Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer

Hummingbird Salamander (edition 2021)

by Jeff VanderMeer (Author)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
713	29	31,857	(3.32)	29
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML: *Named one of NPR's* Best Books of 2021 From the author of Annihilation, a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.** Security consultant "Jane Smith" receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control. Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina's footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out�??for her and possibly for the world. Hummingbird Salamander is Jeff VanderMeer at his brilliant, cinematic best, wrapping profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we live in into a tightly plotted thriller full of unexpected twists and elaborate conspiracy.… (more)

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Member:	dot.zen
Title:	Hummingbird Salamander
Authors:	Jeff VanderMeer (Author)
Info:	Fourth Estate (2021), Edition: 01, 400 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
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Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer

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Top Five Books of 2021 (104)

Anticipated 2021 Reads (14)

Books Read in 2021 (1,258)

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Books Read in 2022 (2,670)

Dystopian and Apocalyptic Literature (305)

Finished in 2021 (18)

Animals in the Title (64)

Shirley Jackson Award Shortlist 2021 (3)

Adult Stories Involving Animals (36)

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Showing 1-5 of 29 (next | show all)

Cool, weird environmental thriller full of sentences like this:
"Express enthusiasm for reliquaries that some still held a mirror to, claiming to see breath form." (

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lneukirch | Feb 4, 2024 |

I powered through this one, so it must have held my attention pretty tightly. I liked narrator's rough inner landscape. I enjoyed the slowly-impinging sense of eco-social doom. (

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grahzny | Jul 17, 2023 |

I am a VanderMeer fan. That said, his half-sentence ambiguous style can seem like a drag on an otherwise typical mystery thriller, and I would have quit reading this if I wasn't aware of the way JV's stories go. Things pick up in the middle. Also, since VanderMeer's concerns are my own (I would say our own if I didn't occasionally turn on the TV) I was ultimately very satisfied with the whole. (

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markm2315 | Jul 1, 2023 |

I had a suspicion it was like this. You hear about all these authors trying to sell books winning awards and getting on lists and you think there must have been some winnowing down. Surely they can find fifty good books to put on a list. Nope not even close. This book is an affront. This book has a man writing as a kinda manly women for no reason. She want to live off grid is presented as some morsel of real life some everybody else has thought. All the observation aren't even on the level of a sitcom. The interior life of the person is just not there. She just gets annoyed at thing and likes to talk about it. ugh.... (

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soraxtm | Apr 9, 2023 |

I'm a huge fan of the author and I appreciate what he was doing with this book. It all clicked at the end when the main character pointed out how she and two other characters all came at the climate change question of the book from different ideological perspectives. So at the end the only thing that is really illuminated is that the world is inherently divided over approach to a problem. One who acts aggressive and violent when they don't understand. Another who sees the world as something to possess. And a third who is so introspective that they can't stop tripping over their own clumsy feet. A character who is so large a strong, yet timid and scared of their own power. This book did not carry to the conclusion I was expecting and thus I think I respect it more. This is probably the least science fiction of VanderMeer's works but I think it's also his least weird and one of his most thought provoking. I found the plot a bit slow at times, but I find VanderMeer's style appealing. Very to the point, yet also ponderous and descriptive somehow. (

)

wolfe.myles | Feb 28, 2023 |

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▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Shirley Jackson Award (Nominee – Novel – 2021)

Distinctions

Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Environmental Fiction – 2021)

NPR: Books We Love (2021)

Notable Lists

New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults (Fiction – 2021)

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Canonical title

Hummingbird Salamander

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

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Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

For Ann

First words

Assume I’m dead by the time you read this.

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Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

813.54

Canonical LCC

PS3572.A4284

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▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:

Named one of NPR's Best Books of 2021

From the author of Annihilation, a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.
Security consultant "Jane Smith" receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control.
Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina's footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out�??for her and possibly for the world.
Hummingbird Salamander is Jeff VanderMeer at his brilliant, cinematic best, wrapping profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we live in into a tightly plotted thriller full of unexpected twists and elaborate conspiracy.

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