bookishwendy's review against another edition
2.0
Pretty Birds is the first novel by accomplished journalist Scott Simon, who weaves his own observations as a war correspondent during the crisis in Sarajevo into a fictional story about a teenage female Bosnian-Muslim sniper. In true journalistic style, Simon blasts his war-torn Yugoslavian setting with color and movement, packing in odd, obscure details with the authority of someone who was there: “The lemons seemed almost to hiss with the morning’s first low light. Irena trained her sight on the top of the mound, then counted one, two, three lemons to the right, because she felt a mild wind blowing down from the mountains in the east […] Within seconds she saw lemons jumping and quaking in their crate like minced garlic in a skillet”. Despite the atmosphere, I sensed early in the story a void of some vital pulsing, like a dead refrigerator that has ceased to hum. Simon the journalist, I slowly realized, effortlessly transcribes with poetic words anything that to him is familiar and tangible, but struggles to convey the intangible, emotional plane of the story. More specifically, the author barely delves into that mystifying, unknowable inner landscape of his teenage main character.
Simon focuses *most* of the story on Irena, a "typical" teenage girl and high school basketball star who is nominally a Bosnian Muslim. The story follows her through the start of the anti-Muslim violence and her eventual grooming as a partisan sniper. This is a fascinating idea based loosely on actual female snipers Simon met as a reporter, but ultimately it fails because the author keeps his subject as emotionally distant as he can. If Irena’s lack of internalization or reflection is intended, she comes across here as far more mature, aloof, and removed from the action (and an explicitly described sex act in chapter 2) than her age would suggest. I suspect that the author, having never seen the workings of a teenage girl’s mind, preferred to neither comment on nor imagine something he had no authority on, and simply left Irena’s inner motivations to the reader’s imagination.
Meanwhile the ever-enlarging cast of secondary characters get on their respective soapboxes to voice the author's political opinions (with one notable exception, who simply says the exact opposite) in page-long blocks of unbroken soliloquies. As for the ending, the author so manipulates the reader in an apparent attempt to provide a "twist" that some may cry betrayal. Luckily, I learned enough about a convoluted piece of recent history that it may have been almost worth it.
Simon focuses *most* of the story on Irena, a "typical" teenage girl and high school basketball star who is nominally a Bosnian Muslim. The story follows her through the start of the anti-Muslim violence and her eventual grooming as a partisan sniper. This is a fascinating idea based loosely on actual female snipers Simon met as a reporter, but ultimately it fails because the author keeps his subject as emotionally distant as he can. If Irena’s lack of internalization or reflection is intended, she comes across here as far more mature, aloof, and removed from the action (and an explicitly described sex act in chapter 2) than her age would suggest. I suspect that the author, having never seen the workings of a teenage girl’s mind, preferred to neither comment on nor imagine something he had no authority on, and simply left Irena’s inner motivations to the reader’s imagination.
Meanwhile the ever-enlarging cast of secondary characters get on their respective soapboxes to voice the author's political opinions (with one notable exception, who simply says the exact opposite) in page-long blocks of unbroken soliloquies. As for the ending, the author so manipulates the reader in an apparent attempt to provide a "twist" that some may cry betrayal. Luckily, I learned enough about a convoluted piece of recent history that it may have been almost worth it.
erin_oriordan_is_reading_again's review against another edition
5.0
Maybe it's because I went to high school in the '90s with a kid from Sarajevo, but I really took this book to heart. Irena Zaric remains one of my favorite heroines because she overcomes some of the toughest scenarios - starvation, war, sexual assault - but manages to keep her humor and her humanity even as she becomes a sniper. I remain amazed that Simon - a war correspondent who met Irena's real-life equivalents - wrote so realistically from the point of view of a 17-year-old European woman in a way that I, a U.S. woman from the Chicago-ish region, really related to. This novel is harrowing, horrifying, funny - and it portrays a female friendship in all its fierce, realistic, ride-or-die (literally in this case) glory. I really can't recommend it highly enough. If you've ever wished for a real-world Katniss Everdeen, Irena Zaric is your woman. Just be prepared to have your heart ripped out by the ending.
lanagabriela99's review against another edition
1.0
The best word to describe this book would be "random." Perhaps "episodic" or "disjointed." From a craft standpoint, there is no discernible plot (yes, even character-driven or more "literary" fiction, which this pretends to be, needs some semblance of a plot, or momentum driving the story forward, building tension). "X historical event happened to our cast of characters" (in this case, the Bosnian War) is not a plot, nor does it contribute to the building of said momentum or tension. This was perhaps my biggest issue with this story, which, while written with the most noble intentions (presumably to raise awareness of this terrible and often-overlooked conflict that happened within the lifetimes of most people alive today), falls completely flat. It's a common issue plaguing fiction centered on wars: authors think that the war itself is enough of a plot to sustain a story, when it's not. When a semblance of a plot did appear, it was either at the very last minute and VERY dramatic/out of left field (need to find a way to end this novel!) or completely dropped (personally, I was curious about the true identity of the Knight) with no explanation.
Characterization was also poorly done. The teenage girls sound as if they were written by an older person with no idea how teenage girls actually are. I would imagine that even the most stereotypically "shallow" and "superficial" teenage girls would be understandably traumatized by war coming to their city and not spend all their time thinking about kissing boys as people die all around them. Everyone else was forgettable or a caricature that spoke in lengthy, informational monologues. The Bin Laden cameo...really?
