White Bird in a Blizzard by Laura KasischkeIt's still surprising for me to find out after reading a book I stumble head over heels for, that the majority of people have serious complaints and problems with the book concerning the very aspects I loved most while reading it. But, I should not really be surprised, since it happens for most books I feel strongly about. It happened with Olive Kitteridge, with The Goldfinch, and with this book, "White Bird in a Blizzard." For all these books, the complaint is of the opinion class of "no plot, slow plot, too many words, not enough action, drags along" and those are just the type of books that ironically suck me into a vortex akin to the most thrilling of cliff hangers for others and I find myself unable to put the book down. I need words that move me when I read, take my emotions captive and adulterate them until my heart stammers in wonder. That's the "action-packed" kind of book I worship. I chanced upon Kasischke's White Bird by accident. I am a browser. I browse through books in the library and in the samples offered on Amazon and I can tell if there's love at first glance by now. I picked this one up and I felt this author reach out and capture and encage me immediately like I'm the small captive helpless canary we read about later in the story. She didn't release me until the last word of the book and by then, I only wanted to remain her captive nestled in her cage forever.MOST people are going to find this book boring and verbose.I found it poetry in book form. Art. Genius art. Utterly, stunningly luscious, awash in an ambrosial orgy of imagery and I gorged and indulged adrift within its richness in wanton profligacy. And then it ended. I turned the last page and the poetry ended. And I felt like I had Iost a lover, a first lover. I previously had not heard of this author but have since got every single one of her published books I could get my hands on. She's amazing. I'm writing this and then I'm diving back in deeper, head first, without waiver to read her other works; and I won't be seen or reemerge for air until I've feasted on all of hers.I don't know how to review this book. It's told in present tense, in recollection. It's written in prose yet the whole book is poetry. It's a coming of age story about a teenage girl in the late 80's whose mother disappears one day, never to return home again. It contains the troubled love any mother and daughter with a broken relationship can perceive, recognize and see. It contains the kind of hateful, bitter, disgusting marriage that any child living and growing up under one, can in hindsight speak to and about, in adulthood with clarity achieved only through aging themselves. It's the kind of book that I'm going to have to read again to read it properly since the first time around I read it like a book once through for the story (or I tried not to stop after every few lines and mull over the layers of words) but it's to be read, meant to be read, repeatedly like poetry to glean and cull meanings harvested within the prose.Thank you Laura Kasischke for putting your words down, leaving me a bread trail into my own soul. NOTE: I saw the movie on Netflix after I finished the book. I was not happy with how it was adapted for film. They were trying too hard to make it something for everyone when it's not for everyone. The movie almost ruined the book, almost but there were some saving graces.
This book was so much more than I thought it was going to be. I wasn’t fully prepared for how suspenseful or how beautifully written this novel would be.Katrina Connors is sixteen when her mother walks out on the family. Leaving no trace to where she went. Oddly Katrina isn’t at all shocked. Her family has always been a little different. Her mother has always wanted more and her father is what most people would consider a push over. As time passes Kat and her father start putting back the pieces of their lives and moving on, while this occurs Kat starts having vivid dreams which start to make her question what exactly happened to her mother. Katrina is such a interesting character with amazing and poetic depth. She makes for a character worth reading. Her interactions with the side characters make for such an interesting dynamic for this book, and sets it aside from a lot of other books in it's genre. I loved that every character is built up so slowly and steadily so that by the time you get to the end of the book the characters you thought you knew so well turn out to be nothing like what your mind created. White Bird will have you questioning everyone and everything. White Bird in a Blizzard best asset is that it starts off as a coming of age story and then eventually transitions into a mystery thriller. It has a read out and feel so much like Gone Girl that it made getting wrapped up in the plot just as easy as it did for the characters. I would usually comment on the fact that Laura’s writing does get very detailed on every aspect, and usually I would think this is too much but with this novel it just works. The metaphors and turn of phrases she uses fit perfect into every situation, helping paint the most vivid pictures. Laura has it so that she is dropping hints left and right about what is actually going on, but still leaves you questioning every detail. Though it does take about 70% of the book to really pick up it is more than worth it for the ending you just won’t see coming. This book leaves you hanging until the very last moment with an ending that will forever have me wanting more.Shortly after reading this I was able to watch the movie, and it was absolutely amazing! So beautifully filmed and the acting is stunning. 100% a must see.READ THIS REVIEW AND OTHERS OVER ON OUR BLOG: SOUTHERN BRED SOUTHERN READ SOUTHERN BRED SOUTHERN READ SOUTHERN BRED SOUTHERN READ
What do You think about White Bird In A Blizzard (1999)?
I couldn't put this book down. Kasischke's writing is engaging and inventive. She takes risks that often work out. The story is told from Kat's perspective, a teenage girl whose judgmental and disengaged mother just up and disappears one day. Kat is actually happy her mother is gone; she's feels "lighter" not having her around. The pacing, structure and darkness of the story work well together. Characters reminded me a bit of the ones portrayed in "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout.Some might criticize Kasischke for her over use of adjectives and metaphors - up to ten to describe the father in the story and at least one on every page - but I for the most part found them entertaining. It was as if Kasischke could not decide which metaphors to delete so she kept all the ones she could think of. For example, three metaphors in a row to describe a dead squirrel. (After all, decay is a theme in the story.) Some of the metaphors are dead on, others a bit less convincing, but still fun to contemplate.Two of my favorite sentences: "The word shot out of me like a bat flying fast and blind into a picture window." (p.69). And, "That boy thinks he's a crumb off the loaf of love." (p.38)
—Theresa
I enjoyed this book, and the way it drew the characters out slowly, drip-by-drip, so that by the time you finished, the people you thought you knew in the beginning were nothing like who was in the end. There was a lot (A LOT) of sex and sexual descriptions and language though, so this is not for the prudish. However, unlike some other books written by young male authors, Kasischke did a good job depicting sex as something mutual and complex. Even though Kat, the narrator, is obsessed with sex, she's not a walking (lady) erection like so many male characters with her sex drive in other novels tend to be. She still has the ability to see past her desire and somewhat care, even if only fleetingly, for the men she beds. But that's not really the point of the book. The point of the book is her family, particularly her parents and their terrible awful marriage, and her mother, a frozen, miserable woman whose awfulness is revealed in small little glimpses. About 60% through the book starts to ramp up and speed toward the ending, and this is where it's at its best. It's in this realization from a now older Kat - that she doesn't actually know everything about her parents and that they are capable of things she never would have imagined - which really makes this book worth reading. While I enjoyed most of the writing, I only gave it four stars because at times, the flowery descriptions and round-about similes for EVERYTHING, even a cookie, got a bit taxing. But this style of writing did work at least 3/4 of the time, which is why I'm not going to be too harsh.(SPOILERS)As far as the ending....while it was written very well, and I could tell Kasischke tried to be as subtle with her foreshadowing as possible...I figured it out the first time she started talking about the Frigidaire. So it wasn't a big shocking reveal to me, and I was a little disappointed that the focus on the freezer was almost TOO blatant. But I still think it was suspenseful, and even though I knew exactly what Kat was going to find when she opened that freezer I was still holding my breath and still was reading a mile a minute.
—Emily Timbol
I think this may be my least favorite book. In my opinion, the author used WAY TOO MANY descriptive words and phrases, and a lot of the time they didn't even make sense. Absolutely nothing happened it the book between the main character's mother disappearing and the very last page. Maybe a little character development for the lead character but nothing worth paying attention to. It also took me four months to finish because it just wasn't that interesting. All of this, of course, is only my opinion. :)
—Lauren
