About NO BIRDS SING HERE

Two young people, Beckman and Malany, set out on an odyssey to find meaning and reality in the artistic life, and in doing so, unleash a barrage of humorous, unintended consequences. No Birds Sing Here is a multi-layered novel about a journey in which the characters are struggling to survive in an increasingly chaotic world.  The characters that the two meet along the way reflect the allegorical evolution of humanity from its primal state, represented by Beckman’s dismal life as a dishwasher to the crude, medieval development of mankind in a pool hall, and then to the false but erudite veneer of sophistication of the academic world—all demonstrated in the embodiment of the characters they meet along the way. The world these protagonists live in is a world without love.  It has every other variety of human drive and emotion, but not love. Do they know it? Not yet. And they won’t until they figure out why no birds sing here.

5.0 out of 5 stars                      Outstanding!

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2023

This novel blew me away. I read it twice, before reviewing it. I rate it at least two notches above John Kennedy Toole’s widely acclaimed novel of a similar ilk, A Confederacy of Dunces. Offering congratulations to author Daniel V. Meier, Jr. seems a woefully inadequate acknowledgment, for a near-genius literary work, so the best I can do is encourage my fellow readers to get this book and enjoy the crazy journey, the lively wit, and the intriguing characters. The only regret one can possibly feel is intense withdrawal and hangover when the last page is reached.