Lone Star Book Blog Tour: Odd Birds by Severo Perez (review and giveaway)

“Everyone has a journey. Thank you for telling me yours.”

Odd Birds by Severo Perez is an incredible story about an extraordinary Cuban-born artist with dual Cuban and French citizenship. At almost 70 years of age, Cosimo Infante Cano has been living in France for years, but when he decides to follow his lover, native Texan Sara Hunter, to San Antonio, Texas, in 1961, he immediately becomes a sojourner in a strange land. Due to several unfortunate incidents, Cosimo finds himself alone and bereft in San Antonio and wonders how he will he ever piece his life back together again and return to Paris. Cosimo is proud and eccentric, and he has charisma, ingenuity, and a flair for landing on his feet, despite his arthritic knee, consequently helping so many others in the process. Cosimo is an excellent protagonist, but he is far from perfect, despite his altruistic tendencies and remarkable artistic talent.

As expected in 1961, racism and prejudices against people of color are in full force. Severo Perez does an outstanding job of portraying the worst of the worst and the best of the best in humanity, in terms of both racism and desegregation, during such a volatile time in American history. Be warned: the racial language and posture from a few characters will rightly be offensive, but the inclusive attitudes from all the others will somewhat soften the sting from such grotesque behavior, which will probably never be completely erased from society, unfortunately.

“Ignorance is not a crime, though it should be.”

A takeaway from Odd Birds is that everyone is an odd bird to some degree, no matter where you are from, how much money you have, or where you are going in life. Everyone is unique, and how we treat others will always reflect back onto ourselves, for good or for bad. Your choice.

Be prepared to fall in love with Cosimo Infante Cano. He will capture your heart and imagination and make you cry at his unfortunate plight and laugh at his genius and wit. “We all learned something. You learned you have friends who are willing to risk their safety for you. And I learned that I can no longer serve hard alcohol to Americans. You people have no sense of moderation.”

Severo Perez’s writing style is vivid and lyrical yet still earthy and realistic, and the unfolding story will intrigue not only because it is fanciful and entertaining but because it is honest and believable. San Antonio, Texas, is an interesting setting (I may be a bit biased, though), with a good portion of the story taking place in the library. While the building referenced in Odd Birds no longer functions as a library, San Antonio has a fantastic central library (built in 1995) known affectionally as the Enchilada Red Library because of its striking color and impressive architecture, making it impossible to miss or resist. Be sure to check it out if you are ever in town.

With its many idiosyncrasies and fabulous imagery, Odd Birds must be experienced firsthand and not spoiled beforehand in any way (I mean, who wouldn’t want a Dali Zodiac timepiece or an original drawing of a scene from an Aesop Fable on the back of a menu?). In Odd Birds, the people, the art, the locations, and the breakfast tacos will cause you to reflect on the follies of humanity, enchant your senses, make you hungry, and fulfill all your literary needs in one odd yet intensely beautiful book. The Epilogue is brilliant and not in the least superfluous. Bravo! 

Enter the giveaway below on or before April 8, 2022, for a chance to win an autographed copy of Odd Birds by Severo Perez.

I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.