A review by lindseysparks
Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney

5.0

I picked this up not reading anything about what it was about, because I loved Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk so much. I was not expecting a WWI novel half narrated by a gay major and half by a pigeon used in the war. I hate reading any kind of animal violence so I would never have normally picked this up. It was a hard read and I had to put it down and pick up something else or take a break for a while multiple times. But, I am glad I read it. Both stories are horribly sad, made much worse by being based on real life, but there is beauty in the way Rooney tells their stories. I loved Cher Ami and I am glad Rooney tells us what happens to her upfront. It helped me focus on the story and not what might happen. Her writing is gorgeous and her background as a poet obvious. I liked the way Cher Ami's and the Major's chapters would begin the same way, giving us two perspectives of the same thing much of the time.