Reviews with content warning for Grief - When We Were Birds

When We Were Birds is lushly written and vividly brings its setting, a fictional town in Trinidad and Tobago to life. The plot centres around Darwin, who is forced to take a job as a gravedigger in a cemetery that harbours some dark secrets, and Yejide, next in a line of women responsible for shepherding dead souls into the afterlife. While a romance eventually develops this is not a romance novel per se. The plot very much centres on their individual storylines and themes like complicated mother-child relationships, inheritance and legacy and the divide between life and death. Rhythmically and stylistically this book felt strongly situated in a tradition of oral storytelling.

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bookishcori's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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deedireads's review against another edition

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dark hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

When We Were Birds — a modern, imaginative, and more literary take on the classic love story — is a quick, captivating standalone. I really liked it.

For you if: You like literary magical realism and /or want to read more books set in the Caribbean.

FULL REVIEW:

Thank you, Doubleday, for the gifted copy of this book! With some SERIOUS blurb power (Marlon James, Robert Jones Jr., Pat Barker, Avni Doshi, and others) When We Were Birds is exactly the kind of novel I tend to love — literary, but touched with magic. So it’s no surprise that I enjoyed this book very, very much.

Set in Trinidad and Tobago, the story is about two characters: Yejide, a young woman who is last in a line of women who help pass souls into the afterlife (literally — magically), and Darwin, a young Rastafarian man left with no options but to take a job at a graveyard, despite the fact that it goes against his religion. So begins their intertwined fates.

It took me a few days to relax into this one, but I think that was a me/brain space thing and not a book thing. Once I did, I was off — in fact, by the end, I was surprised by how fast the pace had felt. I read most of it in a single Amtrak ride, and it was perfectly suited for that kind of thing. It’s got that quick, immersive love-story feeling alongside that deeper literary feeling. All while completely transporting us into this fictional city and into these characters’ lives and hearts.

Finally, this is a book where I very much recommend listening to the audiobook as you read along — the voice performances by Sydney Darius and Wendell Manwarren really brought the characters, the story, and the setting to life.

A beautiful debut. I can’t wait to see what Ayanna Lloyd Banwo writes next.

Content Warnings

clarabooksit's review

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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bookdragon217's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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