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shonisauro's review against another edition
3.0
Captivatingly written story that sucks you in... and then leaves you hanging with a completely unsatisfactory end.
kate_albers's review against another edition
3.0
The language in this book is lovely and the author does a masterful job of making you feel the fear and suspense hanging over her protagonist's life. But ultimately, I cannot give it more than three stars because it feels unfinished. The book builds between Jake's present day life on her sheep farm to the events that got her to this remote and lonely place. When I was done, I wanted it to go on to answer some other questions.
marenkae's review against another edition
2.0
2.5
The writing is fantastic but I really didn't particularly care about the story or characters. I forgot most of it pretty soon after I finished. Also really didn't like the excessive descriptions of violence against women!
The writing is fantastic but I really didn't particularly care about the story or characters. I forgot most of it pretty soon after I finished. Also really didn't like the excessive descriptions of violence against women!
karinslaughter's review against another edition
4.0
It was a bit hard to get into the rhythm of the circuitous narration, but once I accepted that the plot was not linear, I was able to sit back and enjoy the prose.
kats05's review against another edition
4.0
All the Birds, Singing is an usual, totally gripping novel. The narrative style takes some getting used to: whilst there is only one narrator, Jake Whyte (a young woman), we have two narratives from her with two storylines that move in opposite directions. One storyline takes place in the present tense (but narration in in the past tense) and moves forwards in a linear direction, the other storyline (told in the grammatical present tense, I think) takes place in the past and with each chapter in that storyline we move further into the past, i.e. backwards. Confused yet? Well, I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, so it took me a while to figure out what was going on, and I'm not explaining it very well here, either, but let me tell you that Evie Wyld certainly knows how to use this storytelling device.
The result is that we get closer and closer to finding out what happened in Jake's past in Australia that has her hiding away on a small, craggy island somewhere in Britain, a situation that is creepy and fascinating in equal measures. There are episodes in Jake's life that were extremely uncomfortable and shocking, even nauseating, to hear about. However, without making light of her dire situation our heroine tells some of these anecdotes in a way that had me laugh out loud in places, helping to ease my discomfort (without spoiling it for those that haven't yet read the book but as a future reminder to myself, here are a couple of examples: small spiders coming out of a wall scaring a grown man who likes to call himself "The Rock" and a naive, young girl attempting to make noise inside a truck).
The last few chapters, in my opinion, were a bit rushed and the very ending was not satisfactory to me, but all in all, I think this must have been a strong contender for the literary prizes it has been nominated for, even if it hasn't won any (yet).
The result is that we get closer and closer to finding out what happened in Jake's past in Australia that has her hiding away on a small, craggy island somewhere in Britain, a situation that is creepy and fascinating in equal measures. There are episodes in Jake's life that were extremely uncomfortable and shocking, even nauseating, to hear about. However, without making light of her dire situation our heroine tells some of these anecdotes in a way that had me laugh out loud in places, helping to ease my discomfort (without spoiling it for those that haven't yet read the book but as a future reminder to myself, here are a couple of examples: small spiders coming out of a wall scaring a grown man who likes to call himself "The Rock" and a naive, young girl attempting to make noise inside a truck).
The last few chapters, in my opinion, were a bit rushed and the very ending was not satisfactory to me, but all in all, I think this must have been a strong contender for the literary prizes it has been nominated for, even if it hasn't won any (yet).
laura_hankin's review against another edition
4.0
Jake's self-imposed isolation is both her comfort and her undoing. I loved the way the story continued to move forward alternating with the backfill of the events and life that led her to where she was. So well written; creepy atmosphere, horrifying situations, and a resilient main character that I will think about for quite some time to come.
lmbradley's review against another edition
About three-quarters through the book, a character tells the protagonist (Jake) to imagine the line between the hemispheres of her brain as a corridor lined by doors and each room is a memory or dream. If she goes into a room and it turns out to be a bad place, she can go back out, lock the door behind her, and pick a new door. Jake wishes she could walk down the corridor, never opening another door again. Unfortunately, the doors are splitting open behind her and all the bad stuff is pouring out in an avalanche she can’t outrun.
At first I was annoyed by the jumbled chronology of the book. Eventually I realized that the story is split down the middle, too, going back in time (linearly, not jumbled) to explain Jake’s trauma as she is struggling to move forward. In fact, the order imposed by the chronological split makes all the twists and turns of Jake’s life seem perfectly logical, although still tragic, the same way a therapist can show someone with PTSD how they got there.
It’s not as facile as I may make it sound. The present tense storyline is still uncanny and frightening, its horrors not imagined. By book’s end those horrors are confirmed as real by another character, so even if not all can be explained, at least Jake doesn’t have to face it alone.
At first I was annoyed by the jumbled chronology of the book. Eventually I realized that the story is split down the middle, too, going back in time (linearly, not jumbled) to explain Jake’s trauma as she is struggling to move forward. In fact, the order imposed by the chronological split makes all the twists and turns of Jake’s life seem perfectly logical, although still tragic, the same way a therapist can show someone with PTSD how they got there.
It’s not as facile as I may make it sound. The present tense storyline is still uncanny and frightening, its horrors not imagined. By book’s end those horrors are confirmed as real by another character, so even if not all can be explained, at least Jake doesn’t have to face it alone.
kristineich2's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully written, gripping, but dark and raw. I should have known from the cover!
megcam's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book. Wonderful writing, captivating story, intriguing every step of the way.
sarahruthsreads's review against another edition
2.75
I was really excited to read this because of how much I loved “The Bass Rock.” But this book was SO disjointed. It was all over the place in time, characters were introduced with no explanation; there was really little to no explanation for anything. It was actually a struggle to read, and each conflict had only a partial resolution. While wylds writing is beautiful, the actual storyline was borderline incoherent.