An unexpected little gem. I found this novel at a hock shop somewhere in buttfuck Manitoba. What attracted me to this piece of lit wasn't the author, nor the 80s movie starting Nick Cage, but the soundtrack for the latter; the score was composed by Peter Gabriel. Being somewhat of a Gabriel completist I had picked up the record a few years ago at some other buttfuck hock shop. The album is pretty unlistenable to anyone that isn't a Gabriel freakazoid; it consists of ambient rearrangements of previous Genesis and Gabriel tunes; I thought it may be interesting to listen to along with the book. The novel then sat on my shelf for a good year before I just felt the urge to peel apart its pages. Sometimes I just feel like something random. I guess the time was right. What I found between the covers was a really ejoyable read. The author himself isn't one that i've ever come across. When i wikipedia'ed his name i found out that this was the first of a pinch of few books he'd written starting at post 50 years of age! The summary offered very little else besides a few life details as well as some this and thats. This Warton, a man shrouded in mystery even uses a penname (the real being Albert Du Aime). The novel takes place in a military psych ward. Two childhood friends, tough-guy Al(fonso) and the pensive Birdy are reunited after WW2 has ended and taken their toll on both of them. Al is physically injured, probably disfigured and Birdy has psychologically collapsed and taken on the personality of a canary-bird. The former has been brought to the ward to try and crack the latter's peculiar condition. The narrative is creatively broken between the two protagonists and tells the tale of their rearing. Al in standard font and Birdy in itallics (strange since Al is a tough guy Itallian, but i guess itallics aren't that tough). The tale they spin is a summary of their lives together. What is spun is a facinating review of how adolescent males obsess over things and how these obsessions can segregate them from their family and friends. Al is concerned with being the meanest boy on the block while Birdy obsessed with, well, birds. Both boys are outcasts in their own right and what rattles along in their minds is can be equally as distrubing as it is enlightening (there is one really long chapter that really drags the reader through the wringer). They are a complicated lot and it is this that binds these seeminly opposite individuals. How they try and understand love, sexuality and purpose are caneries of a different colour, but are all fixtures within the cage of the human mind. Upon completion of this novel you set it down learning a lot about birds and the male condition. This is exactly what Warton sets out to do: to teach the reader a few new things and feel a few emotions that they may not have pondered before. The take-home message: that we are obsessive creatures and must be careful of where these facinations take us. Our minds may be our greatest companions but and at the same time can be our most dire of foes.
Четох като хипнотизирана. Понякога има книги, които са толкова големи, че се чудиш дали смееш да се изказваш за тях. Асоциациите са неизбежни - първо с "Полет над кукувичето гнездо" и то не само заради птичия елемент. Едно огромно разочарование от света и неговите системи, от вкарването в "праволинейността" му и особеното кривване от всичко това. Един от най-силните и обобщаващи цитати на книгата лично за мен: "Всичко, което съдържа живот, расте нагоре, но не е свободно... Най-високите клони улавят въздуха и светлината, но само подхранват безкрайната тирания на земята. Растежът сам по себе си е безсмислен." Another brick in the wall... На места Уортън пише с такава разтапяща нежност, че почти се докосва до Екзюпери. Доста е убедителен в любовта си към нещо, различно от човека, и в момента, в който му повярваш, се отказва от категоричността си. И както обикновено става при Добрите, настроението се сменя рязко почти точно на три четвърти от книгата. Следват пет помитащо тъжни страници, които те цапват леко неочаквано на фона на цялото налудничаво настроение. Оттам нататък всичко се задълбочава и си даваш сметка как малко по малко авторът е наслагвал едно усещане, което изведнъж те пристяга. Обичам книги, които разклащат устоите на реалността, и тази е една от тях. На няколко фронта Уортън се бори с един и същи демон. Очаквах някакво трикче, някак си бях на щрек по време на цялото четене, но то така и не дойде. И още по-добре. Краят е смазващо тежък в своята лекота. Слагам на рафта за препрочитане.
What do You think about Birdy (1992)?
Birdy: http://readwithstyle.wordpress.com/20...I have always lived in three states of time – the past, the future, and the dream. The past I use for recreational purposes – when I want to cry I think of all sorrows and disappointments; when I want to smile I cherish all those moments when I acted out of myself, when I committed a “crime” against society’s opinion, which ultimately made me feel like a God. The future I usually imagine in bright (very) colors after that second bottle of wine, when I make promises I am never going to fulfill and when getting that next step to perfection (which so far is the aim of my life) seems so easy. The dreams I value the most. In them I am not bounded by what happened in the past or by how this is going to affect my future. In my dreams I can be anywhere I want; I can change patterns; I can invent new ways; I can transform time and space; I can even transform people to suit my dreams. In dreams I accomplish something neither the past nor the future can give me. I accomplish freedom. Freedom of society’s rules, of people’s expectations, of daily obligations, of parents’ judgements, of even my friends’ judgements. I can be free out there. Trivial, but free as a bird.Read more: http://readwithstyle.wordpress.com/20...
—Lora Grigorova
This was weak at the beginning and end for me, but the middle was packed. Some chapters I loved, loved, loved... some lost me. Toward the end, I got tired and I think Wharton got tired. I understand why it was awarded, I looked forward to reading it, and I also know more about birds than I ever thought that I would care to know. I think parts of this story will stick with me for a long time, and I would highly recommend it for some people, but for whatever reason, it is not a 4 or 5 star for me. In the movie BIRDY (which I saw after reading it), there is an image with Matthew Modine sleeping naked on his side on crapped on newspapers in the bottom of his aviary with a yellow canary on his shoulder in the moonlight and it is somehow beautiful but very staged. This is how the entire book felt to me - it left me with a 'hmmm' or a 'huh'.
—Laura
BirdyWhen reading William Wharton’s book Birdy I was able to easily imagine things because of all of the descriptions he used and the way he phrased some of his writing to make you have to find a deeper understanding of what he is trying to say. The author is trying to make me feel like I am able to do anything if I set my mind to it and have the ability to image I can to something even if I physically can’t. He is saying that our mind is the most powerful resource and your imagination is unlimited. The character Birdy had a fascination with birds and was always wanting to learn more about them or how they live. He basically wanted to have the life of a bird and would pretend that he could fly when he while he was swimming.A golden line in this book is, “Must not listen./To hear something, must not listen./To see something,must not look./ To know something, must not think./ To tell something, must not listen.” I like this line because it makes you take a second to really understand what it is trying to say. When I read this quote I thought of the saying ‘seeing is believing’ and thought that the author is saying that that is not entirely true because you don’t need to be able to hear something or see it to know that it is there. He is saying that it’s more like believing is see, you can feel it inside of you to know it is there.It is interesting that Alfonso(Al) and Birdy are such good friends because they are complete opposites. Even as time goes on though and they begin to find different interest they still look out for one another. Al likes sports, having all the girls, and being a tough guy while all Birdy thinks about is birds. He almost has an obsession and is fascinated with everything about them from the way they interact, breeding patterns, and flight.
—Dyandra
