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A review by okiecozyreader
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
5.0
Other Birds is one of those books that is difficult not to love. I picked it up as the Barnes and Noble book of the month, but it was also the Brenda Novak book for October. If you love beautiful writing, this is one to add to your list!
The interview with the author here, is fabulous:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/poured-over-sarah-addison-allen-on-other-birds/
The same is on their podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/poured-over/id1567969228?i=1000577784066
Other Birds is the story of 18 year old Zoey, who returns to her mother’s once apartment in the fictional Mallow Island, South Carolina called the Dellawisp (named after some fictional birds that live at the location). The Dellawisp was renovated by a famous author of a book called Sweet Mallow named Roscoe Avanger. The book, the author and the apartment complex (modeled after Melrose Place) are all characters in the book, as well as the people who live there. Many have complicated stories related to the building and why they are there. Zoey arrives with her imaginary bird Pigeon.
This is magical realism about a found family (in the apartment complex, for those who live there), and an examination of life, friendships, and ghosts… Yes, alternating through the story are those from the ghosts of Camille and LizBeth, about why they are there.
“She’s avoiding me and the other ghost here, even though I know she recognized me from when she was a little girl here on the island.
She needs help understanding the right reasons to stay.
And the right reasons to go.” P69
“Once you accumulate enough regrets in life, they cease to hurt you.” P107
“But Lizbeth was like every person who ever told him they had a story they wanted him to write for them - she’d wasted too much time thinking about doing it and now there was no time left.” P107
“There are birds, and then there are other birds. Maybe they don’t sing. Maybe they don’t fly. Maybe they don’t fit in, I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be an other bird than just the same old thing.” P123
“Mallow Island has reinvented itself over and over. And just like the candy itself, no one here had to be made up of what they used to.” P136
“Maybe some stories aren’t meant to be told.”
…But Zoey was uneasy with the thought of untold stories. What happens to them? Where do they go? If you never share your stories with at least one other person, does that mean they weren’t real, that they never existed?” P146
“Zoey understood that mothering was in the details you never saw. And the lack of it was the things you always noticed.” P154
“There were only two times in a person’s life when a family secret should be revealed - at the very beginning, or at the very end. When a bomb like this is dropped in the middle, it forces the person to spend the rest of their lives struggling to live a life refined, because everything they’ve known as truth was suddenly false.” P239
The interview with the author here, is fabulous:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/poured-over-sarah-addison-allen-on-other-birds/
The same is on their podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/poured-over/id1567969228?i=1000577784066
Other Birds is the story of 18 year old Zoey, who returns to her mother’s once apartment in the fictional Mallow Island, South Carolina called the Dellawisp (named after some fictional birds that live at the location). The Dellawisp was renovated by a famous author of a book called Sweet Mallow named Roscoe Avanger. The book, the author and the apartment complex (modeled after Melrose Place) are all characters in the book, as well as the people who live there. Many have complicated stories related to the building and why they are there. Zoey arrives with her imaginary bird Pigeon.
This is magical realism about a found family (in the apartment complex, for those who live there), and an examination of life, friendships, and ghosts… Yes, alternating through the story are those from the ghosts of Camille and LizBeth, about why they are there.
“She’s avoiding me and the other ghost here, even though I know she recognized me from when she was a little girl here on the island.
She needs help understanding the right reasons to stay.
And the right reasons to go.” P69
“Once you accumulate enough regrets in life, they cease to hurt you.” P107
“But Lizbeth was like every person who ever told him they had a story they wanted him to write for them - she’d wasted too much time thinking about doing it and now there was no time left.” P107
“There are birds, and then there are other birds. Maybe they don’t sing. Maybe they don’t fly. Maybe they don’t fit in, I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be an other bird than just the same old thing.” P123
“Mallow Island has reinvented itself over and over. And just like the candy itself, no one here had to be made up of what they used to.” P136
“Maybe some stories aren’t meant to be told.”
…But Zoey was uneasy with the thought of untold stories. What happens to them? Where do they go? If you never share your stories with at least one other person, does that mean they weren’t real, that they never existed?” P146
“Zoey understood that mothering was in the details you never saw. And the lack of it was the things you always noticed.” P154
“There were only two times in a person’s life when a family secret should be revealed - at the very beginning, or at the very end. When a bomb like this is dropped in the middle, it forces the person to spend the rest of their lives struggling to live a life refined, because everything they’ve known as truth was suddenly false.” P239