I was incredibly intrigued by the beautiful description and cover of When We Were Birds by Maria Mutch, but I’ve had a longstanding love-hate relationship with short stories, so I was really cautious when jumping into this. I haven’t read anything by Mutch before, but she’s been a praised author and reviews have thrown around words like “unique” and “strange”, which I gravitate towards, so I had high hopes that these short stories would woo me.

Turns out, I’m still just not cut out for short stories. As expected, not all these stories were a hit with me; some I felt like I had to drag myself through, while others I felt like I could really see myself in. I guess you could say that’s the beauty of a collection of short stories, but to me, I find it interrupts the flow of the book too much and I often lose my interest.

I enjoyed the bird imagery and there was a lot of wolf imagery, as well. The writing was beautiful and the stories themselves were quite absurd. Mutch certainly has a great imagination and I enjoyed discovering that, but for the most part, this just didn’t resonate with me.

Although not being an enthusiastic reader of short stories (for a variety of reasons), I am impressed with this author's depth of writing skills. Dark and sometimes mind-bending, this collection is remarkable for the diverse stories included.

3.5* The first thing you notice when you start this book is the elegant writing. The second thing is the incredible far out imagination of the author. Several of these stories were simply spellbinding. I love this kind of thing. My only complaint is that some of the stories just went a little too far, even for me. They bordered on bizarre and I find that distracting to the whole reading experience. Still - a wonderfully written collection that I would recommend if you appreciate this kind of thing. I would love to read more of her work.

2.5/5 Stars
This was a hard one to get through. It sounded intriguing, but it would seem I just don't care for short story collections. Maybe it's because I myself don't have the self-control to write a short (keyword there) story, or I always find myself disappointed, lost or wanting more. I struggled to get into several of these stories because the plot itself is lost under so much deeper meaning. Most of them and drowned, dried and rolled in layer upon layer of beautiful writing and such hidden meaning. Towards the end the stories did start getting better, and my favourite turned out to be the longest. One about a woman with words appearing on her skin and falling off like tags. There is no denying the wild and vivid imagination of Mutch, but this wasn't for me.