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ivanssister's review against another edition
3.0
I started this book with the message "just when you think it gets sad, just wait, it gets worse." And to be sure, there are tragedy upon tragedy in this book. While I really liked the author's writing and use of language, I didn't connect with the characters as much as I expected I might. Therefore, as tragedy after tragedy piled up, I didn't find myself as emotional as I expected to be. As someone who can sob at the end of a book, that's what I expected, and for some reason this just didn't click that way with me.
sve100's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the parts of the book where de Bernieres tells the story of the small Anatolian village, the day to day life, the troubles and grieves of the local people. The chapters where he accounts about Mustafa Kemal I found pretty weary.I would have preferred the story of Ataturk tо be incorporated in a more personal way, not as a big historical setting.
gorecki's review against another edition
4.0
Birds Without Wings is a kaleidoscope of stories, characters, and history, that wins the reader's heart quite easily, no matter what their preferred type of literature is. If you like historical fiction - you will like this book in its whole. If you like love stories, then you will find something for yourself in the story of Philothei and Ibrahim, probably even Rustem Bey and Tamara or Rustem Bey and Leyla. If you like war, then you will like the parts about the falling apart of the Ottoman empire, the Balkan wars and the rise of Mustafa Kemal. And if you're just interested in other cultures and people, you will find a lot of them here - Turkish, Greek, Armenian, you name it.
This book follows a period in the history of the Ottoman empire, particularly its fall and the rebirth of Turkey under Mustafa Kemal, through the stories of the people living in a small town called Eskibahce not far from Smyrna (Izmir). It is rich in characters with own personal stories, problems, hopes and fears. It tells us how Christians and Muslims lived side by side, in friendship and understanding, and how they ask each other to pray to their gods in case something bad is happening to one of them. Philothei is a very beautiful Greek girl, who makes everyone dizzy with her beauty and is engaged to be married to Ibrahim, a Turkish goat herder and a friend of hers since childhood. Ayse, the wife of the town's imam is best friends with Polyxeni, Philothei's mother. Karatavuk (his real name Abdul) is a boy taken to fight in a war because he's Turkish, while his best friend Mehmetcik (his real name Nicos) is not allowed to join the army and his friend because he's Greek. Levon the Armenian pharmacists is attacked by one Turk, only to be saved by another and taken away int he end. In this novel we get acquainted with all of these people's worlds in peaceful times, and then see how their lives and they themselves change as the circumstances around them start to crumble and the world goes mad. We see how people who have been Ottomans one day suddenly become divided into Greeks, Armenians, Circassians the next, and are being marched over to places they have never seen in their lives.
I really enjoyed the style and language of the book. The characters are very vivid, the narration keeps you interested all the time. The story flows very naturally and lightly, the pace of the book is just right. I really admired some of the writer's techniques and how there was not a single chapter that looked or sounded as if it were hurried or forced. The pages are full of cultural references, descriptions of traditions and beliefs that make it very colorful and interesting. And while being beautiful and poetic in some chapters, the story is also quite heartbreaking when showing how cruel and vicious people can be with each other, and the amount of pain and destruction they are able to cause in the name of power and territory.
However, I did find some parts dealing with the historical background on the Balkans (Balkan war, situation in Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, etc.) and Mustafa Kemal's rise a bit lengthy and detailed. While Mustafa Kemal's story fits perfectly in setting the background for the rest of the narration and what is happening in Eskibahce, the complete overview of his life, the places he's been to and how he felt, as well as the detailed description or army actions and war makes some chapters sound a bit more like taken our from a history book. I do agree that setting the right historical background is of great importance to this story, but having in mind the length of the book, I believe that giving this background in a bit more compact and shorter form, would have been sufficient. Even like this, though, it was still a great read!
