_The Yellow Birds: Β A Novel_ by Kevin Powers
So…my reading frenzy has not quite ended yet; thus I will be updating more here over the next few days. π
A few months back my parents wanted to send a book on Kindle, but could not figure out how to do it and said they would give it to me for R when I got home. My dad passed it on to me saying how this book was amazing in its writing and that a few of his friends had also said how well-written it is. As it is a book based on the war in Iraq, I was not overly interested in reading it despite the accolades on the writing style. So, I kept it until I met up with R.
Then, R read it and shared the sentiments of awe towards the writing style saying how it is rare to find a writer who can be so poetic in prose. With all these positive comments, I could not help but be interested in it. Therefore, when I ran out of other books to read this summer, I picked it up. The compliments were not wrong. Powers has a great talent and writes beautifully. The story was well-told shifting back and forth between the main character’s time in Iraq and his return home after his one-year tour. Both periods are wonderfully described from the character’s perspective even to someone who has never been in the military, war or in the male psyche. π
Later, upon discussing the quality of this novel with R, I wondered what other women would think of the writing and story. All of the comments I had heard came from men. Obviously, the book has been nominated for awards and so it is not just men who have read the novel. Yet, I wonder if my other female friends would enjoy the book as much or appreciate the writing style. The reason is that his style reminded me a great deal of Dickens, Steinbeck and other very famous male writers of the past whose talent for minute and extreme description was what made them amazing, but also annoyed the bejibees out of me when I had to read their work. While I did not get annoyed through Powers’ book, I did wonder if it is more of a ‘guys’ book than a ‘gals’.
Anyway, it was a very nice and quick read. I highly recommend it to anyone!
-T π
