Friday at last! And what a sleepy Friday it has been!
It’s not like I haven’t slept or struggled sleeping last night like I did the day prior, however I have still been fighting exhaustion all day. I came home and immediately went to bed for a few hours before stopping for lunch. Then I napped again and woke up to work on my ‘new thing’ for the day.
I’m still tired now, even though I really shouldn’t be. I’m worried that I am sicker than I believed myself to be, as I have been battling a cough all week. Regardless, thank goodness it is Friday, because I couldn’t see me working through another day when my body is feeling so tired as it is. (and I cannot shovel in any more caffeine like I did yesterday!)
Today is also exciting because it was my first post of my new feature, FIDGET FRIDAY!
I loved getting to post about my new fidget, I hope you all enjoyed it too! I had planned on keeping the Fidget Friday posts together with my usual daily posts, but it started to really become a….long post. So I posted it earlier instead, which worked out all the same.
The challenge I had for myself today was to start a new book, “Wild Bird”.
Start, instead of read, because I am still currently reading the story. Given that today was unplanned and, due to my exhaustion, a bit last minute; I decided to give this book a try today even though I would not be able to finish fully reviewing it as I couldn’t possibly read it that far in just a few hours. (I gotta savor it!)
I did get a decent amount in, however. Finishing at 81 pages in for the first segment of the book (there are three). This story was given to me by a family friend, who had recommended it to us months ago (maybe even a year now).
I have been struggling to find a story or series to take on after reading Harry Potter for the first time ever last year. I reread a few of my old childhood favorites that I had forgotten the story to (Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix) and a few good reads just at random (Graceling Series by Kristin Cashore) but after that, nothing really noted that caught my attention.
I had purchased quite a few books over the last few months that I have terribly neglected as I haven’t even opened them once, and a few that I just haven’t given much time or effort into reading at all. I’m hoping, as I did with the music genre and movies, that I will read more books for my challenge this year and finish them to do a separate review later. If I have an entire free day, maybe I can do both in one post!
Wild Bird is the story of a fourteen year old girl named Wren whose life has been coming off the tracks for some time now and, as her parents can no longer control her, she is sent off to the wilderness to enroll in a therapy program to get her back on the straight path.
We see the story through young, Wren’s eyes as she is abruptly taken from her home one early morning and escorted, by van, to the nearest airport by a pair of officers. Not much is said right away, leaving Wren to do a lot of internal and external questioning and we see a lot of backstory play out all while she’s moving from place to place on her way to the middle of nowhere, Utah where the wilderness program is being held. Living among other teens who have had similar struggles like Wren.
Wren’s mind tackles how her life has started going downhill over the last few years from switching schools at the sensitive time of becoming a young teen, struggling to make friends, feeling inadequate next to her rising star of a sister, and hating the life that she has been fit into and struggling to be understood by a family who doesn’t seem to remember her.
Her character is so spunky and obviously very smart. Her family dynamics are so stinking relatable and spot on, that its almost like reading a page in my own families book. The older sister who ignores you and doesn’t want a thing to do with you unless its getting you in trouble or correcting you in some way. The parent’s who, although they are trying, cannot understand this change in you and only want, the ‘old’ you back. Unable to see how they are part of the problem. The innocent, younger sibling who adores you and doesn’t understand what is happening in the family.
I love the story reading it as an adult because I can see both sides. I see that Wren’s sister Ana is only trying to help her but while also asserting her own independence that young teens need. I see that her parents have had to make a difficult decision by moving and struggle to understand her because Wren is not communicating with them but also that they are harming her by claiming that they only want the ‘old’ her back and have ignored other serious signs that she is not being successful in the move and changes. I see that Wren is spoiled at times, a brat about things and is truly the walking stereotype of a ‘troubled teen’. But then I also see a girl who has been ignored enough, even through the obvious signs of her struggling, and has been left to spiral out of control with unhealthy coping habits.
The thing I liked most about this story is how the writer can describe so perfectly what a young, troubled girl is thinking. Not even a young girl, just what anyone would be thinking if they were in Wren’s situation. When she speaks about how her anger makes her feel or about how she perceives different situations and people; it’s more like I am looking into my own younger mind with a magnifying glass over reading the words someone else has written. She describes things absolutely so well, that I feel like I am actually watching Wren instead of reading about her. I feel like it’s difficult to put the book down, I want to know what will happen to Wren and her journey of recovery.
When I am finished, I will have to write a more thorough review. Like I said, I am only on part one of the story which is just about nineteen chapters out of sixty-seven. Even though that hardly seems much in this book, I’ve already felt like I’ve walked with Wren through a huge part of her story (and yet I have so much to know, too!). She has met so many people in just the short amount of time between these pages too, so many I am curious to see how their characters expand and the story unveils itself.
You know it’s a good book when you are bummed to put it down! I couldn’t wait to come home this evening to continue reading! I only stopped just to quickly make an update, which I’ll soon be returning to the story thereafter.
It’s a good thing the weekend is here! I am so eager to spend all day at home tomorrow! I have decided to allow my day to be as relaxing as I possibly can. Instead of making it a day where I go out to try my new thing, I am going to spend it finding something new to do indoors. Maybe I’ll be able to finish Wren’s story by tomorrow evening?
Either way, it’s so good to be home.
Until tomorrow,
-Jessy ❤
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