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Byrd (2014)

by Kim Church(Favorite Author)

3.87 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1938604520 (ISBN13: 9781938604522)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Dzanc Books

review 1: I liked this book so much that it made me change my schedule for Booktopia Asheville. There is not one single thing that resonated with me, there was just a lot of commonality. The protagonist came of age in the 70's which I did also and like her, I was a fan of Joni Mitchell and Carole King. I could hear those old songs in my head as I read. I remembered the rootlessness and lack of direction of my younger days. I felt the unrequited love. Even the title of the book reminded me of a pet name given to me by a former love, "Birdie". I'm a mother of sons. The protagonist's brother moved to Bisbee, AZ which is not far from my home in Phoenix....it's a hippie town and I feel drawn there every now and then. The writing is beautiful, lyrical. The protagonist is a booklo... morever, immersed to the point of becoming a bookseller and I added some of the books mentioned to my TBR. Also the Gwyneth Paltrow film is now in my Netflix queue. So it seemed fitting that I should change my Booktopia schedule so I could meet Kim Church and thank her for that.
review 2: Despite my rating of only 3 stars I will admit I did quite enjoy Byrd. However, there are some things that I didn't agree with as far as storytelling goes...or perhaps just didn't understand. For example, Addie never seemed to care for the people in her life as there always was a distance between everybody. I wasn't thoroughly convinced that what the characters felt for each other was genuine family or friend relationships. I do realize that they weren't the most tight-knit group and Addie's and Roland's relationship was never true "love",but convincing us readers they once did have feelings for each other just wasn't there. More importantly, with the relationships that did go somewhere, such as Addie and William, the details of how they grew to love each other were lightly brushed upon making William just another man she slept with. Everyone's interactions with each other constantly reminded me of that of Addie's and Roland's. But perhaps she did this on purpose: keeping everyone so distant to further explain the separation between Addie and Roland, and sooner, Addie and Byrd. In that case, this could've been done by making some characters close to really show the contrast between the different relationships. Because of that absence, the family separation seemed to blend in with everything else. In many instances, it seemed as if everyone was lonely as abandonment is a frequent theme in this book. Aside from my nitpicking, this book really opened my eyes to how choices can really define you as a person as well as you're life. Who you love and who you leave can impact people in ways that only experience can define. Although this book could've gone deeper into the subject, it left it vague enough to where readers can interpret the meaning behind this book differently. Despite contradicting most of what I've reviewed, maybe that's what Kim Church's purpose was. All in all, this may not have been the best book I've ever read, but it definitely was worth the read and I will be looking forward to her books in the future. I believe she can grow so much as a fantastic novelist. less

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