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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Somehow, I failed to write a review for this book. It's been quite some time since I finished reading it, so my memory is hazy. I remember thinking that it's okay, but also seem to recall being annoyed at the ending and surprised at least once. There's a bit more depth to the story than I expected, but the twists and turns and such get a bit tiresome.
I'm not sure who to recommend this one to. It's about a middle aged academic who has had some problems and finds himself in the middle of a decades old mystery surrounding a taxidermied specimen of an extinct bird.
I'm not sure who to recommend this one to. It's about a middle aged academic who has had some problems and finds himself in the middle of a decades old mystery surrounding a taxidermied specimen of an extinct bird.
A magical book full of love for both history and nature. Few other book have inspired me to learn new things and explore nature more.
You know when teachers tell you you are smart and talented but lazy? I've heard it many times. I am sure many of you heard it as well and I am absolutely positive Martin Davies heard it more than once.
He is a talented guy. He managed to create a mystery story that revolves around a stuffed bird. And not even a colourful, exotic one, just a plain grey bird. To be fair, the bird is now extinct and the stuffed specimen is the only specimen in the world. And it is missing. In fact, it has been missing for 200 years or so. Using primary sources Davies creates two stories, one is a 19th century romance and the other is a contemporary mystery. I am not a big fan of two intervening narratives because I have OCD that stops me from reading more than one book at a time. I am always tempted to read one story, and then go back and read the other story. Alas, my OCD doesn't allow me to read pages in any other than numerological order either. Sigh.
On the top of that Davies added a story of the narrator's grandfather search for African peacocks. Therefore we have three stories and 305 pages. You do the math.
"That Thursday evening I was working late, removing the skull of a dead owl."
This is the first line and it shows a lot of promise but after that there just rah, rah, rah, bam, bam, bam and off we go. Davies just didn't take his time. The man can write, and he had a good story but everything was barely touched. He did a real disservice to his characters, the poor things looked all like cardboard cut-outs of themselves. The 19th century England was not brought to life either. I had to rely on the vision of the period I had in my head thanks to more hard-working authors.
All in all, a decent beach read for times when you feel lazy and can only associate with like-minded authors.
He is a talented guy. He managed to create a mystery story that revolves around a stuffed bird. And not even a colourful, exotic one, just a plain grey bird. To be fair, the bird is now extinct and the stuffed specimen is the only specimen in the world. And it is missing. In fact, it has been missing for 200 years or so. Using primary sources Davies creates two stories, one is a 19th century romance and the other is a contemporary mystery. I am not a big fan of two intervening narratives because I have OCD that stops me from reading more than one book at a time. I am always tempted to read one story, and then go back and read the other story. Alas, my OCD doesn't allow me to read pages in any other than numerological order either. Sigh.
On the top of that Davies added a story of the narrator's grandfather search for African peacocks. Therefore we have three stories and 305 pages. You do the math.
"That Thursday evening I was working late, removing the skull of a dead owl."
This is the first line and it shows a lot of promise but after that there just rah, rah, rah, bam, bam, bam and off we go. Davies just didn't take his time. The man can write, and he had a good story but everything was barely touched. He did a real disservice to his characters, the poor things looked all like cardboard cut-outs of themselves. The 19th century England was not brought to life either. I had to rely on the vision of the period I had in my head thanks to more hard-working authors.
All in all, a decent beach read for times when you feel lazy and can only associate with like-minded authors.
great books full of mystery, history and biology! (and a little art!)
The jacket exclaims that it compares to Possession. If any book that goes back and forth in time "compares" to Possession, and it's British, then yeah. But that's where the comparison ends. I looked in vain for the similarities to The Club Dumas (also alleged on the jacket). Still, a serviceable book.
By all accounts, the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta, discovered in 1774, doesn’t exist. A single specimen was captured in the South Seas, preserved, and gifted to naturalist Joseph Banks, where it remained in his collection until it disappeared one day, never to be seen again. Except for a drawing by Georg Forster, no trace of the bird could be found. Two hundred years later, it continues to mystify naturalists.
