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A review by karenluvstoread
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
5.0
Sarah Addison Allen’s books tend to be comfort-type reads for me. I loved her books The Sugar Queen, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, and Garden Spells. It was, in fact, her books that made me fall in love with magical realism in stories.
So I was excited to read her newest book, Other Birds. It started off pretty unputdownable. Then little by little I found myself wondering if it was going to be a loved book for me like the others I mentioned. It was good yes; but it just felt like it was missing something. Still, I was really enjoying it overall. I kept reading. Then plot twists happened, things took turns I totally did not see coming, and by the end, I loved this book!
18 year old Zoey has relocated to Mallow Island because she is planning to attend university there. Her mom had passed away when she was little and left her a condo there. As she settles in, she feels the condo community is a bit different. There are these birds everywhere and tenants are unusual. Also, to her disappointment, there is no trace of her mother in the condo. No pictures, no mementos, nothing. It is bare and cold.
Soon after Zoey moves in, one of the tenants there dies and Zoey is hired to go through that tenant’s unit, not only boxing up things and getting rid of stuff, but to look for a specific item. And what begins is a very well told story about healing and letting go.
This book is quirky and heartwarming. It’s got a mystery and ghosts. Oh! And an imaginary pigeon! I was not quite for sure what to make of the imaginary pigeon aspect. But it all came together at the very end and wow – perfection! This book does deal with some very heavy issues; yet the author balanced those so well with lighter aspects. I can’t praise this book enough. It is so well written! The moment I finished the last page I just wanted to talk, talk, talk about it. For me, that’s the mark of a very good book indeed! I initially gave this book a 4.5 star rating. But upon writing this, I realized that this was absolutely a 5 star read! So change the star rating I did. 🙂
This book is quirky and heartwarming. It’s got a mystery and ghosts. Oh! And an imaginary pigeon! I was not quite for sure what to make of the imaginary pigeon aspect. But it all came together at the very end and wow – perfection! This book does deal with some very heavy issues; yet the author balanced those so well with lighter aspects. I can’t praise this book enough. It is so well written! The moment I finished the last page I just wanted to talk, talk, talk about it. For me, that’s the mark of a very good book indeed! I initially gave this book a 4.5 star rating. But upon writing this, I realized that this was absolutely a 5 star read! So change the star rating I did. 🙂