A review by janhicks
Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières

4.0

For me, this had a slow build up. It's well crafted and researched, but I found the first half of the book a little slow as de Bernières developed the plot and characters. Once that had happened, though, it was a much better book. I could truly believe in the characters and I enjoyed the way they were written into the facts of history, bringing the things I had learnt at school about the Gallipoli campaign and the creation of modern Turkey to life. It was also interesting to gain a Turkish perspective on this part of history. I read the book straight after Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, as well, so now I feel like I've had a crash course in early 20th century Turkish/Greek history! Overall, the story is a human one, full of sorrow, laughter and farce, and explores the contradictions of what it is to be human.