Migratory Birds

by Mariana Oliver, Julia Sanches (Translator)

In her prize-winning debut, Mexican essayist Mariana Oliver trains her gaze on migration in its many forms, moving between real cities and other more inaccessible territories: language, memory, pain, desire, and the body. With an abiding curiosity and poetic ease, Oliver leads us through the underground city of Cappadocia, explores the vicissitudes of a Berlin marked by historical fracture, recalls a shocking childhood exodus, and recreates the intimacy of the spaces we inhabit. Blending criticism, reportage, and a travel writing all her own, Oliver presents a brilliant collection of essays that asks us what it means to leave the familiar behind and make the unfamiliar our own.

Migratory Birds is part of the Undelivered Lectures series from Transit Books.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Travel, Spanish Literature, Contemporary, Literature, Memoir

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Mariana Oliver was born in Mexico City in 1986. She received a master’s degree in comparative literature from the National Autonomous University of México (UNAM) and is currently working towards a doctoral degree in modern literature at the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City. Oliver was granted a fellowship for essay writing at the Foundation for Mexican Literature and was awarded the José Vasconcelos National Young Essay Award for Migratory Birds.

Reviews

[julieta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué buena sorpresa me llevé con este libro! Muy bueno, lo disfruté mucho. Se mueve por varios lugares, Berlin, la historia, la segunda guerra mundial, la migración, los sueños, etc etc. Ya es la segunda sorpresa que me llevo con Tierra adentro, también me gustó mucho el de Jazmina Barrera, Cuaderno de Faros, que se los recomiendo mucho. No perder a Oliver de vista.

[Nicola Balkind · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a fragmentary essay collection but this was thin. Reads like a pale imitation of Maggie Nelson or Valeria Luiselli. It felt dated to me, almost like an accidental pastiche of the form. That’s in part because I’m reading a translation in 2021 and not the original in 2014, but on top of that it lacks substance. Wouldn’t recommend.

[Merve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çok severek okudum. Sınavlardan dolayı sekiz on gündür kitap okuyamamistim. Çok iyi geldi yorgun zihnime. Fragmanlardan oluşan, kesitli bir yapısı var kitabın. Öykü desen, oykuleyici bir anlatim var ama öykü de denilemez. Fragman belki doğru sözcük olabilir. Parçalı anlatı. Severim bu tarzı. On bir başlıkta toplanmış anlatılardan en çok Kapadokya ve Kassandra bölümlerini beğendim.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of thoughtful and concise essays is the third installment of Transit's Undelivered Lectures series. The pieces cover migration and the concept of home using interesting tidbits from history, and often from the history of languages. Recommended.

[emre · Rating 3 out of 5]

emine sevgi özdamar, berlin ve evi tarif etmekle ilgili denemeler çok güzeldi. diğerleriyle pek bağ kuramadım. ve maalesef kitap yazım hatalarıyla dolu.

[Sirin Mitrani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deneme okumayı çok özlemişim bu kitap nasıl iyi geldi anlatamam. Yazarın dünyanın çeşitli yerlerini kendi algısından ve kültür birikiminden anlatmasına bayıldım.Baski sayfa duzeni araya serpiştirilmiş çizimler ve fotoğraf sanki yazarın günlüğüne ya da seyahat güncesini okuyormuş hissi verdi. Kapadokya bolumunu ayrı bir sevdim.

[h.e.yoseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of essays thematically related to migration in its various forms. Language, pain, history, as well as the meaning of home are some areas of note explored in this collection that now have new meaning for me. Beautiful, short, and wholly satisfying.

“We always know more about farewells than we do about reunions.”

[Michelle Simoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not really an essays person but I loved these . I love how the author writes I think it’s beautiful and I hope she writes more stories . The essays are mostly about how ppl live during / after war . My fav essay was “özdamar’s tongue “

[Lucy Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Language, migration, musings. Yep, a lucy book for sure. Some truly haunting histories. Her way of movement through words and worlds felt familiar to the ways I engage with them as well. :)

[Caroline]

Did not impress. I felt that there was almost no substance here. The flat, affectless style never appeals to me. A few of the German-focused essays were mildly interesting.

[Eliana]

As a society we don’t spend enough time thinking about where we came from and how such experiences impact the way we live and tell our stories.

Also, did I do a bunch of projecting while reading this book? Yeah.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A taut, tremulous tightrope.

This fascinating collection of essays flits and skates around the idea of movement, language, and identity. Oliver spends much of her time investigating how friends, family, acquaintances, and common people throughout history have addressed displacement, both proactive and reactive. she cracks open the marrow of language to interrogate purpose, longing, and adaptability.

Barely clearing 120 pages in length, she grabbed my attention early and never let me go. The opening essay literally discusses birds in migration before eventually digging into various facets of Berlin, both immediately after World War II and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. I was further entranced by her thoughts on personality, place, and events, especially in the essay entitled "Mimesis in VHS."

I can see this book feeling too fractured for some readers, but the probing curiosity of Oliver's words hit me just right.

[Shantal Abrego · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Abarca más que los viajes geográficos o la distancia palpable. Habla sobre sentirse ajeno en la propia patria, de cómo toda una población puede estar en peregrinación constante de ideas..."
Pueden leer mi reseña completa aquí:
https://pparanoia.wordpress.com/2017/...

[María José · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deserves so much more recognition! It’s beautifully written, completely original and terribly captivating. Also, I learn so many historical facts reading this one (always a plus for me)

[Carolina Estrada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Primero llegó Mariana, y luego Aves migratorias...

Pensando en cómo podría describir su escritura encontré unas palabras de una biografía de Stefan Zweig que tomo prestadas y que encajan a la perfección: su delicadeza en la descripción de los sentimientos y la elegancia de su estilo, la convierten en una narradora fascinante.

