Where the Bird Sings Best

Alejandro Jodorowsky's Where the Bird Sings Best follows three generations from both sides of the author's Jewish family--beekeepers on one side, lion tamers on the other--in one gloriously readable, fantastical autobiographical novel.

The saga begins in the Ukraine, when Jodorowsky's grandmother's first son tries to escape on a wooden chest from a flooding river. He doesn't realize it's weighted down with 37 tractates of the Talmud, and drowns. His outspoken mother, Teresa, storms into the synagogue, cursing her religion and giving God a piece of her mind. She is just one of the larger-than-life relatives who dominate this deliciously far-fetched, multigenerational saga. With the author's grandfather, an impractical and saintly man, Teresa emigrates to Chile, where he becomes a shoemaker. After his right hand is caught in machinery, he begins to work miracles with the dead hand.

From the other side of the family, Jodorowsky introduces Alejandro Prullansky, a gigantic male dancer with long golden curls. He trains in Moscow for ballet until he becomes aware of the pain in the world and goes to work in a brutal meat-packing plant. His daughter, who sings while her father sets himself on fire for one last leap, becomes the author's mother.

One outrageous set piece follows another with an exhilarating density of imagination as Jodorowsky juggles tale within tale with Arabian Nights agility. "In memory, everything can become miraculous," he says. "The past is not fixed and unalterable." Jodorowsky expertly harnesses boldly surreal images to capture the gorgeous, brutal essence of life. --Nick DiMartino, Nick's Picks, University Book Store, Seattle, Wash.

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