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_ange_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
2.75
Il libro in sé è molto particolare e all'inizio non riuscivo a capire bene di chi o che cosa si stesse parlando. Sicuramente però fa capire il significato della vera amicizia che va contro tutto e tutti. Consigliato dai 16 anni in su.
austre_yoon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
cmasson17's review against another edition
5.0
What a book. It forces you to think about some interesting questions. Who is really crazy? Am I crazy for trying to mold the world into my perception of "normal"? Are crazy people really sane and just using insanity as a protection for their "humaness". We are de-humanized every day. Scary. Makes you want to fly away--or at least buy a canary. BOY 1985
acraig5075's review
4.0
About birds, and becoming crazy. Easy to read. Somewhat disturbing in parts.
taetris's review against another edition
4.0
This book belongs to the category of strange books that I really enjoyed.
The story is about two boyhood friends, Alfonso and Birdy. They grow up together and get into all sorts of funny and dangerous situations. Alfonso is a burly sporty boy and Birdy is a skinny, strange kid fascinated by birds. They meet in a mental hospital where Birdy is being held after Alfonso returns from fighting in WWII. Birdy is unresponsive and his behaviour implies he thinks he is a bird. Alfonso tries talking to him and reminding him of all the things they did as kids. The narrative unfolds in two voices: Alfonso telling Birdy about the past on the one hand and Birdy talking about the past. Birdys voice concentrates on his obsession with birds. He describes how he started breeding canaries. He describes the animals in a Gerald Durrell like way. Then it deviates from Durrell because Birdy starts dreaming that he is the mate of one of his birds and his reality as a boy and his dream as a bird seem to intertwine in a weird way.
I liked both voices; they were both interesting. Each chapter of each voice added depth to the relationship of the two boys and their shared and separate pasts without repeating anything. Each chapter also added depth to the characters and helped explain how they got to their present positions. I thought this was done expertly and subtly.
The story is about two boyhood friends, Alfonso and Birdy. They grow up together and get into all sorts of funny and dangerous situations. Alfonso is a burly sporty boy and Birdy is a skinny, strange kid fascinated by birds. They meet in a mental hospital where Birdy is being held after Alfonso returns from fighting in WWII. Birdy is unresponsive and his behaviour implies he thinks he is a bird. Alfonso tries talking to him and reminding him of all the things they did as kids. The narrative unfolds in two voices: Alfonso telling Birdy about the past on the one hand and Birdy talking about the past. Birdys voice concentrates on his obsession with birds. He describes how he started breeding canaries. He describes the animals in a Gerald Durrell like way. Then it deviates from Durrell because Birdy starts dreaming that he is the mate of one of his birds and his reality as a boy and his dream as a bird seem to intertwine in a weird way.
I liked both voices; they were both interesting. Each chapter of each voice added depth to the relationship of the two boys and their shared and separate pasts without repeating anything. Each chapter also added depth to the characters and helped explain how they got to their present positions. I thought this was done expertly and subtly.
jilliegirl's review against another edition
I read this a long time ago and remember thinking it was odd.
rickyschneider's review against another edition
4.0
A strange but charming story of friendship and the most bizarre coming-of-age experience I've ever read. Let's face it, the transition from boy into man can be an awkward evolution but here we encounter the unusual added stage of bird along the way. This critically-acclaimed odd-ball is no metaphor or allegory but intensely absurd literalism. This isn't that obtuse quirky book that's purposely hard to understand. In fact, its verisimilitude makes it almost blunt. The two main characters have that Stand By Me kind of unconditional friendship that we don't see enough stories about in film or literature. They are almost codependent but sweetly symbiotic. That Al doesn't flinch at Birdy's preoccupation with pigeons and canaries but actually indulges it is complete friendship goals. The novel switched between the two perspectives as they recount their shared and separate memories leading up to what I was pleased to find was an unexpected and refreshing ending. The novel is sometimes a product of it's times and Al in particular uses offensive language often but I do attribute this to the verisimilitude of the style and a character choice because Birdy never uses any of that language in his narration. Al is actually my favorite character in this because he is hilarious and flawed. He's a perfect example of toxic masculinity masking a sensitive and nuanced human at his heart. Both characters have expansive character arcs and Birdy's portions are full of lyrical quotable prose. The two young men are deeply complex and ostensibly opposites but they are magic together. The main complaint I would warn potential readers about is the extent that Birdy explains the minutiae of his bird's daily lives for much of this book. It's a lot but if you can get past that Birdy is an unusual charmer.
