David Deans

In which a parrot discovers a mechanism by which he turns himself into a man, specifically, his owner, who lives a comfortable life writing ESL texts. The main plot was mildly interesting, but was extremely derivative of (and quite inferior to) William Kotzwinkle's The Bear Went Over the Mountain as well as other books in the human-animal transformation subgenre. What really killed the book off, however, was the frequent interstitial snippets which parody ESL books. If these were supposed to be funny, they aren't, and if they were supposed to advance the plot, they don't, in addition to being arguably racist.… (meer)

This is one of the strangest novels I have read on so many levels. First, it is narrated by a parrot. Second, the parrot miraculously transforms into its owner, Bob T. Hash III. Third, all of the characters in the novel are actually characters in a picture book instruction manual designed to aid those learning English - complete with exercises to help further develop English speaking skills. Fourth, it turns out to be a "murder" mystery - of which I am still not sure was solved or even if there really was a murder or anything to solve.

Regardless of all the innate ambiguity, the book was engaging and certainly never boring. In the end, I discovered that the ambiguity was designed to move me, the reader, into the book with Bob T. Hash III and his doppelganger, Comenius the parrot. Allowing me to enter the world of the picture book and the mystery of Bob T. Hash III is something that Deans does quite effectively. This novel was refreshing and proves that the art of the novel, far from being static, can still surprise in terms of style, character, and story.… (meer)