Bekah's Bookshelf: My 2023 Reads So far

 

I just finished a novel that checked off this box on my 2023 reading challenge: Book with an Animal on the Cover. It could have also checked off the box Book with Dual Timeline and Book About Adoption, but I have other titles selected for those!

            The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner was a choice for me simply because it did have a bird on the cover. Susie was a new-to-me author, and I knew nothing about the book – other than the cover with its bird! Susie, I learned, hails from Michigan and actually attends the same church as an author friend of mine from a writing conference I went to a few years ago. She has published four books, though they are not in a series, and after reading this one, I would absolutely read more from her.

            One of the things I really appreciated about this book was its careful attention to craft. I’ve read many good books (in my lifetime and this year), but few have been as intricate as this one, and as a writer, I appreciated the craft portion of this book.

            This novel’s chapters rotate among three people and three decades. The book begins with Bruce, who tells his family’s story from his perch in 2013, where he is a son to aging parents, a husband to Linda, the father of three daughters in three very different stages of life, and also a grandfather. He’s retired, reflective, and shuffles among the generations that need him every day.

            The next chapter is the family story told from Bruce’s wife’s perspective…in 1975. Linda is a young musician who could have made it big in the world, but gave it all up for small-town life with Bruce. They’re parents of a young daughter named Sonny, and Linda spends about half her life defending her every decision to her cranky mother-in-law who is an absolute pill. Linda craves a second child and feels drawn to adopt a little boy from Vietnam through Operation Babylift, which rescues children from the war-torn country. Unfortunately Bruce’s brother has been killed in the war and another brother is home from war with severe PTSD, and the idea of welcoming a child from the country that claimed a family member’s life is tough.

            The story then moves to Sonny’s perspective in 1988, when she’s a senior in high school, navigating relationships, future decisions, a younger sister with whom she has little in common, and a mom who is pregnant with the baby of the family.

            Throughout the entire book, the story rotates from Bruce to Linda to Sonny and back to Bruce. The timelines shift from present day to the 70s to the 80s and yet none of the story is lost in translation.

            The relationships push and pull throughout all those decades, and everything weaves together so beautifully.

            It was fascinating for me to learn about Operation Babylift, which was new to me, and also about the prejudices toward adoption – especially international adoption – that faced families who grafted children from overseas into their families. I absolutely recommend this and would imagine her other books are just as well-written!

            This might be my favorite new find from the challenge all year!