Book Review: "The Flightless Birds of New Hope" by Farah Naz Rishi

“Aden Shah’s parents flew before they died, and even he couldn’t miss the morbid punch line in that. After all, no one loved birds more than the Shahs.”

When Aden gets word that his parents have died in a freak accident, he leaves Chicago to head for his childhood home in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It’s been years since he’s been home or spoken to his family, but as the executor of his parents’ estate, he has to put his feelings aside.

His return is met with anger from his younger siblings, Aliza and Sammy. Aliza has essentially raised Sammy, since their parents were often traveling or neglectful. Aden must also confront one of the main reasons he fled home 10 years ago: Coco Chanel, his parents’ prized Major Mitchell’s cockatoo. Coco got more attention than anyone else in the Shah household.

Frayed by grief, anger, and resentment, one night Aden opens Coco’s cage and lets her fly away. Of course, when his siblings panic about Coco’a disappearance, the three of them hit the road to find her and bring her back home. They follow her tracking chip and tap into a vast network of bird watchers to try and find her.

But what they figured would take just a few days at most turns into a cross-country road trip where everything that can go wrong does. Along the way, they argue, reopen old wounds, and try to process their grief and anger toward one another, their parents, and life in general.

This is a powerful meditation on grief and resentment as well as growing up knowing you’ll never be as important as your avian sibling. I just felt everything repeated itself too much—the failed rescue attempts, the rehashed arguments, and the crazily farcical incidents that arise. The characters’ growth arc took a bit longer than necessary, but the emotions were still very palpable.

Book Review: "Dinosaurs" by Lydia Millet

The latest novel by Lydia Millet is one of those excellent character-driven books that surprises you with how much you love it.

I’d never read anything by Millet before, although she’s quite prolific. But a few friends really enjoyed this, so I decided to give it a shot. Boy, am I glad I did. I thought this was fantastic.

When Gil’s relationship ends, he is hurt and angry and feels rudderless. He decides to leave his home in NYC and move to Arizona—but he doesn’t just move there, he WALKS there. The whole way. It takes him five months, and the scenery was quite repetitive at times, but at times it was beautiful.

He buys a house sight unseen, one that looks like a castle. Then one day, a family moves into the glass-walled house next door. Gil can’t help but be drawn to the family as he witnesses the everyday occurrences in their lives, and it’s not long before his life becomes enmeshed with theirs. He becomes a mentor/friend to young Tom, a confidante to both Ardis and her husband Ted, and he even makes Clem, their teenaged daughter, smile on occasion.

This is a story about connection, how enhanced our lives become through our relationships, and how much life they bring to a solitary person. It’s also a story about nature, as Gil’s house attracts many different kinds of birds, and he becomes attached to them. And it’s also about regret, grief, and allowing yourself to let others in.

Not a lot happens in this book, but I hung on every word. There were so many places in which the plot could have veered into melodrama, and I was so glad it didn’t. Millet tells a beautiful, poignant story that I really connected with.

Book Review: "Other Birds" by Sarah Addison Allen

About Other Birds, I simply say this: Just beautiful.⁣

⁣ “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.”⁣

⁣ Zoey relocates from Tulsa to Mallow Island, which is off the South Carolina coast. The plan is for her to live in her late mother’s condo until college starts in the fall in Charleston. When she arrives with her bird, Pigeon, she is quickly enchanted by the mischievous, beautiful birds—the dellawhisps—which inhabit the complex and give the building its name.⁣

⁣ Equally as enchanting, however, are her human neighbors. Each has their own secrets, their own burdens, their own stories. And, of course, there are the ghosts who inhabit the Dellawhisp as well.⁣

⁣ I loved everything about this book—the magical realism, the theme of chosen family, the vivid imagery and gorgeous storytelling. So much of this book's beauty comes from letting things unfold slowly. This was my first book by Sarah Addison Allen but it definitely won’t be my last. What a perfect pick from BOTM this month!!⁣ ⁣

Book Review: "Full Flight" by Ashley Schumacher

Seriously, y’all, Full Flight broke me a bit emotionally. But I really loved the story.

In Enfield, Texas, high school football is a big deal, but the marching band is often the center of attention as well, especially in state competition years. For Anna, the first-chair saxophonist, there’s tremendous pressure to get a key duet nailed down; if she fails, the opportunity will be given to someone else and she’ll let a lot of people down.

