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A review by taetris
Birdy by William Wharton
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.