Rating: 
Summary: Great book by a wonderful author
Review: I wasnt quite sure what to expect because of the title. A book about dead birds..huh? But you know what? I enjoyed this. A lot. I learned about the Salton Sea and the bird situation. Ava Sing Lo is impacted by her mothers past and Gayle Brandeis draws you into the world of a Korean prostitute trying for a better life before Ava was born. The writer of this book is so talented. Her writing voice is lyrical and sometimes almost poetic. I love the way she uses all five senses to really pull you into the book. I also recommend her other book, Fruitflesh. I look forward to more books that Ms. Brandeis may write.
Rating:
Summary: Great book by a wonderful author
Review: I wasnt quite sure what to expect because of the title. A book about dead birds..huh? But you know what? I enjoyed this. A lot. I learned about the Salton Sea and the bird situation. Ava Sing Lo is impacted by her mothers past and Gayle Brandeis draws you into the world of a Korean prostitute trying for a better life before Ava was born. The writer of this book is so talented. Her writing voice is lyrical and sometimes almost poetic. I love the way she uses all five senses to really pull you into the book. I also recommend her other book, Fruitflesh. I look forward to more books that Ms. Brandeis may write.
Rating: 
Summary: Poignant
Review: The biracial daughter of a Korean woman who was forced into prostitution on a segregated Army base tries to repair her fragile relationship with her mother, and find her own sense of self. A very moving story told in alternating chapters between past and present. I look forward to more from this new author.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant
Review: The biracial daughter of a Korean woman who was forced into prostitution on a segregated Army base tries to repair her fragile relationship with her mother, and find her own sense of self. A very moving story told in alternating chapters between past and present. I look forward to more from this new author.
Rating:
Summary: Prose that Soars
Review: The Book of Dead Birds is a story within a story, layered with dead birds, historical tragedy, and the hope for future flight no matter how deeply a bird has been wounded. Following the life of heroine Ava Sing Lo, in first-person present tense, this novel explores themes of race, exploitation, pollution, and indigenous cultural survival. The book includes excerpts from Ava's mother's journal, which is actually an encyclopedia of dead birds, revealing a voice that holds the burdens of witness, grief, anger and defeat, in single-page entries, here and there throughout the book. Lyrical & redemptive storytelling.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, mesmerizing read!
Review: The Book of Dead Birds sucked me in and didn't let me go until I'd devoured it from cover to cover. This novel is like a rare gem in a treasure chest - unique, beautiful, mesmerizing. Gayle Brandeis is a definite new talented author. Ava Sing Lo has had freak accidents involving the death of birds since she was a little girl. In order to find peace with herself and hoping to win her mother's approval, she moves from San Diego to Salton Sea to help alleviate the epidemic of dead birds in that area. What transpires is a lyrical, slow-paced tale of a young woman's journey to self-discovery. She, too, needs to alleviate herself. Her Korean mother's painful past has haunted her throughout the years. The unraveling of her mother's struggles is both disarming and poignant. There's a great deal of symbolism throughout the novel. As mentioned earlier, The Book of Dead Birds enthralled me from beginning to end. It is a literary force to be reckoned with. Gayle Brandeis is a wonderful new voice that shall be heard for years to come. The book jacket states that this novel won the Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for addressing various social problems. The aforementioned prize is well deserved. I highly recommend this brilliant and beautiful novel...
Rating:
Summary: Ecological tragedy, family secrets and a wonderful story
Review: This first novel is more than just a good story. It's about a recent ecological tragedy at the Salton Sea in southern California where more than 14,000 endangered brown pelicans died. The heroine of the book, 25-year old Ava, volunteers to help out and while there goes through her kind of maturation. She's half black, half Korean, and has been brought up by her rather quirky Korean single mother who was once a prostitute in Korea catering to black soldiers. Her mother has always kept birds, and Ava has always had the misfortune to accidentally kill them. Her mother keeps the bird feathers in a large scrapbook and documents all of Ava's bird-killing misdeeds. It is only when Ava takes the step to drive the few hours to Salton Sea, that she finally gets to understand her mother, her background, and the fascinating and sorrow-filled world of the dying birds. It's all captured well, in well-crafted words, and there's even a bit of Korean folklore. Ava is a sympathetic character who was easy to identify with. And, as the mother's story gradually unfolded, I was filled with horror as well as a new kind of understanding for the world of young women who are lured into the nightmare world of servicing men. I was heartened to see Ava finally emerge from the shadow world of her history and find meaning in her life as well as love. Mostly, though, I was glad to see her working side by side with her mother to help rescue birds. In just 245 pages, the author has managed to do a lot. No wonder this book has won the 2003 Bellwether prize for fiction has been lauded by such notables as Toni Morrison and Barbara Kingsolver. I found the book wonderful. And definitely recommend it. I'm also looking forward to whatever Ms. Brandeis writes next. She is clearly at the beginning of a long a distinguished career.
