Birds in Fall
by:
Brad Kessler (author)
One fall night, an innkeeper on a remote island in Nova Scotia watches an airplane plummet to the sea. As the search for survivors envelops the island, the mourning families gather at the inn, waiting for news of those they have lost. Here among strangers, they form an unusual community,...
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One fall night, an innkeeper on a remote island in Nova Scotia watches an airplane plummet to the sea. As the search for survivors envelops the island, the mourning families gather at the inn, waiting for news of those they have lost. Here among strangers, they form an unusual community, struggling for comfort and consolation. A Taiwanese couple sets out fruit for their daughter's ghost. A Bulgarian man plays piano in the dark, sending the music to his lost wife. Two Dutch teenagers rage against their parents' death. An Iranian exile, mourning his niece, recites the Persian tales that carry the wisdom of centuries. At the center of this striking novel is Ana Gathreaux, an ornithologist who specializes in bird migration, and whose husband perished on the flight. What unfolds is the story of how these families unite and disperse in the wake of the tragedy, and how their interweaving lives are ultimately transformed. Brad Kessler's knowledge of the natural world, music, and myth enriches every page.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780743287395 (0743287398)
Publish date: March 13th 2007
Publisher: Scribner
Pages no: 256
Edition language: English
This is a wonderful book about how people react when faced with unspeakable tragedy. Some join together to help while some hinder the effort. Others remain unflappable while some fall totally apart and cannot cope. Sadness, anger, disbelief, withdrawal, all are parts of the grief process. This book ...
This is an original, unsentimental way of dealing with the subject of loss and grief. I ended up really liking it. I generally avoid books about grieving because they're so fraught with weeping and wailing and heaviness and drama. I don't even have a shelf here for that topic because I just don't...