Birds in Fall Review !
- Austin
- Jul 22, 2017
- 6 min read
Salut mes amis ! Ça va ? J'espère que vous êtes bien ! Aujourd’hui, c’est la notre première supplémentaire post ! Occasionnellement, nous aurons un supplémentaire post sur samedi en plus des postes sur mercredi ! (Hello everyone! How are y’all? I hope that y’all are doing well. Today, is first extra post! Woo! Now occasionally, we will have an extra post here on Saturdays in additional to our normal ones on Wednesday!) Today, for our first little extra post, I decided I wanted to write a review about a great little book called Birds in Fall by Brad Kessler. If you guys follow me on social media, this title might sound a little familiar to y’all. I recently purchased this book from an amazing indie bookstore in South Carolina while at the beach. This book was one of several recommended to me that day, and I must say, it certain lives up to its recommendation.
Before I get into the review, this is one of those books where I need to supply you with the the synopsis on the back. It is as follows: One fall night off the coast of a remote island in Nova Scotia, an airplane plummets to the sea as an innkeeper watches from the shore. Miles away in New York City, ornithologist Ana Gathreaux works in a darkened room full of sparrows, testing their migratory instincts. Soon, Ana will be bound for Trachis Island, along with other relatives of victims who converge on the site of the tragedy.
As the search for survivors envelops the island, the mourning families gather at the inn, waiting for news of those they have lost. Here among strangers, and watched over by innkeeper Kevin Gearns, they form an unusual community, struggling for comfort and consolation. A Taiwanese couple sets out fruit for their daughter's ghost. A Bulgarian man plays piano in the dark, sending the music to his lost wife, a cellist. Two Dutch teenagers, a brother and sister, rage against their parents' death. An Iranian exile, mourning his niece, recites the Persian tales that carry the wisdom of centuries.
At the center of Birds in Fall lies Ana Gathreaux, whose story Brad Kessler tells with deep compassion: from her days in the field with her husband, observing and banding migratory birds, to her enduring grief and gradual re engagement with life.
Under normal circumstances, for a review, I wouldn’t feel the need to include any synopsis supplied from the book. Instead I would rely on my ability to summarized said novel, however, this synopsis contains the introduction to the vast majority of the large cast of characters in a way that I will not talk about them, so I deemed it inclusion relevant. Birds in Fall is a short novel rounding out at 238 pages, shifting point of view from one cast member to next every chapter or so. With the majority laying on Ana, the ornithologist. However, by no means would I say her character is any more important than the next. It through her however, that supplies the bird references, stories, and analogies which so aptly create the reason for the title of this novel and it also creates a plethora of metaphors for life.
What can I say plot wise about this novel though that won’t give everything away and that isn’t just a reiteration of the synopsis? Well, first off, do not read this book if you are about to board a plane. The very first chapter is the destruction and crash of a commercial jet. Following that, the rest of this novel will probably make you cry. It is extremely sad. It’s all about death, and the grieving processes that comes with it. It highlights how no matter what our backgrounds are, we are all human. We all grieve. Yet, no two process are the same. That tragedy can afflict us all and some may take different path to recovery. Kessler’s unique cast of characters from all over the globe, showcase not only the cultural and religious differences of people in grief, but the grief that people of all ages, genders and relationships experience. Shifting point of view between all the characters each time rips another hole in your heart as you learn about the lives of the lost ones; what those who are dead truly meant to those who survive in their stead. Yet as the novel continues, glimmers of hope do appear. New relationships are formed and slowly the loves ones learn how live without their wives, husbands, daughters, sons, nieces, nephews and more. Not to say that each day is not a struggle, but the authors tries to emphasis how there are still beautiful things left in the word that are worth living for. Each character we get to be inside is a great reflection of how different we all are. Yet again, how similar we are. Brad Kessler, expertly researched the appropriate avenues to make each character as authentic to their roots and their fabricated history as possible. When we are in Ana’s mind, the book is replete with bird references. The Bulgarian man is filled with knowledge about music. Our Iranian exile tells about the nature of his culture, in a way that is very accurate and could be any person from that regions upbringing. And so forth follows for the the rest of the cast. My only complaint about the end of the novel, was that it ended. See the last few chapters of the book include a time big time jump from when the event happened to five years later. I wish we would have been able to see more into the lives of the family members who were left behind, during the ending time jump. For its only the last few chapters, you get to truly see the spark of life in these beings again. Now, I cannot lie to you guys, my initial recreation to said book, was “meh.” The summary and recommendation did captivated me. Yet as I read, something seemed amiss. I realized, I wasn’t connected to the characters. I didn’t share their sense of forlorn. Now at first, I thought it might be because I haven’t experienced much death in my life, but when I was about halfway through the book, at a particular scene, that’s where it [the connection, the sadness] hit me. It was up to that point - I wasn’t really jiving with the writing style. It wasn’t what I was typically used to. It was free, like prose. Everything swirling together. (Which makes perfect sense considering what the characters are facing at this point.) On top of that I wasn’t connected to any character because we were still learning about all of them and their connections to those on the plane. Once we got past this point however, when the characters really started interacting with each other because of a terrible storm on the island. That’s when I began to see how powerful of novel this can be. How sharing your grief, and life experiences with people from all walks of life can change you. For its only when you meet people that are different than you, can you really grow. It was then I began to truly feel connected to each character in the book. Finally, only paragraphs later there would be a scene where the Bulgarian man is playing piano in the dead of night; slowly and quietly the others would slip into the room and that’s where my heart burst into pieces. From that point on I was connected. I felt their pain. Their loss. Their hope that that their loved ones might somehow be alive. I felt it all. It was beautiful. Birds in Fall, is masterpiece, in which Brad Kessler’s cast of diverse characters will stay with you many years from now. That is it for my first Saturday Surprise Review! I hope you enjoyed it! As always, thank you so much for reading post!
I’ve you guys happened to have read this novel before, please let me know your thoughts and feelings about it in the comments below or on social media!
Bon weekend! (Have a great weekend!)
~Austin
*If you have a book you would like me to review or talk about send me an email or message me on social media @RevivreLeLivre!*
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