Chidgey’s book is a gorgeous, sublime exploration of the natural world and the powerful, perhaps unbreakable bonds that can exist between its human and nonhuman inhabitants ... Much of the delight of this gorgeously strange novel derives from how delicately and deftly Chidgey balances Tama’s avian and human selves. Tama narrates the story in lyrical and deeply sensory, often sensual detail, yet his actual communication with humans consists of phrases and sentences (many quite sophisticated) he’s learned by rote, sometimes to hilarious and profane effect ... For all its humor and evocative descriptions of its isolated setting, The Axeman’s Carnival is a disturbing book ... I found its riveting finale moving and deeply unsettling, not least for Chidgey’s eerie depiction of Tama’s unbounded love for his adoptive mother. Chidgey’s novel is an extraordinary achievement: Like Tama, it soars.
Read Full Review >>