This book follows a period in the history of the Ottoman empire, particularly its fall and the rebirth of Turkey under Mustafa Kemal, through the stories of the people living in a small town called Eskibahce not far from Smyrna (Izmir). It is rich in characters with own personal stories, problems, hopes and fears. It tells us how Christians and Muslims lived side by side, in friendship and understanding, and how they ask each other to pray to their gods in case something bad is happening to one of them. Philothei is a very beautiful Greek girl, who makes everyone dizzy with her beauty and is engaged to be married to Ibrahim, a Turkish goat herder and a friend of hers since childhood. Ayse, the wife of the town's imam is best friends with Polyxeni, Philothei's mother. Karatavuk (his real name Abdul) is a boy taken to fight in a war because he's Turkish, while his best friend Mehmetcik (his real name Nicos) is not allowed to join the army and his friend because he's Greek. Levon the Armenian pharmacists is attacked by one Turk, only to be saved by another and taken away int he end. In this novel we get acquainted with all of these people's worlds in peaceful times, and then see how their lives and they themselves change as the circumstances around them start to crumble and the world goes mad. We see how people who have been Ottomans one day suddenly become divided into Greeks, Armenians, Circassians the next, and are being marched over to places they have never seen in their lives.
I really enjoyed the style and language of the book. The characters are very vivid, the narration keeps you interested all the time. The story flows very naturally and lightly, the pace of the book is just right. I really admired some of the writer's techniques and how there was not a single chapter that looked or sounded as if it were hurried or forced. The pages are full of cultural references, descriptions of traditions and beliefs that make it very colorful and interesting. And while being beautiful and poetic in some chapters, the story is also quite heartbreaking when showing how cruel and vicious people can be with each other, and the amount of pain and destruction they are able to cause in the name of power and territory.
However, I did find some parts dealing with the historical background on the Balkans (Balkan war, situation in Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, etc.) and Mustafa Kemal's rise a bit lengthy and detailed. While Mustafa Kemal's story fits perfectly in setting the background for the rest of the narration and what is happening in Eskibahce, the complete overview of his life, the places he's been to and how he felt, as well as the detailed description or army actions and war makes some chapters sound a bit more like taken our from a history book. I do agree that setting the right historical background is of great importance to this story, but having in mind the length of the book, I believe that giving this background in a bit more compact and shorter form, would have been sufficient. Even like this, though, it was still a great read!
sfletcher26's review against another edition
5.0
I read Captain Correlli's Mandolin a couple of years ago. It wasn't a book I would ordinarily have read but I'd read good reviews of it and wanted to read out of my comfort zone so gave it a go. It was amazing and I loved it. Shortly afterwards I got a copy of Birds Without Wings and its been languishing on my TBR pile ever since because I couldn't get into it. It felt so very different to CCM that I just couldn't seem to find a way into it.
In an attempt to break the deadlock though I nominated this as a book to read in my book club. Some would say that this is a recipe for disaster as if I can't get into it how will others in the group find it (more on that later).
This time reading the book was in some ways no easier. The first few pages dragged by and I was beginning to wonder whether I would finish it. I pushed on though because its a book club pick and I always read a book club pick. And boy am I glad I did.
As I hinted above this wasn't what I expected it to be in any way. Having read CCM I expected it to be more like that, but it wasn't it was so much more. I found that it was more like a biography of a town and the people who live there and how their lives interact. It was an interconnected collection of vignettes that I found I needed to like a collection of short stories; one at a time with a slight break between each part. Therefore it's taken me a very long time to read, pretty much a month.
Normally I would have hated a book that took this long to read but not this one, I loved it and it ended up breaking my heart and making it soar at the same time. A genuinely amazing book that I would give 6 stars to if I could.
Book club addendum
We are a small group (just 4 of us).
2 read it and really enjoyed it
1 was still reading and was finding it hard work
1 abandoned
In an attempt to break the deadlock though I nominated this as a book to read in my book club. Some would say that this is a recipe for disaster as if I can't get into it how will others in the group find it (more on that later).
This time reading the book was in some ways no easier. The first few pages dragged by and I was beginning to wonder whether I would finish it. I pushed on though because its a book club pick and I always read a book club pick. And boy am I glad I did.
As I hinted above this wasn't what I expected it to be in any way. Having read CCM I expected it to be more like that, but it wasn't it was so much more. I found that it was more like a biography of a town and the people who live there and how their lives interact. It was an interconnected collection of vignettes that I found I needed to like a collection of short stories; one at a time with a slight break between each part. Therefore it's taken me a very long time to read, pretty much a month.