She decides to ask her duet partner, mellophone player Weston Ryan, for help. (Note: I had no idea what a mellophone was. Who said you don't learn from reading?) Weston is a talented musician yet the whole town thinks he’s a troublemaker, convinced he’s guilty of something he didn’t do. Weston feels an automatic connection with Anna but is afraid to let her in because he’s afraid he’ll ruin her.

The more Anna and Weston get to know each other, the more they see each other’s struggles and joys. But she has to hide their relationship from her strict parents, and that deception can only last so long. When their secret is discovered, Anna and Weston have to fight to stay together and show everyone around them how much brighter they are when they’re together. And then tragedy strikes.

I love YA romances when the characters each have secrets and each are struggling, but they find strength in their relationship. These characters were amazing; even though it's a conservative, religious town, not all of the characters were painted as close-minded or one-dimensional. To top it off, there are literally sentences in this book that took my breath away.

Full Flight is a beautiful story about love, friendship, music, survival, and hope.

Book Review: "Migrations" by Charlotte McConaghy

Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations is haunting, poignant, and thought-provoking. Wow.

This was definitely what I'd call a "Bookstagram made me do it" book. I hadn’t heard of it until two friends spoke highly of it, and it sounded like a book I’d like. And boy, did I ever.

In a not-too-distant future, nearly all of the world’s wildlife—animals, birds, and fish—are extinct. Franny has tracked the last existing flock of arctic terns to Greenland, and she is determined to follow their last majestic migration.

But to do so, she must convince a ship to follow the birds’ path, and let her join them. She connects with the Saghani, a fishing vessel in search of nearly elusive fish. She convinces them that the birds will go where the fish are and the captain, Ennis, decides to trust her.

It’s a treacherous and harrowing journey. As Franny gets more acclimated with her shipmates it becomes clear that Franny is hiding something. Suffering from night terrors, sleepwalking into dangerous situations, one must wonder whether Franny is not only running toward the birds, but running from something.

This was a beautiful book. It has a similar feel to books like Good Morning, Midnight, Station Eleven, or The Dog Stars, although not quite as dystopian. It’s also a commentary on the risks we face as a world given the way our environment is being abused.

Migrations is one that will stick with me. Franny is one of those beautifully flawed characters you truly feel for.

Book Review: "The One-in-a-Million Boy" by Monica Wood

Well, I know I'm a sap, but this one had me in pieces. Or maybe there was just something in my eyes...

Ona Vitkus is 104 years old, a Lithuanian immigrant whose prickly exterior belies a warm heart, a mischievous spirit, and a lifetime of regrets. When the local Boy Scout troop assigns an awkward yet earnest scout to help her with household tasks to earn a merit badge, she's ready to scare him away as she has the others, if he doesn't disappoint her first.

Yet there's something about this boy that makes Ona let down her guard. Perhaps it's his lack of self-confidence, or his incessant curiosity about her life. Perhaps it's his emotional openness and his desire to be won over by everything she does. Or perhaps it's his obsession with the Guinness Book of World Records, which even fuels in Ona a desire to find a record she can achieve, even at her age.

The two form a close bond, made more so as he chooses her as an interview subject for a school assignment. But when one weekend when the boy doesn't show up, and his father Quinn, an erstwhile musician who had trouble connecting with his son, appears in his place, Ona feels hurt and disappointed that he abandoned their relationship and their quest. It isn't long, however, before she realizes the boy died suddenly and inexplicably, and Quinn decides to pick up his son's tasks in an effort to better understand the boy who bewildered him, who never seemed to get what Quinn wanted to give him.

Quinn is adrift, wanting to land on his feet professionally yet feeling utterly lost psychologically. Belle, his ex-wife (twice) and the boy's mother, won't let him share in her anger or her guilt, and all she wants to do is make Quinn pay for not giving their son the love and security he needed and deserved. But while she wants both to mourn her son and get on with her life, she starts to realize that Quinn might have the right idea in forging a relationship with Ona in an effort to keep the boy alive.

The One-in-a-Million Boy is moving, beautiful, and even a little whimsical. Ona and Quinn are particularly fascinating characters, and I love the way Monica Wood gave Ona so much more depth than I first expected. Amazingly, however, it is the boy who is the most memorable character, despite the fact that we never learn his name, and you mostly see him through the eyes of Ona and his parents, as well as his myriad lists of Guinness recordholders.

This is a special book, one which dwells not on surprising plot twists but rather on pure emotion. You may know where Wood will take her characters, but you savor the journey anyway, and if you're like me, you may tear up (at the very least) a time or two.