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When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations On Voice (2012)

by Terry Tempest Williams(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0374288976 (ISBN13: 9780374288976)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Sarah Crichton Books / Farrar, Straus and Giroux

review 1: In the beginning, I was enchanted and couldn't bear to imagine this book ending. During the middle, I almost couldn't bear the book and couldn't imagine anything better than for it to end. At the end, I remembered a bit of what had enchanted me in the beginning, but not enough to prevent me from heaving a little sigh of relief when it was over. I will say that Terry Tempest Williams has a beautiful voice. I did get the audiobook version and get to hear her narrate it, but even if I were just reading this, I would still say that. Everything is put beautifully. From beginning to end, her voice is beautiful.The book opens on a beautiful and promising note, with Terry Tempest Williams inheriting her mother's blank journals, but -- for me, at least -- this book didn't deliver o... moren its promise. As the book got further from the beginning, it felt more and more disjointed; I felt lost. It didn't broaden its scope and quicken its pace from the beginning; rather, the book seemed to narrow and slow, and it always regressed to her mother's journals, which actually really frustrated me after a time. (Near the end of the book, I said to myself, IF I HEAR 'MY MOTHER'S JOURNALS ARE' ONE MORE TIME... and then it came at least ten times in a row.) Now, there's nothing wrong with returning to her mother's journals, since that's the beginning of the book and it's too good to be left alone. No, my problem is that a lot of what she talks about is kind of unrelated to her mother's journals and it's okay for her to draw connections, the connection is just... belabored. There were periods where she wandered away from the topic of her mother's journals and I said, whew, we got away, and we're going somewhere, and then those dreadful words 'my mother's journals.' I got it. I got it. EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS LIKE YOUR MOTHER'S JOURNALS, I wanted to scream.I felt similarly about the connection drawn between women and birds. Birds link many of her stories together, but I quickly tired of that connection too. If these were recurring motifs in a colossal work, I would probably feel like they were anchors, keeping the book from flying away -- but this book's narrow breadth feels anywhere from intimate and cozy to clingy and cloying. For all of the overwrought connection to birds, sometimes this felt more like the flight of a rickety airplane than the flight of a graceful bird. Despite this, I'd still recommend this book because it is, again, beautifully written. If you aren't as easily irritated and you're interested in a book about women -- I'm honestly not sure I would have enjoyed this book so much if I were a man -- this is the book for you. (I'd recommend the audiobook version if it's possible for you to get it, since Terry Tempest Williams has a very soothing voice.) I think it's an important book and, despite all my agonizing, I'm glad I read it and will probably remember it fondly.
review 2: I enjoy hearing other women describe their lives, and deal with the all issues of topics so many women are familiar with but do not always openly discuss. Birth, death, family, sex, marriage, miscarriage, abortion, love, loss, infidelity, illness, strength, relationships... It's not easy to reflect upon all of this without sounding preachy, dramatic, or glossy. She always manages to weave the world together in a way that simply reflects the way it feels to be alive. "There are two important days in a woman's life: the day she is born and the day she finds out way." less

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