Awakening, The: A Tale of Avian Evolution [Hardcover]

Mark Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

Through the eyes of two parrots, the reader sees the unraveling of two worlds. Yellow Streak must survive planet wide devastation by a comet impact at the end of the age of dinosaurs and witness their demise. She perseveres and overcomes many hardships to flourish in her ancient world and ultimately become the "genetic Eve" for all modern parrot species. Angel is born into an equally frightening world populated by humans. She must adapt to this alien world filled with unpredictability. She reaches out to two people, bringing them together, sharing with them her companionship and love. Yellow Streak and Angel are inextricably linked. Within their abbreviated life spans, they confront many similar challenges and must suffer through the dangerous periods- one from a radically altered environment, the other at the hands of human abuse and neglect. Readers will discover The Awakening to be an emotional roller coaster filled with realism- a dark, somber journey in which hope, inspiration, and love ultimately triumph.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 550 pages
• Publisher: Robert Reed Publishers (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885003609
• ISBN-13: 978-1885003607
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,902,492 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tale of spirituality, love and hope, August 15, 2008

By 

John S. Geary (Vancouver, B.C., Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Awakening, The: A Tale of Avian Evolution (Hardcover)

If you never read any other book about birds, read this one.

Author Mark Jones has produced an incredible story that delivers what it promises ... and more. The accolades on the book's dust jacket promise a roller coaster ride of emotion and the book does not disappoint.

I cannot recall any book moving me as emotionally as does this one.

The book uses two different storylines, set in two different time frames, one in modern times, the other at the time-line transition between the Cretaceous and Tertiary Eras of pre-historic Earth. The two stories paralell each other throughout the book.

The story is fictional, but it is "real-life" fiction, in that the types of incidents and situations described do occur every day. It involves several characters and occurrences that begin as separate, apparently unrelated stories. By the end of the book Jones has weaved them all together masterfully, integrating all the characters and storylines into one creation, producing an incredible story of love, courage, hope and joy.

The two main characters are parrots: Yellow Streak, a pre-historic parrot whose descendants are the parrots with whom we share our planet today; and, Angel, a descendant (or perhaps an even closer relative?) of Yellow Streak. Both face daunting challenges, the former in a world turned upside by the collision of a comet with Earth, the latter in the form of abuse and neglect heaped upon her by some of the humans she encounters in her life.

Although the characters are fictional, the incidents that take place in the modern era setting are not, and that is why it is so powerfully moving. Angel suffers treatment no different from that experienced by many real-life parrots. She is passed around from human to human, punished, ignored, abused, neglected and left to die.

The book paints a very vivid picture of what can happen when people - some well-meaning, some not - decide to include birds in their lives without really understanding what that involves.

In that sense, the book is as educational as many non-fiction books about parrots.

If you have spent any time with companion parrots, this book will move you deeply. There were times I had to put it down and compose myself before continuing to read. These moments of great anguish were complimented by moments of great joy, mirroring the cycle of Universal Life.

There is a twist to the ending (or not, depending on how well your intuition works), an ending that reminds us that there is always hope, always something better awaiting us.

"The Awakening" is an inspiration, not just for bird lovers, not just for the human and avian races, but for Life everywhere.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BIRDS EYE VIEW OF THE DAWN OF TIME, January 22, 2001

By 

Robert D. Reed (Bandon, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Awakening, The: A Tale of Avian Evolution (Hardcover)

