At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O'Brien's first novel is a brilliant impressionistic jumble of ideas, mythology and nonsense. Operating on many levels it incorporates plots within plots, giving full rein to O'Brien's dancing intellect and Celtic wit. The undergraduate narrator lives with his uncle in Dublin, drinks too much with his friends and invents stories peopled with hilarious and unlikely characters, one of whom, in a typical O'Brien conundrum, creates a means by which women can give birth to full-grown people. Flann O'Brien's blend of farce, satire and fantasy result in a remarkable, astonishingly innovative book.
Stats for nerds
7recommend
9mentions
8people
2017–2026years
78% recommend11% neutral11% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Also reading DCC as a light read, and then reading At Swim-two-birds by Flann O'Brien as something a bit meatier. ASTB worth the read if you're looking for absurd meta fiction. Some parts I've found to be a bit of a slog, but it's short overall so worth the read
- A surprise to see Flann O'Brien pop up in the comments. While we're here, I will say that At Swim Two Birds and The Third Policeman are fantastic books, I highly recommend them.
- Flann O'Brian can't be celebrated enough - 'At Swim-Two-Birds' is up there with Ulysses in terms of the great works of English language literature.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/08/100-best-novel...
In terms of the cultural resurgeance of Irish, whilst the Rubberbandits have done their part, its nothing compared to the full-on assault on cultural consciousness the politically divisive rap-group 'Kneecap' have performed - although they're about to be cancelled by the pro-Zionist lobby in the US.
https://www.screenireland.ie/news/kneecap-becomes-first-iris...
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kneecap
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFYfp-hKxZQ
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/23/sharon-osbourn...
- Flann O'Brian's novel about a novel "At swim two birds" has been one of my favorite yearly re-reads, I must take it down off the shelf again this weekend!
- A lot of my absolutely favorite books are rated below 4.0. A few examples:
1. White Noise at 3.86
2. Catch-22 at 3.99
3. Dhalgren at 3.77
4. At Swim-Two-Birds at 3.86
5. Midnight's Children at 3.98
6. Омон Ра at 3.90
7. Never Let Me Go at 3.84
Drawing the line at 4 rules out some of the most interesting books.
In my experience, you really have to fall below 3.5 to get consistently bad books, and even then it's not 100% guaranteed.
- One of my favorites, if you couldn’t guess from my user name. At-Swim-Two-Birds is also wonderful. Flann O’Brien isn’t completely obscure, but not very well known in the US.