The first thing you need to know about The Conjurer’s Bird is that it is not an exciting book. If you’re looking for car chases and shootouts, you’ve picked the wrong kind of mystery. Set mainly in London and Lincolnshire, it’s a quiet and relaxing read.
However.
The Conjurer’s Bird is still an immersing book. It jumps between three storylines: the star-crossed romance of Joseph Banks and the elusive Miss B—n, in 1774; John Fitzgerald’s search for the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta, two hundred years later; and the third (much smaller) storyline being Fitz’s recounting of his grandfather’s expedition to find a rare African peacock, that seems to mirror much of both Banks’ and Fitz’s stories.
Although not everything is as it seems in all three stories, the twists are not very surprising, and it could benefit from a little more intrigue and suspense. It is also thoroughly researched and (as much as a fictional book can be) historically accurate, although the time period of 1774 could use a bit more description— something to really set the mood and let us know that we’ve traveled 200 years into the past.
Style: True, nearly half of the story is spent doing research in libraries, but it is rarely a boring read. Martin Davies has an excellent grasp of wordcraft, his style can only be described as charming and subtly humorous.
Technique: The Conjurer’s Bird is written in alternating first-person and third-person. Modern-day is written in first-person from the point of view of John Fitzgerald, and 1774 is written from the POVs of Joseph Banks and Miss B—n. The transition between the two is a bit off, mostly on the third-person side of things and especially in the beginning, as though Davies was less comfortable with that form. Both forms smooth out before the middle of the book, however.
Characters: Our main character is John Fitzgerald, a conservationist/taxidermist/authority on extinct birds, apparently rich (it doesn’t seem like a very lucrative business, but he appears to have no problem traveling on a whim and staying in expensive hotels). He is quiet and thoughtful, although not much else. Most of the events on his side of the story only seem to happen around him— not necessarily to him.
He has a tenant named Katya, a Swedish university student who lives upstairs, who is more of a catalyst. She assists him in researching the bird (accompanying him nearly everywhere, which does beg the question of where and when she attends class), often uncovering important names and dates otherwise missed. She is more vivacious and engaging than Fitz, but Davies would have done well to liven up both of these characters.
In 1774, Joseph Banks is a young English naturalist, eager and passionate. He tends to wear his heart on his sleeve, making him more relatable than most of the other characters (even Fitz, whose head we’re inside for half of the book). He can be brash and hasty, though in general a good-hearted sort.
Miss B—n is quiet, reclusive, and mysterious. She rarely shows what she feels or seems affected by things going on around her, appearing quite detached and at times a frustrating character to read. Somewhat ethereal, she spends her time drawing and being enigmatic. It’s a full-time job.
I wish we could give half-stars here, as it deserves more than three but less than four. It's entertaining, engaging, but ultimately unremarkable.
The first thing you need to know about The Conjurer’s Bird is that it is not an exciting book. If you’re looking for car chases and shootouts, you’ve picked the wrong kind of mystery. Set mainly in London and Lincolnshire, it’s a quiet and relaxing read.
However.
The Conjurer’s Bird is still an immersing book. It jumps between three storylines: the star-crossed romance of Joseph Banks and the elusive Miss B—n, in 1774; John Fitzgerald’s search for the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta, two hundred years later; and the third (much smaller) storyline being Fitz’s recounting of his grandfather’s expedition to find a rare African peacock, that seems to mirror much of both Banks’ and Fitz’s stories.
Although not everything is as it seems in all three stories, the twists are not very surprising, and it could benefit from a little more intrigue and suspense. It is also thoroughly researched and (as much as a fictional book can be) historically accurate, although the time period of 1774 could use a bit more description— something to really set the mood and let us know that we’ve traveled 200 years into the past.
Style: True, nearly half of the story is spent doing research in libraries, but it is rarely a boring read. Martin Davies has an excellent grasp of wordcraft, his style can only be described as charming and subtly humorous.
Technique: The Conjurer’s Bird is written in alternating first-person and third-person. Modern-day is written in first-person from the point of view of John Fitzgerald, and 1774 is written from the POVs of Joseph Banks and Miss B—n. The transition between the two is a bit off, mostly on the third-person side of things and especially in the beginning, as though Davies was less comfortable with that form. Both forms smooth out before the middle of the book, however.