Obviously, (dark) humor was one of the hallmarks of how Sarajevans coped with the siege but it doesn't translate well in this story at all. At times, the book's tone reminded me of that of the movie "Green Book," where the "light" or "comedic" tone was oftentimes inappropriate and seemed to be making light of the very serious subject matter. Perhaps the humor would've translated better if I'd cared more about the characters.
This book was also plagued with factual errors, which shocked me considering it was written by a journalist who had reported from the region. Socialist Yugoslavia was non-aligned (so not a "Russian/Soviet satellite"), the pre-war currency was the dinar (not the ruble--I had to laugh at this), Sarajevo and Bosnia were not a part of Serbia during WW2 (references are made to Milan Nedic--the Nazi puppet Prime Minster of Serbia--ordering the persecution/extermination of Bosnia's Jews) but rather the NDH (Independent State of Croatia, another Nazi puppet state)...I could go on. I get that fiction is fiction but when you are writing about a conflict that is so recent and so well-documented (both the Bosnian War and WW2), it really behooves you to be as factual as you can.
All in all, this is still only the second worst novel about the Bosnian War, and because there were a handful of moments that stirred me emotionally, this gets 1.5 stars.
Characterization was also poorly done. The teenage girls sound as if they were written by an older person with no idea how teenage girls actually are. I would imagine that even the most stereotypically "shallow" and "superficial" teenage girls would be understandably traumatized by war coming to their city and not spend all their time thinking about kissing boys as people die all around them. Everyone else was forgettable or a caricature that spoke in lengthy, informational monologues. The Bin Laden cameo...really?
Obviously, (dark) humor was one of the hallmarks of how Sarajevans coped with the siege but it doesn't translate well in this story at all. At times, the book's tone reminded me of that of the movie "Green Book," where the "light" or "comedic" tone was oftentimes inappropriate and seemed to be making light of the very serious subject matter. Perhaps the humor would've translated better if I'd cared more about the characters.
This book was also plagued with factual errors, which shocked me considering it was written by a journalist who had reported from the region. Socialist Yugoslavia was non-aligned (so not a "Russian/Soviet satellite"), the pre-war currency was the dinar (not the ruble--I had to laugh at this), Sarajevo and Bosnia were not a part of Serbia during WW2 (references are made to Milan Nedic--the Nazi puppet Prime Minster of Serbia--ordering the persecution/extermination of Bosnia's Jews) but rather the NDH (Independent State of Croatia, another Nazi puppet state)...I could go on. I get that fiction is fiction but when you are writing about a conflict that is so recent and so well-documented (both the Bosnian War and WW2), it really behooves you to be as factual as you can.
All in all, this is still only the second worst novel about the Bosnian War, and because there were a handful of moments that stirred me emotionally, this gets 1.5 stars.
markma's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty Birds by Scott Simon is a book I read for my history class about the Bosnian genocide. This was a tough book to read since it dealt with some pretty tough topics and at times could be a bit graphic. It follows a girl, Irena through fleeing her home and ending up a sniper for the Bosnian resistance. I did not particularly enjoy reading this book but I learned a lot from it and I would only recommend reading it if you want to learn about the Bosnian genocide.
nkhaley's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
bartendm's review against another edition
4.0
His haunting novel brings to life the sadness of what happened to the great city of Sarajevo. It stays with you and I enjoyed having read it.
writersrelief's review against another edition
5.0
Scott Simon’s novel PRETTY BIRDS expertly portrays the horrors of war and the enormous toll it exacts on human lives, detailing the siege of Sarajevo through the eyes of Irina Zaric, a half-Muslim teenaged resident. Before the conflict erupts, she is a fairly typical high school student. Her life revolves around her family, her parrot (Pretty Bird), and her friend and teammate Amela, a non-Muslim. She enjoys basketball, pop music and pop culture, especially icons such as Madonna, Johnny Depp, and Michael Jordan. However, with the onset of hostilities between warring Serbs and Muslims in the spring of 1992, everything changes for Irina. War is no longer something she reads about in history books. Now she spends her days stealing from the dead and dodging bullets. Irina’s life is irrevocably transformed as she progresses from blithe teenager to preternaturally skilled sniper.
Simon draws on interviews and observations gleaned as a war correspondent during the Bosnian conflict to adroitly flesh out the lives of his fictional characters and lend veracity and immediacy to this masterfully written story. PRETTY BIRDS ultimately leaves you with an indelible impression of the devastation of war.
Simon draws on interviews and observations gleaned as a war correspondent during the Bosnian conflict to adroitly flesh out the lives of his fictional characters and lend veracity and immediacy to this masterfully written story. PRETTY BIRDS ultimately leaves you with an indelible impression of the devastation of war.
joellie's review against another edition
5.0
It took me several attempts to get into this book, but was worth the effort. Simon portrays the siege in a way that's believable and heart breaking. Irina is a deeply developed character with complexities and emotions that are an accurate portrayal of choices that have to be made in war time. I would dock it half a star because so much happens in the last couple chapters , it's hard to process it all.
amrap's review against another edition
5.0
Before the war Irena is a basketball star, an athlete who only cares about her game. Then the Balkan War breaks out in Sarajevo and she and her family are expelled from their suburb by Serbs. She is recruited to be a sniper because of her athleticism but she yearns for the regular things a teenage girl does, for her life to be normal. Scott has written an amazing novel that captures the brutality of war, while also showing the heart that is needed to survive the sometimes ridiculous and brutal circumstances. He shows the conditions in Sarajevo while it was under Siege and the way that enemy lines were sometimes thin. I loved this book for its reality and for the way Irena's struggle with her newfound profession as a sniper eloquently symbolises the morality of war itself.