Rating:
Summary: Ecological tragedy, family secrets and a wonderful story
Review: This first novel is more than just a good story. It's about a recent ecological tragedy at the Salton Sea in southern California where more than 14,000 endangered brown pelicans died. The heroine of the book, 25-year old Ava, volunteers to help out and while there goes through her kind of maturation. She's half black, half Korean, and has been brought up by her rather quirky Korean single mother who was once a prostitute in Korea catering to black soldiers. Her mother has always kept birds, and Ava has always had the misfortune to accidentally kill them. Her mother keeps the bird feathers in a large scrapbook and documents all of Ava's bird-killing misdeeds. It is only when Ava takes the step to drive the few hours to Salton Sea, that she finally gets to understand her mother, her background, and the fascinating and sorrow-filled world of the dying birds. It's all captured well, in well-crafted words, and there's even a bit of Korean folklore. Ava is a sympathetic character who was easy to identify with. And, as the mother's story gradually unfolded, I was filled with horror as well as a new kind of understanding for the world of young women who are lured into the nightmare world of servicing men. I was heartened to see Ava finally emerge from the shadow world of her history and find meaning in her life as well as love. Mostly, though, I was glad to see her working side by side with her mother to help rescue birds. In just 245 pages, the author has managed to do a lot. No wonder this book has won the 2003 Bellwether prize for fiction has been lauded by such notables as Toni Morrison and Barbara Kingsolver. I found the book wonderful. And definitely recommend it. I'm also looking forward to whatever Ms. Brandeis writes next. She is clearly at the beginning of a long a distinguished career.
Rating:
Summary: Don't let the title fool you - Life and Hope in this book
Review: This is a graceful, intelligent novel. It is also quite light and funny and quirky in places, but there is a profound thread running through the whole thing concerning mothers and daughters, race, language, and the environment that is stunning in its persistence and connectivity of thought, which the language used, the word choice, metaphors, and symbolism integrate and hold together beautifully in your mind as you read it and enjoy it purely for entertainment. The narrative shifts in time and place between post-war Korea, the Califorenia coast, and the Salton Sea area. The pace and patience of the novel is marvelous. There is this sense of a larger story, a larger history and world out there, waiting to emerge as you read. Some of the sections, like the "Book" (really a ledger or diary), of the title, are humorous and serious all at once. A big part of the book's charm for me is its ability to let light in to the situation. There's a big difference between that and making light of a situation. But what I personally appreciate about it the most is the language the author fearlessly uses. There's no hiding the poet in the novelist who writes lines like, "the whole valley ringed with dark mountain ranges, looming brown parentheses of earth" or metaphoric phrases like "a ballet of languid wings." Ms. Brandeis is a writerly writer who knows how to tell a good story. Sumptuous and subtle, ambiguous enough to guide your thoughts and emotion and then let them go where they will, this is a great read AND a novel to savor for its importance.
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 . A poetic and ambitious first novel.
Review: What a beautiful and complex book. Gayle Brandeis' poetic background comes through in the lyrical writing, especially when she's describing the birds in their natural world and when she's delving into the push-pull relationship between mother and daughter.
Book of Dead Birds deals with many issues: gender, race, culture differences, environmental concerns, immigration, guilt, survival, redemption - and love.
Ava Sing Lo is the daughter of Helen, a Korean woman who was forced to work as a prostitute on a military base; Ava's father was one of her mother's 'clients.' Brought to America by a white husband, Helen found herself quickly abandoned after she gave birth to a black baby (Ava) who grew into a child and young woman who never felt full acceptance from her immigrant mother. The birds of the title are her mother's, and they carry heavy symbolism in the story. And Ava has been killing them. To atone, she finishes graduate school and volunteers to work with birds that are being poisoned by agricultural run-off.
Very moving and lyrical first novel. 4 ½ stars.
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