Other Birds Book Review
Other Birds Book Review
Sarah Addison Allen plants us into a world with a handful of people and ghosts, that we grow to love. In this book review of Other Birds, I am sharing why this author's character development makes this story worth a read.
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Summary:
When Zoey claims her deceased mother’s apartment the summer before college, she meets secretive and lonely people who reside in the horse-shoed complex called The Dellawisps. Where tiny turquoise birds inhabit the trees and an odd group of neighbors reside. Although they live in such a reclusive manner, Zoey's determined to make friends. Among these misfits lives a private woman, a lonely chef, and two estranged sisters.
When the sudden death of a sister occurs one night, three ghosts interject into the narrative, and her tragic demise brings most of The Dellawisps's neighbors together.
It's not until Zoey gets a job to cleanse the deceased sister's home from her hoarding nature that secrets resurrect and an estranged relative is revealed.
“Stories aren’t fiction. Stories are fabric. They’re the white sheets we drape over our ghosts so we can see them.”
Other Birds, Sarah Addison Allen
Book Review:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Reading it was a relief since most modern stories include propaganda and politics.
The best part of this reading experience was feeling immersed in Allen's prose and characters. The author chose to write through multiple individuals; this was no small feat for a shorter novel. Because her structure and prose was clear, I always knew who lead a scene even though there were a variety of viewpoints. It seemed like the author’s intent was to ensure their development, and she delivered. It's easy to get lost in a book with so many characters, but Allen pulled me into their world and never let me go.
“Charlotte put her hands back in her pockets. ‘In all my years, I’ve never encountered something that didn’t mean anything.’”
Other Birds, Sarah Addison Allen
I loved Allen's approach to alternating points of view.
She didn’t rely on breaking up scenes with chapters like most authors do today. At times, she switched perspectives in a chapter, using only a small break and different tone. This made me feel connected to everyone without separation; I liked it. It's a contrast to other modern books relying on the chapter breaks for altering POVs. I do still enjoy POVs rotations because they are direct, but I loved seeing the creativity without it. Some POV swaps are genius, when they are done well because they make perfect pacing.
However, Allen truly made the in-chapter switch work flawlessly in Other Birds. Even though this novel changes perspectives frequently, it never felt jarring because the author knew her characters, and each had a different tone and worldview.
The pacing in Other Birds was great! It was a short and sweet book. The weakest part of this story was the plot. It turned a bit vague and unclear, but the author didn’t want to numb down her character development and slow down the pacing to explain every detail, which I completely respect. She didn’t spoon-feed her point, but had enough faith in her readers— that they can interpret their own meaning. In a world filled with overwritten plots— I’m grateful. This story lives in the realm of magical realism, so elements are meant to be left to interpretation.
“Maybe I thought that if I just collected enough words, I could totally rewrite myself one day.”
Other Birds, Sarah Addison Allen
Afterthoughts:
I will definitely pick up more books by this author— especially if the subgenre is magical realism. Sarah Addison Allen brought me hope for the future of modern storytelling; there are still people who love stories and can write them without injecting their political agendas.
Other Birds transported me into these characters lives. This book was a quick read— I raced through it and was hooked until the end.
Rating:
★★★★
Thank you for reading with me!
