyment"26 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book. They find it interesting and enjoyable, especially if they can suspend themselves in the narrative. Some say the book is better than Borne, but this was good to read after because they were craving more. The book is described as extraordinary, moving, and superb.

"...That is, audacious and strange but not too flowery or fantastic. It's hard to explain, but you'll see what I mean...." Read more

"...That said, this is a beautiful and poetic tragedy that - if you enjoyed Borne - should not be missed. It is a sad story. Painfully so...." Read more

"...It was interesting and it filled in some things about the Borne universe but the writing wasn't what I have come to expect from him...." Read more

"...It is harrowing and beautiful in parts and never failed to hold my attention. You could probably read it in one sitting and be completely captivated." Read more

17 customers mention "Pacing"17 positive0 negative

Customers find the book a nice addition to Borne's world. They appreciate the author's rich character development and world-building. The book expands on the fascinating universe and provides a unique perspective of the future. Overall, it's an excellent companion to the original story and an uplifting glimpse into a wider world.

"...The ending was really something. Uplifting, actually." Read more

"...of differently than some of Jeff's other books, but it keeps you engaged the whole time. It's a different story in general even...." Read more

"Jeff VanderMeer’s new novella, The Strange Bird, is ingenious, provocative, and deeply moving. At times, it’s almost too painful and too beautiful...." Read more

"...It was interesting and it filled in some things about the Borne universe but the writing wasn't what I have come to expect from him...." Read more

6 customers mention "Readability"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read. They appreciate the writing style and characters. Readers recommend reading Borne first.

"...It’s truly a powerful, short read that subtly builds the world of Borne...." Read more

"...All she wanted to do was be free. He writes a beautiful story." Read more

"Beautifully written short novel! It fills in some gaps in Borne. It was a very enjoyable and quick read." Read more

"I like his writing style and his characters, but come on, entertain me, please. I want big expansive concepts and ideas...." Read more

3 customers mention "Character development"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the characters complex, imperfect, and believable. They appreciate the author's writing style and world-building.

"I really enjoyed this book. I love the way the author writes his characters and builds his world...." Read more

"...you to feel emotions that should be completely alien, and yet are utterly human. This is a superb work." Read more

"I like his writing style and his characters, but come on, entertain me, please. I want big expansive concepts and ideas...." Read more

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John E. Rogers
Brutal but Beautiful Parallels to/with The Painted Bird
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2017
Verified Purchase
Listened to this three-hour digital original Amazon single with audible narration over the past couple of days. I don't know what they are calling the stuff that Jeff VanderMeer is writing, but I have decided to label it "Cryptofiction." Apparently this is a riff on a novel entitled Borne. This 86 page novella takes certain elements and characters from the periphery of that larger work and spins them out into their own wildly evocative, surreal and for me at least profoundly compelling narrative. I'll definitely listen to it again in the next few days. It takes place in a nightmarish post-apocalyptic world. Dreamlike. A bit like Tim Burton channeled through Michael Crichton. That is, audacious and strange but not too flowery or fantastic. It's hard to explain, but you'll see what I mean. Reminded me a little teeny bit of an old story called Rachel in Love. But that was really just one tiny string in a ball of yarn with countless strands. I also believe VanderMeer was intentionally angling for a parallel with The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski. The stories share impossibly bleak and relentlessly cruel landscapes. In the case of The Painted Bird, a strangely primeval and hateful post-World War II Poland. In this case, a strangely primeval and hateful post-apocalyptic United States. Both are full of monstrously original images. But definitely not to all tastes. If you hated all that southern reach stuff, you had better stay away from this. Still though, I loved it. The ending was really something. Uplifting, actually.

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6 people found this helpful

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Dustin D.
Good read
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2022
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The story starts out kind of differently than some of Jeff's other books, but it keeps you engaged the whole time. It's a different story in general even. Very akin to the southern reach trilogy.

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2 people found this helpful

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Christine M. Skolnik
Strange Bird and Animal Trauma in the Anthropocene
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2017
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Jeff VanderMeer’s new novella, The Strange Bird, is ingenious, provocative, and deeply moving. At times, it’s almost too painful and too beautiful. Out of the futuristic world of his latest novel, Borne, VanderMeer conjures a totem for the Anthropocene. A hybrid spirit strange and familiar enough to wake us from our dogmatic stupor, Strange Bird guides us into unexplored regions of literature and the psyche. While we have excluded the secret life of animals from consciousness, on some level we understand their suffering because we suffer together. Nested in Borne, adjacent to VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, The Strange Bird brings us to the intersection of animals and the Anthropocene. We’ve been here all along, but now, slowly, we’re becoming aware.

The Strange Bird is as much urban odyssey as fantasy. At the beginning of the narrative Strange Bird, a biotech marvel, escapes the confines of a lab. In flight, she navigates an unfamiliar and frightening world, and begins to understand herself in new contexts and from different perspectives. Before long she is captured by a solitary old man who admires her, but who also imprisons her. He is attached and attentive, seems to want to commune with her, but he can’t appreciate her suffering. Like other humans in the novella, he rationalizes his cruelty even as he is haunted by it.

