Christina Critiques - Special Review: IF IT’S THE BIRDS, WE’RE IN TROUBLE
- Christina Pfeiffer
- 1 day ago
- 1 min read
IF IT’S THE BIRDS, WE’RE IN TROUBLE
By: L. Marie Wood
Release: 6/5/2026
Page Count: 167
Synopsis: Something is wrong in the town of Rothwood and no one knows what is happening. Is it the birds? Bees? Mosquitos? The sun? Time traveler? Meat?
First line: “Chaotic discordant horrifically/ beautiful / Abhorrent because it’s you”
Favorite line: “I will stay here like the rocks and keep secrets.”
Thoughts: Wow. Just wow. It’s epistolary, unreliable in every way, and absolutely intriguing. It’s like a scary, unsettling descent into madness but Wood holds your hand with the way the prose lulls you into a false sense of understanding.
Don’t. Be. Fooled.
What fascinated me the most with this novella (?) was how I was even more confused than I was when I started and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Wood forces the reader to stay in the moment, to experience this in time with the individual who is archiving all of this.
If you love stories that make you question literally everything you are reading, have read, or will read, this is it. Plus, it’s apocalyptic which just adds so much for me.
But the bottom line: the birds are to ALWAYS to be side eyed.
Rating: 4.5/5
Get it here:
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