Millions of years ago dinosaurs ruled the subtropical forests of Northeastern Canada. Imagine trying to survive in that hostile environment with nothing more than your innate intelligence and the ability to fly. The Awakening: A Tale of Avian Evolution, by Mark W. Jones, takes us on such imaginary flights of fancy where we see through the eyes of two protagonists, both parrots. Why parrots? Because these highly intelligent and popular birds were on the planet long before man's primitive ancestors first swung down from the trees. Perhaps also because millions of people are choosing to live with these beautiful, friendly, and clever creatures as pets. The two main characters, Yellow Streak and Angel, are parrots that lived millions of years apart and yet they are inextricably linked by bonds stronger than the advance of time. Yellow Streak is born to a primitive parrot species living a marginal existence in an isolated mountain range near the Hudson Bay at the end of the Cretaceous period sixty-five million years ago. She witnesses the demise of the dinosaurs. Yellow Streak's gifted intellect and unique abilities help her flock to survive planet-wide devastation by a comet impact. Yellow Streak is the "genetic Eve" for all modern parrot species that populate the earth today. Angel, a Moluccan cockatoo, is born into an equally frightening and unpredictable world populated by humans. She learns how to reach out to two people, bringing them together, sharing with them her companionship and love. Yellow Streak and Angel confront similar challenges and suffer through dark, dangerous periods. In the end, the two parrots are brought together in a surprising way. Angel discovers her reason for existence. Angel is Yellow Streak, returned to earth to carry out a special mission.

The Awakening is a powerful tale of struggle, hope, and ultimate triumph that will captivate the seventeen million parrot lovers in this country, the hundreds of millions of animal lovers, and anyone who loves a strong, inspiring story. This heartwarming book is written with love and respect for animals and for the earth. Jones is a member of the Tucson Aviculture Society and an environmentalist who is committed to the preservation of wildlife habitat.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars riveting parrot story, August 28, 2010

By 

Amy Hopkins (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Awakening, The: A Tale of Avian Evolution (Hardcover)

"The Awakening: A Tale of Avian Evolution" is a parrot-themed novel by Mark Jones which follows the stories of two parrots: a prehistoric parrot from whom all future parrots are descended, and a modern day Moluccan cockatoo. Jones is a parrot companion and a member of the Tucson Aviculture Society, and this was his first novel.

Yellow Streak, the proto-parrot, lives through the time of the catastrophic meteor (a comet in this book) collision with Earth resulting in the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. Her intellect is greater than that of the other parrots of her time, enabling her to lead her flock through this event and learn how to survive in the new world. Her genes are passed on to future generations, imbuing parrots with their higher level of intelligence. Angel, the Moluccan, suffers through human neglect and abuse in the modern world, but ultimately brings joy to deserving humans.

The form of this book is unusual in that there are two alternating stories which appear to have little in common, but they come together at the end in an ultimately very satisfying way. One review called this book an "emotional roller coaster". I couldn't agree more. I very much enjoyed Yellow Streak's story, which describes in such extraordinary detail the environmental, geological, astrophysical, botanical, and animal conditions at the time that I felt like I was actually living through this unique period in time. Those facts I was already aware of or checked out while reading the book were completely accurate, so the author clearly spent a great deal of time researching the Cretaceous-Tertiary era. His ability to bring prehistoric times to life is extraordinary, and my heart often raced with anxiety when feeling as if I was being chased by a dinosaur or other carnivorous creature. Jones presents this period of history with all its raw energy intact, so don't expect Barney the dinosaur to be skipping along sniffing the flowers.

Jones peoples the modern story, however, with numerous inadequate, neglectful, and outright abusive people. He goes into great detail about modern breeding practices, including information that I really didn't need to read about, such as how to cull (AKA kill) unwanted baby parrots in a supposedly humane manner. I had to gloss over that page. I'm not sure that he really needed to provide all this information for the story given that it will turn off most readers. I initially hated Angel's story so much that I considered only reading the Yellow Streak portions. Jones is heavy on the foreshadowing, so I knew bad things were coming, though in actuality, it didn't happen as much as I was expecting. Maybe birds are too dear to my heart, so I had difficulty reading anything where people hurt parrots. Jones' human characters also seemed a bit two-dimensional at times, as opposed to the rich personalities he gave his parrot protagonists.

I did feel compelled to keep reading, though, and I'm glad I did. In the end, redemption was at hand, and the stories merge together in an unexpected, somewhat religious, way. Despite going through many love-hate cycles with this book, by the end I was openly sobbing. I guess you can figure out that the book had a happy ending. I can't remember the last time a book stirred such strong emotions in me, so I highly recommend it as one of the most riveting books I've read.