Eventually Strange Bird lands squarely into the narrative of Borne, where she is captured by The Magician, a sadistic genius who transforms her into a cloaking device. Somehow she survives the radical transformation and enters a kind of bardo, where she communes with other animals, alive and dead.

The Strange Bird traces the terrible beauty of animal trauma in the Anthropocene, not as a surrogate for human trauma, but as a creaturely condition that directs our attention to the ubiquitous effects of climate change. If trauma can be communicated through non-verbal behavior, it may be an appeal to all animals. Artists like VanderMeer seem to hear that call, but are they uniquely aware of animal suffering, or uniquely responsive? I imagine that many of us are more aware of our collective suffering than we know. VanderMeer may not speak for non-human animals, but he surely gives voice to the unconscious.

Christine Skolnik, Environmental Critique

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9 people found this helpful

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z
If you enjoyed Borne, just get it
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2017
Verified Purchase
As others have said, you'll need to read Borne first for this to mean anything. I'm glad I didn't read any of the other reviews here that spoil the plot.

That said, this is a beautiful and poetic tragedy that - if you enjoyed Borne - should not be missed. It is a sad story. Painfully so. But like Borne, It raises fascinating and timely questions about the nature of intelligence, technology and ultimately love, when the lines blur between all these things.

I should also add that the mere fact that Mr. VanderMeer chose to write and publish this postlude novella is really cool. In the digital age, writers can actually produce follow-up short-form work like this, and have it be (I hope!) commercially viable. I'm sure so many authors think of something after their book is published that augments the story they just told, in a way that ardent readers will love, and, importantly, can be released shortly after the original work, so it's still fresh on the reader's mind. I hope to see more writers publish works like this, if they feel moved to do so.

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25 people found this helpful

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Melanie D. Typaldos
I love VanderMeer but I did not connect with this novela
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2017
Verified Purchase
Well, this hurts. I am a huge fan of Jeff VanderMeer, but this novela did not do it for me. It was interesting and it filled in some things about the Borne universe but the writing wasn't what I have come to expect from him. He didn't capture the beautiful flow of words and images that I am used to seeing in his work. Also, this is absolutely not standalone. If you have not read Borne, you will simply be confused.

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3 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer
The Best I've Read in Some Time
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2023
Verified Purchase
You don't need to read the previous Borne books to enjoy this story, but it may help. It is harrowing and beautiful in parts and never failed to hold my attention. You could probably read it in one sitting and be completely captivated.

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Top reviews from other countries

Cliente Amazon
Thought provoking
Reviewed in Spain on October 15, 2021
Verified Purchase
I loved every second of it, seeing the story of the strange bird expanded was awesome.
almost as good as borne

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Robert Szekely
Love these books and author
Reviewed in Canada on March 28, 2018
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I love an author with the skill to just start telling the story as assuming the reader has an IQ. Great book and follow up to Bourne.

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William Donelson
Exquisite heart, exquisite prose. A small masterpiece. More than 5 stars!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2019
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More than 5-Stars!

Exquisite heart, exquisite prose. A small masterpiece.

A small miracle of light and joy and pain and, in the end, of love and life.

VanderMeer once again transports us to his dystopian world of "Borne".

Notes and quotes:

And even then she did not know that the sky was blue or what the sun was, because she had flown out into the cool night air and all her wonder resided in the points of light that blazed through the darkness above. But then the joy of flying overtook her and she went higher and higher and higher, and she did not care who saw or what awaited her in the bliss of the free fall and the glide and the limitless expanse. Oh, for if this was life, then she had not yet been alive!
-
The Strange Bird had perched for safety on a hook near the ceiling and watched, knowing she might be next. The badger that stared up, wishing for wings. The goat. The monkey. She stared back at them and did not look away, because to look away was to be a coward and she was not cowardly. Because she must offer them some comfort, no matter how useless. Everything added to her and everything taken away had led to that moment and from her perch she had radiated love for every animal she could not help, with nothing left over for any human being. Not even in the parts of her that were human.
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In the lab, so many of the scientists had said “forgive me” or “I am so sorry” before doing something irrevocable to the animals in their cages. Because they felt they had the right. Because the situation was extreme and the world was dying. So they had gone on doing the same things that had destroyed the world, to save it.
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At true north lay the great bear Mord, [the Magician's] mortal enemy for control of the city. At true south lay the Company building, a place that the Strange Bird knew as a kind of laboratory on a scale far outstripping the one from which she had escaped. To the west, the Magician’s regard for her transformed children, her observatory headquarters, while to the east, forever changing in the intensity with which the Magician regarded them, were a scavenger named Rachel and a competitor of the Magician’s named Wick. Rachel worked with or for Wick and Wick made creatures much as the Magician did, and used them to barter for goods.

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Lorenzo
This book is awesome
Reviewed in Italy on August 23, 2018
Verified Purchase
It's an extension of the world built with his other novel "Borne" which tells us the events we'd already seen from another point of view, the one of the strange bird, used and misused by the ones that cross it's path.

Jeff Vandermeer will never cease to amaze me.

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M. Heath
Takes a while..
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 28, 2018
Verified Purchase
I wanted a follow up to the first book, but this goes off on a wide, wide tangent before bringing all back home in a wonderful, uplifting rush of a finish.

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