The Obscene Bird of Night: Unabridged, Centennial Edition

by José Donoso

Book Overview

Deep in a maze of musty, forgotten hallways, Mudito rummages through piles of old newspapers. The mute caretaker of the crumbling former abbey, he is hounded by a coven of ancient witches who are bent on transforming him, bit by bit, into the terrifying imbunche: a twisted monster with all of its orifices sewn up, buried alive in its own body. Once, Mudito walked upright and spoke clearly; once he was the personal assistant to one of Chile's most...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811232220
• ISBN13: 9780811232227
• Release Date: April 2024
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Beyond times

This is one of the best latinamerican books, further than magic realismus (realismo mágico) this novel traspasses all the borders beyond time, gender, reality and absurd. Dark novel that takes you into your own clue du sac. This wonderful story narrated by a mute man, who becomes all the voices in the novel, is like a monad of humanity, himself represents all the human disgraces, inherited from generation to generation and unable to scape fate. Must not be missed if you want to take a deep immersion into human condition.

The best in surrealism

Rarely is a book more complex, more funny or more harrowing. The magical tale of Humberto Penazola who spends the last days of his life in a convent taking care of old women, is narrated through a series of surreal hallucinations. Questions of his identity and his sexuality are explored beyond the realms of imagination. Tumbling through a dark spiral of black magic - this book is a MUST read for one and all!!

The deformed prism

The mutations of characters, the non-linear style in which this story is told, the repetitions, shifts in perspective add to make this work a remarkable book. Without a doubt not only one of the finest magical realist works I've ever stumbled upon, but one of the finest novels I have ever read. As the work has multiple foundations, one of the major ones about Humberto Penaloza, who as a child & adolescent was always told by his father that he must become something, it doesn't matter what, as long as Humberto doesn't go through the same social obscurity that he endures. Later on, he becomes the assistant to Jeronimo, a wealthy politician who is trying to lengthen the family tree. His wife, Ines de Azcoitia is unable to bear him children. Then through either an act of black magic, or Humberto's intimacy Jeronimo is given his child. The child, simply called Boy, is horribly deformed. Jeronimo decides to build the child it's own world, entirely secluded from anything outside of it and surrounded by other people with monstrosities. Humberto is put in charge, and becomes the abnormal one in this newly formed world where deformities is not the exception but the rule. Humberto's abnormality is his plain everyman look, social obscurity. He ends his days in a former catholic church, now peopled by elderly women, either nuns or former servants waiting to die. This book works on so many different levels & they're always communicating to one another, effortlessly the past becomes the present, it is a hallucinatory poetic parade of the grotesque and the beautfiul, of the grotesque as the beautiful. It is also a commentary on domination in its many forms- husband & wife, father & son, the elderly & the young, master & servant. Sometimes the dominant position is usurped & the roles are reversed.It's no wonder that both Carlos Fuentes & Luis Bunuel considered it to be a masterpiece.

una historia de terror o la vida segun el mudito

la historia fluye de los labios, o mejor dicho de la mente del mudito de una manera aunque coherente, horrorosa, espeluznante, la decadencia de las viejas que habitan la casa donde vive mantiene viva esa mente que narra la historia, una historia que raya en lo increible. la dejadez de esas viejas echadas al olvido, las ninas que habitan alli, la desidia de las personas encargadas hace que sus mentes divagen y con ellas el mudito tambien, que ha venido a refugiarse en la casa como unica proteccion contra su locura, contra la imaginaria persecucion de seres que quieren robarle su sexo... muy buen libro..LUIS MENDEZ crazzyteacher@hotmail.com

A truely hypnotic story into magical realism

This book is a true masterpiece into hallucinatory writing. Donoso captures the essence of classical latin american magical realism while flickering between narratives and schizophrenia. A truely touching novel, full of life, imagery, love and disgust. A masterpiece.