[.ca] The Book of Dead Birds (ISBN 0060528044)

Subject may not be pretty, but the book is beautiful.:
I believe the characters illustrated in this lyrical novel will stay with me for some time. It's a beautiful, well-written story. Gayle Brandeis has a true gift. Her main characters are quiet and introspective, and yet we hear their voices very clearly. We see everything they see, feel everything they feel, and smell everything they smell. The plot is built around a series of dead birds--birds inadvertently killed by the main character, a young woman of mixed heritage (Korean and African American) named Ava Sing Lo. Information about each bird--its life and cause of death--are recorded in her mother's scrap book, The Book of Dead Birds. As Ava attempts to break the spell of the dying birds and her shame and sorrow of being a disappointment to her mother we come face to face with her fragility, pain, and insecurity. We, and all those within the story, root for her to soar. Brandeis weaves together two stories--the daughter, Ava, and the mother, Hye-yang (Helen). She takes us from San Diego to the Saltan Sea and back to Korea in the 1960s, where through Ava's retelling of her mother's song, we learn of Hye-yang's slide into prostitution, Ava's conception and their ultimate flight path to freedom. I highly, highly recommend this book. It's one of the best I've read so far this year. Respectfully submitted by the author of "I'm Living Your Dream Life," McKenna Publishing.

Great book by a wonderful author:
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.

Delicate "Dead Birds":
Gayle Brandeis's debut novel, winner of the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, is a mistily vivid story that unfolds like a flower. Drawing on the complicated mother-daughter relationships, it's a haunting and delicately-drawn story. Ava Sing Lo, the child of a Korean immigrant and an African-American GI, has been accidently killing her mother's birds since she was small. After graduating from college, Ava is directionless, aimless, lonely and not feeling at home anywhere. In an effort to make up for her accidental bird-killings, she volunteers to help save sick birds on the Salton Sea. While there, she is reminded and haunted of her mother's past. Many years before, Hye-yang (thought to be unlucky) left her native village, then the new home she had made for herself. Tricked into a hell of abuse, murder and prostitution at a segregated American army camp, Hye-yang (now called Helen) escapes and is married by a white GI -- only to be dumped when her baby is born with dark skin. The thought of her mother's past haunts Helen as she stumbles across a corpse on the beach, falls in love for the first time, and starts to really get to know her mother. Reading "Book of Dead Birds," you can almost smell the birds and salt of the Salton Sea. Brandeis has a special talent for putting her readers into the places she writes of, even if they've never been there. And she knows how to tug at the heartstrings without straining them. Brandeis's writing has an understated lyricism, a sort of poetry without self-consciousness. Her social commentary is all the stronger because it doesn't beat you over the head, and the tragedies all the more terrible because they aren't milked. Ava's sections are more introspective and far-reaching, while Helen's are starker. Sprinkled between chapters are bits of Helen's "Book of Dead Birds," saddening and humorous at once. Ava is a startlingly vivid character, whose life is not so much sad as it is empty. It's fantastic to see her gradually coming into the happiness she deserves. Helen is quiet, repressed, keeping her past hidden and only letting her sorrow show for the birds. Supporting characters, like the unfortunate little girl Jeniece and the fiery prostitute Sun are equally well-done. As pretty and deceptively simple-looking as a bird, this book is a haunting, ultimately heartwarming look at mothers and daughters. Highly recommended.

4 1/2 . A poetic and ambitious first novel.:
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 1/2 stars.

...:
... I finished the book very quickly and enjoyed every minute of it. The writing is seamless and thoroughly enjoyable. I will definitely look out for more by Brandeis. The one problem I have with this is that Brandeis, from what I can tell, is a white woman. However, she is writing about a half Korean/half African American woman. So much of the book involves Korean culture and that makes me feel uncomfortable for reasons I can't quite articulate, however respectful she was of the culture. I would also recommend readers interested in learning more about the Korean prostitutes who worked for American GIs to read 'Fox Girl' by Nora Okja Keller. That book is far more graffic and disturbing, but goes further than 'Dead Birds' in showing the lives these women endured.