Characters: Our main character is John Fitzgerald, a conservationist/taxidermist/authority on extinct birds, apparently rich (it doesn’t seem like a very lucrative business, but he appears to have no problem traveling on a whim and staying in expensive hotels). He is quiet and thoughtful, although not much else. Most of the events on his side of the story only seem to happen around him— not necessarily to him.
He has a tenant named Katya, a Swedish university student who lives upstairs, who is more of a catalyst. She assists him in researching the bird (accompanying him nearly everywhere, which does beg the question of where and when she attends class), often uncovering important names and dates otherwise missed. She is more vivacious and engaging than Fitz, but Davies would have done well to liven up both of these characters.
In 1774, Joseph Banks is a young English naturalist, eager and passionate. He tends to wear his heart on his sleeve, making him more relatable than most of the other characters (even Fitz, whose head we’re inside for half of the book). He can be brash and hasty, though in general a good-hearted sort.
Miss B—n is quiet, reclusive, and mysterious. She rarely shows what she feels or seems affected by things going on around her, appearing quite detached and at times a frustrating character to read. Somewhat ethereal, she spends her time drawing and being enigmatic. It’s a full-time job.
I wish we could give half-stars here, as it deserves more than three but less than four. It's entertaining, engaging, but ultimately unremarkable.
A used book store grab, this was a bit disappointing. Marked as a book club favorite it was fairly flat and uninspired, and completely predicatable. Characters were randomly inserted to make the (mystery) plot work, and it was choppy. Extinct stuffed birds are a bit of limited audience anyway and without enough additional background on the whole bird topic or flashy plot to distract you from it's absence, there isn't much to this book.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
There's something to be said about re-reading a book you read first in 2016 - all new to me :-) This really is a wonderful tale of a rare bird found in the 1700s, stuffed, and then goes missing. The search is on, conducted by a nefarious scoundrel who's in it for the money, a conservationist who really cares about its preservation, and an amateur sleuth/taxidermist who's interest is in saving the bird from being torn apart for its genetic heritage. And there's some light romance in there too. A very nice read indeed.
5 oktober 2014:
In 1774 wordt er tijdens een expeditie naar de Stille Zuidzee een ongewone vogel gevonden. Als het dier wordt gevangen komt het in Engeland in handen van Joseph Banks. Banks stelt de vogel met trots tentoon. Maar dan is de vogel plots spoorloos verdwenen. Het enige dat overblijft, is een tekening.
Ruim 200 jaar na dato wordt John Fitzgerald gevraagd te helpen om de vogel te vinden. Het enige exemplaar is een opgezette vogel en die brengt nu veel op met de huidige technieken. Fitzgerald geeft aan in eerste instantie geen interesse te hebben. Maar als er in zijn huis wordt ingebroken raakt hij toch geïnteresseerd en gaat hij zelf op onderzoek uit met de studente Katya. Tijdens hun onderzoek komen ze meer te weten of de vogel en zijn achtergrond, maar ook over de eigenaar. Daarnaast komen ze verschillende mensen tegen die om verschillende redenen interesse blijken te hebben in de vogel. Dit alles maakt dat Fitzgerald zijn speurtocht alleen anders moet instellen. Want elke stap die hij neemt wordt in de gaten gehouden.
De verloren vogel gaat echt over een verloren vogel, maar het verhaal brengt meer.
Het brengt twee tijden, twee verhalen bij elkaar. Het geeft een landelijke reis en een wereldreis weer en een speurtocht met andere uitkomsten dan men verwacht.
Het verhaal rond John Banks en zijn leven, waaronder de expeditie met Kapitein Cooks. De vogel en een geheime vrouw in zijn leven.
Dan het verhaal van John Fitzgerald die gevraagd wordt door de minnaar van zijn ex om te helpen zoeken naar de vogel.
Twee verschillende verhalen met een en dezelfde onderwerp, maar in verschillende tijden.
Het gaat om de vogel, maar ook weer niet. Want is de vogel niet alleen verloren en speelt meer. Een verloren liefde? Een nieuw bestaan of toch een groot geheim verborgen in het geheel?
