Book Review and Give Away: The Bird House

'The Bird House'
Author: Kelly Simmons


Format: Paperback
Published: Washington Square Press; Feb. 2011
Pages: 288
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A
Source: TLC Book Tours


Synopsis: Mothers and daughters and family secrets permeate this surprisingly dark novel of modern family life. Ann Biddle is struggling against early dementia and still desperately trying to resolve decades-old hurts and tragedies. The greatest of her tragedies is the death of her young daughter. Most parents of children who have died would tend to romanticize them as “little angels,” but Ann recognized that her daughter was an extremely difficult child and one she loved deeply. This departure from convention marks Ann as a character and Simmons as a writer. Ann’s greatest joy is her eight-year-old granddaughter, Ellie, who struggles with an overprotective mother, one who, true to Simmons’ form, is not a caricature of a helicopter mom but a complicated woman who may be harboring her own dark secrets. Moving back and forth between the present and the past, Ann struggles to tell her story to readers, her daughter, and herself. As Ann and her tightly wound daughter-in-law do an uneasy dance, they come to discover what they have in common and, in fact, what almost all mothers have in common. 


My Take: When I read the synopsis of this book, I thought it might be a little like Evening by Susan Minot. I read this in my pre-blogging days before the movie came out with my book club. We didn't like it much but we had high-hopes. A narrator who has dementia did not make for a trustworthy narrator. We didn't know what was happening and over all I remember the book being very sad. I don't know why then, when I saw another novel with a narrator struggling with the onset of dementia, I thought I'd go for it, but I am so glad I did. I devoured this novel in a day!


Our narrator, Ann, is struggling with the early onset of dementia so she may be an untrustworthy narrator but she writes things down in her journal to help her remember and that's what we are reading. She forgets dates and times in the present, but not in the past. Never in her past. Ann is not a sad or pathetic old woman but she has lived a hard life. You will ache with her story line. See the journal entries we read don't just chronicle the present but she lets us read the journal entries from the 1960s when she was a new wife and mother dealing with loss, grief and heartache. Those are what are aching to read. The Ann of now has lived through all of that and come out the other side.


What's on the other side? A grown son with a seemingly sweet family who have given Ann a lovely eight year old granddaughter Ellie. Ellie and Ann develop a relationship, a friendship. Reading about it brought back memories of my own relationship with my grandma Betty. Ellie and Ann would hang out after school and go through old photo albums and make crafts. Grandma Betty and I used to make crafts and bake. I loved hanging out with my grandma and Ellie does too. Ann's time with Ellie is special and healing for her in ways that only Ann and her closest friends and family can know.


However, Ellie is smart and through a school project about generations, starts to uncover some family secrets that Ann hasn't told anyone else. Something about Ellie makes her even more trustworthy. Reading about the past and present in this novel with move you. Well it moved me! I couldn't put it down and read it in one rainy day and I really hope you read this one too! 


Cover Lust: I love this cover! It's seemingly peaceful. Can't you just see someone sitting out there on that chair looking at their garden ... and the bird house? 


I am so happy to be able to offer up one signed copy of this book that I loved, courtesy of the author!


Giveaway Details!

The deadline for this giveaway is March 15th; entries open to those in the US.

To Enter (Mandatory)!
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3 extra entries available. Giveaway open until 11:59pm PST March 15th. I will draw the winners using random.org and announce them here on my blog. Good luck!

For other opinions about the book, here's the full TLC Tour Schedule:

Tuesday, February 15th: Books Like Breathing
Wednesday, February 16th: Lori’s Reading Corner
Thursday, February 17th: Colloquium
Monday, February 21st: Tina’s Book Reviews
Tuesday, February 22nd: Luxury Reading
Thursday, February 24th: Sara’s Organized Chaos
Tuesday, March 1st: Amused By Books
Wednesday, March 2nd: Life in the Thumb
Monday, March 7th: Iwriteinbooks’s blog
Wednesday, March 9th: Good Girl Gone Redneck
Friday, March 11th: Life In Review
Monday, March 14th: Peeking Between the Pages
Wednesday, March 16th: My Reading Room
Monday, March 21st: Debbie’s Book Bag
Friday, March 25th: Rundpinne