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A review by jefferz
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
2.0
This is one of my first forays into the magical realism genre compared to my past reads that are solidly fantasy adventure or straight fiction which is a group of character leading seemingly unrelated lives and stories whose only surface level connection is their shared residence at the Dellawisp Manor/condo. New to the island and fresh out of high school Zoey moves into her late mom's condo and spends the whole novel discovering parts of herself and finding her place in life through learning about her other neighbors on Mallow Island.
The magical realism contributes the presence of certain characters as ghosts who have their memories and stories in-tact but really only exist to connect with those who are actually alive. The story jumps between different characters perspectives in the present tense as well as slowly introducing their backstories which surprise, isn't as unrelated as things appear. I found the characters backstories and arcs to be quite varied but there's common themes of broken or flawed familial life, rough upbringings, and a sense of abandonment. The story focuses on the concept of found family and although there are dark elements of child abuse and substance abuse, Other Birds still feels like a meandering and cozy read. The prose is both simplistic yet ambitious; it's clear a lot of heart was put into it's conception.
Unfortunately only two letters also separate 'interesting' and 'uninteresting'; I generally found it to be the latter. The ideas and character stories on paper are great, but the novel as a whole felt a bit juvenile and slow for me. Perhaps it was my inexperience with this genre, but I wanted a lot more from the core mysteries or even the supernatural elements with the ghosts. Another review put it best where the novel feels like it drags with a pace that's too slow, yet also feels too short where the characters and connections don't feel developed enough. I read an ebook version on a kindle which had the percent of pages left in the novel on, at 90% on paper I felt like the story just abruptly ended where there should've been at least a good few chapters to wrap up what happens in the end. I found Oliver to be one of the most compelling characters in the story but he's introduced so late that it feels like a missed opportunity as well as Fraiser's history; the story drops major revelations and then does nothing with it afterwards. It also slightly peeved me at how easy it was for Zoey to open up and win over many of her neighbors by simply being enthusiastically peppy and quirky (and to the books credit, not every character comes around to her like Lizbeth and Lucy). For characters who have such guarded exteriors attributed to broken childhoods, Zoey must either have the magical touch (get the pun) or something off about her to connect with people so easily (looking at you Charlotte and Oliver).
Rating Other Birds for me feels akin to kicking a puppy. It's well-crafted, well-meaning, and will certainly be a comforting and amazing for a lot of people out there (not to mention countless teenagers and young adults will see themselves in Zoey), but it just didn't mesh with my reading interests.
The magical realism contributes the presence of certain characters as ghosts who have their memories and stories in-tact but really only exist to connect with those who are actually alive. The story jumps between different characters perspectives in the present tense as well as slowly introducing their backstories which surprise, isn't as unrelated as things appear. I found the characters backstories and arcs to be quite varied but there's common themes of broken or flawed familial life, rough upbringings, and a sense of abandonment. The story focuses on the concept of found family and although there are dark elements of child abuse and substance abuse, Other Birds still feels like a meandering and cozy read. The prose is both simplistic yet ambitious; it's clear a lot of heart was put into it's conception.
Only two letters separate ‘usual’ and ‘unusual.’ They’re more similar than not.
Unfortunately only two letters also separate 'interesting' and 'uninteresting'; I generally found it to be the latter. The ideas and character stories on paper are great, but the novel as a whole felt a bit juvenile and slow for me. Perhaps it was my inexperience with this genre, but I wanted a lot more from the core mysteries or even the supernatural elements with the ghosts. Another review put it best where the novel feels like it drags with a pace that's too slow, yet also feels too short where the characters and connections don't feel developed enough. I read an ebook version on a kindle which had the percent of pages left in the novel on, at 90% on paper I felt like the story just abruptly ended where there should've been at least a good few chapters to wrap up what happens in the end. I found Oliver to be one of the most compelling characters in the story but he's introduced so late that it feels like a missed opportunity as well as Fraiser's history; the story drops major revelations and then does nothing with it afterwards. It also slightly peeved me at how easy it was for Zoey to open up and win over many of her neighbors by simply being enthusiastically peppy and quirky (and to the books credit, not every character comes around to her like Lizbeth and Lucy). For characters who have such guarded exteriors attributed to broken childhoods, Zoey must either have the magical touch (get the pun) or something off about her to connect with people so easily (looking at you Charlotte and Oliver).
Rating Other Birds for me feels akin to kicking a puppy. It's well-crafted, well-meaning, and will certainly be a comforting and amazing for a lot of people out there (not to mention countless teenagers and young adults will see themselves in Zoey), but it just didn't mesh with my reading interests.