bigcheese's review
4.0
If I didn’t love the movie I don’t think I would’ve picked this book up of my own volition unlessI were middle-aged. So far, the first 50 pages, are written in a simple lovely way, as if I am reading Paul Jennings’ short stories again. If I could write in this way immediately then I’d be dedicating all my time to novels. For a 20-year old to choose to read a book in such simple language a 9-year old could read it, no problem, and the fact they talk about birds so much, would be a curious choice. The bird-talk is so romantic that it feels bizarre to have to like these weirdo characters. Birdy is much easier to understand than Al at this point. I assumed Al wouldn’t care enough about birds to talk about them as if they were amazing, sure enough he really appreciates them. It’s fine, it turns out he’s about 14 at this time.
The movie ages them up to be at the end of high school. The actors are most likely my age. Nicolas Cage in one of the greatest breakout performances ever, with Matthew Modine as the title character. So far the book is not going to top the film, something that I was actually confident wouldn’t happen because the movie happens to be around my top 5/top 2 area.
In the opening chapter of the book Birdy’s thoughts break up Al’s in the form of poems and short bits of prose. It’s really pleasurable. Both Al and Birdy prove to be really cute, cuter than in the film, probably because these are barely teenagers being this way.
Spit test if hilarious but nothing else, I do t knock it for being there though. That “homeysexual” chapter tops thot period of the film. Good chapter.
I just read this sentence “It was the song of someone who knows how to fly.” I felt like my brain had been bludgeoned from the top left, I felt like I shrunk an inch, this may be because I’m exhausted but I staggered off the road into flax. That whole paragraph is related to Birdy’s thoughts: “Knowledge is in the not knowing” and it is beautiful. The physical feeling was not fun, but again, I was exhausted.
Surprisingly the movie is a really tight adaptation, it gets rid of things which don’t matter or would be excess, considers the affects of aging the youth up a bit, and tinctured with an incomprehensible amount of movie magic. I’m really glad that I watched the movie first for the same reason that I didn’t go past the first few episodes of ‘Normal People’ after having reading the book, the movie would’ve felt like a direct copy of the book and maybe I would’ve been taken out of the experience when noticing that. The book is cute and overall excellent storytelling, it has book magic.
What I learn from ‘Birdy’ is that simplicity doesn’t exclude sophistication and beauty. Y’know, if you polish up a novel to 80,000 words, and you’ve got a strong story, you’re bound to strike on show-stopping passages. Even with simple prose. It’s worth it to be clear and have a few rewarding moments, than have a few clear moments, and nothing rewarding, like the last book I read ‘This Happy’ by Niamh Campbell.
When Birdy has that dream I was in the bus. The movie does the character better in this regard as I feel like this is not what Birdy is about at all. Birdy is asexual in my head. If this were in the age of ‘Call Me By Your Name’ with that scene becoming a part of gen z pop culture, ‘Birdy’ would be the one where“he fucks a bird” . It should’ve been a daydream in curiosity that ends with a “yeah no, not for me.” Though it was fun to be shocked in that moment, really only expecting peaceful bird watching for the most part, it had its come down. It was almost like the scene in ‘Lanark’ where the young lad is in his bed but not as shocking for me at this time.
This whole Perta plot is completely bonkers. Bizarrely I can still relate to Birdy a wee bit and the start of this part of the book with dreams, and dream experiences sufficing as experience enough is something stand by. The human brain is imaginative. You can live anything you want and feel how you would if it happened with real life consequences and that that should be satisfying enough. And I’m not saying satisfaction is the elation and buzz of accomplishment, I’m saying satisfaction as possibility, this is possible, this can happen, it’s as well as happened.
Sewage-condom , oh my god. This is too much. I. The bus again.