Así me pareció este libro, el cual atesoraré como uno de los más bellos descubrimientos porque sus palabras te atraviesan, te conmueven, te transportan a otros tiempos y te sacan del letargo.

[ea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick collection of lyrical essays about migration, movement, meaning.

The first piece in this collection is about Bill Lishman, a Canadian inventor and aviator who was friends with my grandpa for a while, he also built the dining room table that dominates my grandparents’ kitchen. It was this filial connection that drove me to purchase and then later read this collection.

These essays speak to language and history and cause wanderlust to blister the soles of my feet.

[Navya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this! Oliver looks at the idea of 'migration' from multiple angles, with some interpretations that were quite creative. Her language is dreamy and the ideas/topics she brings up far ranging, interesting and emotionally charging.

Some essays felt a little aborted - there was a problem of abrupt endings - but a relatively minor issue.

[Mayk Can Şişman · Rating 3 out of 5]

kapadokya ya da türkiye’ye dair izlerin de olduğu ama ekseriyetle almanya’ya dair denemeler. meksikalı yazar mariana oliver, ülkesinde alman dili ve edebiyatı mezunu bir yazar olarak kolay okunan, yalın denemelere imza atmış ama içlerinden hiçbiri bana ekstra bir keyif vermedi. okudum, yer yer emine sevgi özdamar’lı bölüm gibi sevdiğim yerler oldu ama çok da acayip ve ilginç bulmadım.

[Carolina Gil]

Leí la edición de Tragaluz, ilustrada por Samuel Castaño Mesa. Ensayo Literario: “La casa, donde todo se vive y tal vez donde está la verdad, es el tema que atraviesa once ensayos de tono poético y conmovedor”

[Tristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

informing, thoughtful, sweet

[anahi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bello <3

[Jimena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Está hermoso este libro, la edición es lindísima y perfecta.
Que bonitos cuentos.
Se lo quiero regalar a todxs mis amigas

[Alfonso Rodríguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es en el viaje y el regreso hacia ella, es en donde se encuentra uno con la casa.

[Catherine Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely beautiful essays that will stick with me. so many of mariana’s words translated by julia are rolling around in my mind and on my tongue.

[David Ossaba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estos ensayos cortos, con aires de crónicas literarias, están atravesados por la pregunta: ¿Cómo desde el lenguaje reconstruimos lo que habitamos? Desde Berlín a Cuba esta pegunta se va respondiendo con los ejemplos de historias sobre la migración y las violencias que quedan después de las guerras; como los niños y las niñas cubanos que fueron enviados a USA por sus padres; o las Trümmerfrauen, "mujeres de los escombros", que fueron un grupo de mujeres que con lo que quedó de la Segunda Guerra, comenzaron a resconstruir el país.

Todas estas historias son retazos de una más grande, parches de un hecho histórico que se cuestionan por cómo nombrarmos eso que queda después de una guerra, de un viaje, de un vuelo, de la construcción de una casa. Esa sensación que abruma cuando hubo un gran cambio, cuando algo, alguien, dejó de estar. Con una narrativa envolvente, Mariana Oliver crea escenas vivas cargadas de sentidos, como pequeñas cápsulas del tiempo en forma de párrafos en los que se puede vivir un pedazo de esa edad.


"La gente camina por las calles con pasos seguros, como si quisiera llenar el espacio que habita con su certidumbre; sin embargo, ocurre lo contrario, es la ciudad la que dota a las personas de certezas" (p. 74).

A diferencia de los habitantes de Koblenz, estos ensayos caminan no para generar certezas, sino para buscar las grietas de la historia. Quedan preguntas incómodas, tristes pero necesarias, que ayudan a volver la vista atrás para revisar cómo desde el lenguaje hemos habitado esas casas que construimos con historias.

[Ulises · Rating 3 out of 5]

me gustó este libro de ensayos de Mariana Oliver, una escritora a la que estimo mucho.
en estos textos recorre su pasión de germanista, pero también afina su crítica literaria desde sus lecturas y afectos recorridos.
lo que me encantó del libro (y de su tono) fue que la clave autobiográfica está latente (en ocasiones se asoma, pero es más bien para orientarnos, algo así como el plano de un libro); además, aprendí mucho de historia europea, de sus ciudades subterráneas y del paso de las dos guerras por el cuerpo de sus habitantes.
Aves migratorias es un libro-espejo. en fin, un viaje literario que disfruté mucho.
nunca hay que perderle el rastro a Mariana. qué buena escritora.

[g.w. · Rating 4 out of 5]

At a time when many of us are dreaming of escape, I found this book to be a lovely and illuminating meditation on "migration" in all its forms. The writing is just beautiful—poetic, lyrical, easy to get lost in. The essays themselves are filled with surprising clarity, each its own intimate narrative of resilience, displacement, language, and home. Plenty of interesting little tidbits to take away from it.

[Nicolás Rodríguez Sanabria · Rating 4 out of 5]

En ocasiones la necesidad de la frase bella y contundente le resta naturaleza o incluso claridad, en otras los temas que trae a colación en cada ensayo no quedan muy bien anudados y se pierde el efecto, pero Oliver acierta muchísimo más de lo que falla. Gran debut.

[Alejandra Monterroza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble libro. Tenía muchas expectativas y las cumplió totalmente. Es ese tipo de libro al que volvería siempre. Quedé enamorada de varios ensayos y me motivó mucho a escribir sobre mi casa y lo que habito.

Recomendado 100%

[Carolina Muñoz Berrio · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Genial! Es la primera vez que leo ensayo literario y me gusta mucha la forma en la que Mariana describe los espacios, el lenguaje y los hechos históricos que marcan cada uno de ellos.