I say that a lot of books are beautiful, but not like this. IF BIRDS FLY BACK is the most beautiful book I've ever had the pleasure of reading. After waiting a looong time to read this, it was completely worth the wait.
IF BIRDS FLY BACK is that book that you just want to devour whole and be so filled with it's words and ethereal nature in complete reality. It follows film-buff Linny, a girl who lost her sister by unknown means, and physics-obsessed Sebastian, a boy who wants to know his father. The two become connected by Alvero Herrera, a writer who went missing for three years prior to the book's beginning. Linny's idea is that if she figures out why he went missing then she'll know the connection as to where her sister had gone. Sebastian knowing Alvero is a massive piece of his life that's been missing.
Together, they volunteer at Silver Springs, a retirement home in Miami, Florida, where Alvero leads them on wild goose chases and gives them the best advice they could ever hear in particular situations, always disguised. In Linny's chapters, readers get scenes from her script: "The Left-Behinds," a film she's writing for herself and for her absent sister. In a lot of ways, I related to both Linny and Sebastian and I think that's what made me connect with this book.
For me, this book spoke to me on a personal level but that wasn't what made it beautiful. It was beautiful for the escape Sebastian and Linny found in each other, for the freedom and boldness that they each encouraged in the other. Carlie Sorosiak is a stunningly crafty writer, both in her casual, slang dialogue and then she executes the beautiful parts without a reader feeling "this is too much of a 180 from the other tone" because I've thought that sometimes with other books. But not this book. IF BIRDS FLY BACK, from cover to cover, is a ride, full of discovery, risks, film references, good taste and bittersweet tones that make you want to read it all again and realise all the things you missed the first time.
No comments:
Post a Comment