Buiten de kleine spel- en schrijffouten is het boek ontzettend leuk en spannend om te lezen. Het is een roman dat bijna alles in zich heeft. Het verbaast me dat het boek nieuw niet meer te koop is en dat er weinig aandacht aan gegeven is.
Belangrijk is wel dat je in het begin even doorzet. Maar toch word je al snel wel meegetrokken in het verhaal.
---
Martin Davies veel is er niet over hem bekend. Hij heeft boeken geschreven over o.a. de huishoudster van Sherlock Holmes.
Voor meer informatie verwijs ik naar:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/92375.Martin_Davies
---
©2010 De verloren vogel; Erik de Vries en Uitgeverij De Vliegende Hollander
©2005 Martin Davies;
The conjuror’s bird
Uitgeverij Hodder & Stoughton
Omslagontwerp: Nanja Toebak
Foto omslag: © Marco van Duijvendijk
Vormgeving binnenwerk: Perfect Service
Foto auteur: Jerry Bauer
ISBN: 978.90.495.0058.0
In 1774 wordt er tijdens een expeditie naar de Stille Zuidzee een ongewone vogel gevonden. Als het dier wordt gevangen komt het in Engeland in handen van Joseph Banks. Banks stelt de vogel met trots tentoon. Maar dan is de vogel plots spoorloos verdwenen. Het enige dat overblijft, is een tekening.
Ruim 200 jaar na dato wordt John Fitzgerald gevraagd te helpen om de vogel te vinden. Het enige exemplaar is een opgezette vogel en die brengt nu veel op met de huidige technieken. Fitzgerald geeft aan in eerste instantie geen interesse te hebben. Maar als er in zijn huis wordt ingebroken raakt hij toch geïnteresseerd en gaat hij zelf op onderzoek uit met de studente Katya. Tijdens hun onderzoek komen ze meer te weten of de vogel en zijn achtergrond, maar ook over de eigenaar. Daarnaast komen ze verschillende mensen tegen die om verschillende redenen interesse blijken te hebben in de vogel. Dit alles maakt dat Fitzgerald zijn speurtocht alleen anders moet instellen. Want elke stap die hij neemt wordt in de gaten gehouden.
De verloren vogel gaat echt over een verloren vogel, maar het verhaal brengt meer.
Het brengt twee tijden, twee verhalen bij elkaar. Het geeft een landelijke reis en een wereldreis weer en een speurtocht met andere uitkomsten dan men verwacht.
Het verhaal rond John Banks en zijn leven, waaronder de expeditie met Kapitein Cooks. De vogel en een geheime vrouw in zijn leven.
Dan het verhaal van John Fitzgerald die gevraagd wordt door de minnaar van zijn ex om te helpen zoeken naar de vogel.
Twee verschillende verhalen met een en dezelfde onderwerp, maar in verschillende tijden.
Het gaat om de vogel, maar ook weer niet. Want is de vogel niet alleen verloren en speelt meer. Een verloren liefde? Een nieuw bestaan of toch een groot geheim verborgen in het geheel?
Buiten de kleine spel- en schrijffouten is het boek ontzettend leuk en spannend om te lezen. Het is een roman dat bijna alles in zich heeft. Het verbaast me dat het boek nieuw niet meer te koop is en dat er weinig aandacht aan gegeven is.
Belangrijk is wel dat je in het begin even doorzet. Maar toch word je al snel wel meegetrokken in het verhaal.
---
Martin Davies veel is er niet over hem bekend. Hij heeft boeken geschreven over o.a. de huishoudster van Sherlock Holmes.
Voor meer informatie verwijs ik naar:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/92375.Martin_Davies
---
©2010 De verloren vogel; Erik de Vries en Uitgeverij De Vliegende Hollander
©2005 Martin Davies;
The conjuror’s bird
Uitgeverij Hodder & Stoughton
Omslagontwerp: Nanja Toebak
Foto omslag: © Marco van Duijvendijk
Vormgeving binnenwerk: Perfect Service
Foto auteur: Jerry Bauer
ISBN: 978.90.495.0058.0