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A review by carolinethereader
Birds Art Life Death: A Field Guide to the Small and Significant by Kyo Maclear
2.0
2.5 out of 5 stars
Kyo Maclear undertakes a year of bird-watching as a way to recentre and deal with anxiety surrounding her father's poor health. She tours Toronto with a bird-loving musician as her guide and uses their experiences as jumping points to reflect on various things- relationships, her father, art, birds, grief, life and death.
There's a lot to love about this book. Some of the prose is beautiful and I think the thread of 'take the time to appreciate the little things' woven through the book is lovely. There are descriptions of nice moments of community in the bird-watching community which were wholesome. It was also nice to feel the author appreciating the hobby more as the book went.
However, I was always waiting for this book to make a point. For it to hammer something home and it never did. This book is 259 pages but it felt much longer to me. I feel a little guilty rating this 2 stars because although I didn't enjoy this book there were some great moments and I think it could be the perfect book for some people at the right moment in their life. Just not for me.
Kyo Maclear undertakes a year of bird-watching as a way to recentre and deal with anxiety surrounding her father's poor health. She tours Toronto with a bird-loving musician as her guide and uses their experiences as jumping points to reflect on various things- relationships, her father, art, birds, grief, life and death.
There's a lot to love about this book. Some of the prose is beautiful and I think the thread of 'take the time to appreciate the little things' woven through the book is lovely. There are descriptions of nice moments of community in the bird-watching community which were wholesome. It was also nice to feel the author appreciating the hobby more as the book went.
However, I was always waiting for this book to make a point. For it to hammer something home and it never did. This book is 259 pages but it felt much longer to me. I feel a little guilty rating this 2 stars because although I didn't enjoy this book there were some great moments and I think it could be the perfect book for some people at the right moment in their life. Just not for me.