Normally I would have hated a book that took this long to read but not this one, I loved it and it ended up breaking my heart and making it soar at the same time. A genuinely amazing book that I would give 6 stars to if I could.
Book club addendum
We are a small group (just 4 of us).
2 read it and really enjoyed it
1 was still reading and was finding it hard work
1 abandoned
fedor_ulysses's review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
siria's review against another edition
4.0
There are not words to describe how much I adore this book. It's a definite departure from the style of his previous books (all of which I admire as much); it's much less funny (though still often wryly humourous), and belongs much less to the magical realist style.
De Bernieres deftly intersperses the life of the fictional Turkish town of Eskibahce at the time of the Great War with an account of the history of the times and the life of Mustafa Kemal. It's a period and a region which I didn't know a great deal about, and I felt as if I had come away from the book with some new knowledge of the last days of the Ottoman Empire, and the beginnings of the Turkish Republic. De Bernieres also brings a high degree of irony to his work, especially when he is disecting the history of the region, the intertwined cultures of 'Greek' Christians and 'Turkish' Muslims, and the way in which they are forcibly divided at the end of the war.
It's not an easy read in points; de Bernieres uses a lot of different [b:characters and viewpoint|7963|Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)|Orson Scott Card|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165651980s/7963.jpg|10967]s throughout the book, and some of the characters, when recalling their former lives, ramble quite a bit (if quite believably so). There is not the same level of humour to help the reader through some of the tragedy which befalls the characters as, for example, you get in Corelli's Mandolin. But I think it's still a wonderful book, and well worth the read.
De Bernieres deftly intersperses the life of the fictional Turkish town of Eskibahce at the time of the Great War with an account of the history of the times and the life of Mustafa Kemal. It's a period and a region which I didn't know a great deal about, and I felt as if I had come away from the book with some new knowledge of the last days of the Ottoman Empire, and the beginnings of the Turkish Republic. De Bernieres also brings a high degree of irony to his work, especially when he is disecting the history of the region, the intertwined cultures of 'Greek' Christians and 'Turkish' Muslims, and the way in which they are forcibly divided at the end of the war.
It's not an easy read in points; de Bernieres uses a lot of different [b:characters and viewpoint|7963|Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)|Orson Scott Card|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165651980s/7963.jpg|10967]s throughout the book, and some of the characters, when recalling their former lives, ramble quite a bit (if quite believably so). There is not the same level of humour to help the reader through some of the tragedy which befalls the characters as, for example, you get in Corelli's Mandolin. But I think it's still a wonderful book, and well worth the read.
alextind's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
flori_faith's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
auntieg0412's review against another edition
5.0
This is truly an impressive piece of work. It's a big book, a sweeping story filled with lots of characters who are introduced a chapter -- and a small bit of their story -- at a time. Sometimes I thought these bits were random and scattered. But by the end I realized the book was built in the manner of a dry stone wall; at first there is just a pile of rocks of all shapes and sizes, but the craftsman carefully places each piece and when he is finished, his creation is a thing of lasting strength and beauty.
Halfway through the book I felt that de Bernieres was about to punch me in the gut, to hit me with a single, devastating event, but he is much more subtle than that. Instead of a punch I felt a weight of sadness that slowly grew, with each small revelation, into the certainty that none of these characters' lives would end well.
It's important to remember that while this is a novel and the individual stories it tells are born of the author's imagination, the book is based on the real and terrible brutality of the Great War and its lasting aftermath. Read it with that knowledge in mind.
Halfway through the book I felt that de Bernieres was about to punch me in the gut, to hit me with a single, devastating event, but he is much more subtle than that. Instead of a punch I felt a weight of sadness that slowly grew, with each small revelation, into the certainty that none of these characters' lives would end well.
It's important to remember that while this is a novel and the individual stories it tells are born of the author's imagination, the book is based on the real and terrible brutality of the Great War and its lasting aftermath. Read it with that knowledge in mind.
meg1128's review
informative
reflective
sad
slow-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? No
4.5