There are baby bird poems and they are so cute.
The end gives way to some really gory imagery, I think we were already desensitised enough by the late seventies to read brutal war violence against humans without feeling the need to vomit, but it does get really hairy a couple times.
I didn’t exactly like the final few pages of the book, if it’s meant to be calling the pair dreamers I don’t think Al is enough of a dreamer to pull it off. And I can’t see why thebaseballs couldn’t be used in a normal con to demonstrate Birdy is okay. Why the hell did Al think keeping Birdy crazy was the way to get him out?
The movie has a few minor narrative changes which all worked really well. The film ending was especially more in the right. Alan Parker also portrayed Birdy as simply beautiful and got rid of the depraved things he does in the book. Though the book Birdy’s actions were fair enough, he’s a weirdo, it was proper shocking.
Low 4/5
The movie ages them up to be at the end of high school. The actors are most likely my age. Nicolas Cage in one of the greatest breakout performances ever, with Matthew Modine as the title character. So far the book is not going to top the film, something that I was actually confident wouldn’t happen because the movie happens to be around my top 5/top 2 area.
In the opening chapter of the book Birdy’s thoughts break up Al’s in the form of poems and short bits of prose. It’s really pleasurable. Both Al and Birdy prove to be really cute, cuter than in the film, probably because these are barely teenagers being this way.
Spit test if hilarious but nothing else, I do t knock it for being there though. That “homeysexual” chapter tops thot period of the film. Good chapter.
I just read this sentence “It was the song of someone who knows how to fly.” I felt like my brain had been bludgeoned from the top left, I felt like I shrunk an inch, this may be because I’m exhausted but I staggered off the road into flax. That whole paragraph is related to Birdy’s thoughts: “Knowledge is in the not knowing” and it is beautiful. The physical feeling was not fun, but again, I was exhausted.
Surprisingly the movie is a really tight adaptation, it gets rid of things which don’t matter or would be excess, considers the affects of aging the youth up a bit, and tinctured with an incomprehensible amount of movie magic. I’m really glad that I watched the movie first for the same reason that I didn’t go past the first few episodes of ‘Normal People’ after having reading the book, the movie would’ve felt like a direct copy of the book and maybe I would’ve been taken out of the experience when noticing that. The book is cute and overall excellent storytelling, it has book magic.
What I learn from ‘Birdy’ is that simplicity doesn’t exclude sophistication and beauty. Y’know, if you polish up a novel to 80,000 words, and you’ve got a strong story, you’re bound to strike on show-stopping passages. Even with simple prose. It’s worth it to be clear and have a few rewarding moments, than have a few clear moments, and nothing rewarding, like the last book I read ‘This Happy’ by Niamh Campbell.
When Birdy has that dream I was in the bus. The movie does the character better in this regard as I feel like this is not what Birdy is about at all. Birdy is asexual in my head. If this were in the age of ‘Call Me By Your Name’ with that scene becoming a part of gen z pop culture, ‘Birdy’ would be the one where
This whole Perta plot is completely bonkers. Bizarrely I can still relate to Birdy a wee bit and the start of this part of the book with dreams, and dream experiences sufficing as experience enough is something stand by. The human brain is imaginative. You can live anything you want and feel how you would if it happened with real life consequences and that that should be satisfying enough. And I’m not saying satisfaction is the elation and buzz of accomplishment, I’m saying satisfaction as possibility, this is possible, this can happen, it’s as well as happened.
There are baby bird poems and they are so cute.
The end gives way to some really gory imagery, I think we were already desensitised enough by the late seventies to read brutal war violence against humans without feeling the need to vomit, but it does get really hairy a couple times.
I didn’t exactly like the final few pages of the book, if it’s meant to be calling the pair dreamers I don’t think Al is enough of a dreamer to pull it off. And I can’t see why the
The movie has a few minor narrative changes which all worked really well. The film ending was especially more in the right. Alan Parker also portrayed Birdy as simply beautiful and got rid of the depraved things he does in the book. Though the book Birdy’s actions were fair enough, he’s a weirdo, it was proper shocking.
Low 4/5