Customer Reviews

Bird

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Miranda is a slight girl who is easily lifted and carried by the wind. It deposited her next to Bourne Manor, an imposing house that is home to the widow Wysteria and the four Hounds. Wysteria takes Miranda in - the girl has no memory of where she came from before the wind took her - and puts her to work mending nets for the local fisherman. She also makes Miranda wear a pair of weighted shoes, to keep her from flying off again. As the years pass, Miranda learns some of the secrets of the Manor, hearing rumors of a lost treasure and discovering an attic full of beautiful kites built my Wysteria's dead husband. After the appearance of a friendly boy named Farley, Miranda realizes that the Manor has an insidious hold on her and seeks a way to escape.

I don't know how a book that is relatively short can come across as taking too long to develop, and yet still not completely tell a story. This is a fairly intriguing plot when you boil it down to its basics: Miranda is a mysterious girl who can be carried by the wind, she's trapped in Bourne Manor by the house or by Wysteria, the house is cursed/haunted and corrupts its inhabitants, and there's a mystery about Wysteria's husband that Miranda and Farley solve. A third of the book is dedicated to explaining the daily life of Miranda and Wysteria, and this is just way too long. It's difficult to tell if Wysteria is supposed to be a villain (she has trapped Miranda in the house and works her pretty hard) or just an old woman who's trying to get by (they're often starving) and has succumbed to the house's influence. You feel sorry for her, particularly when she gets pneumonia. The house itself is a confusing character - it's only in the last couple of chapters that it becomes malevolent. It would've been much more effective to show the house's influence over the seven years (which pass in the first 28 pages) Miranda lives there, rather than the few weeks at the end of the story.

The plot really picks up when Farley becomes a regular character and he gives Miranda some of her background. The language is pretty and on the verge of being purple prose. However, for all the descriptions we get, I had a terrible time understanding just how small or how old Miranda was. I also couldn't tell who the intended audience is for this book - professional reviews suggest tweens, but the language is just so proper that I think it would be a hard sell. The cover (which is probably the best thing about the book), the length, and the plot make me think it's for children, but I think the language works even less for that crowd.

Overall, this just feels like a very underdeveloped story. If you chopped out the first third of the book and gave more depth to Miranda, Wysteria, and the house, this would be much better.

In all honesty, I am at a loss for words on where to begin with discussing my feelings on this novel. When I sat down and thought about how to describe this novel, one word kept running through my head: unique. Now in most cases, this can be a really great way to describe a novel. But, unfortunately, I am not sure that this applies to Bird.

One aspect that makes this novel unique is that it is told from Miranda's point of view in the past tense. In some ways, I really liked this change of pace. But for the most part, it felt odd due to the reader never getting to understand where Miranda is in the present. Another aspect that made this an odd read was that the novel continuously builds up the reader for a great reveal, but it never happens. Throughout the novel, it is hinted that the house itself has some mysterious origins... that there is something unique about it... almost as if it is a living creature. Yet this aspect is never explored. It is almost as if the author was at the cusp of this exploration, but at the last second decided to veer off in a different direction.

While most of the novel feel flat for me, I must admit that Murphy does an outstanding job with her characters. I went into this read hoping that the whole novel would be whimsical, but I am happy to settle with just the characters fitting this description. Miranda was a very fun character. Her background and family history are left very mysterious, and all that is really known about her is that she is often carried off by the wind. I found her affinity with the wind to be totally adorable. Add in her love of kites... and I was totally sold on Miranda. She was cute with a capital C.

In the end, Bird was not exactly what I was expecting, but there were definitely parts of the novel that I loved. I believe that if the novel had been extended by about 50-100 pages, then Murphy would have been able to fully explore more of the questions that currently do not have answers. Or hopefully, there is a sequel in the works cause I would definitely love to see more of Miranda.

This is almost an old-fashioned fairy tale, but the heroine is a strong-minded girl who manages her own destiny. She is assisted by a good friend, but discovers her true path independently.

Bird is a bewitching little story - as slight as Miranda herself, and as full of enchantment and wonder. Well-written and full of mystery, the plot is intriguing and interesting. What exactly is Miranda? And is Wysteria really the villain of the piece or is it the house itself? These questions and Rita Murphy's vivid descriptions of the coast kept me turning pages until the end. The only thing that I could have wished for would be more pages to help develop the story of Bourne Manor. I would have loved more on the history of the place and it's former inhabitants.

It was a short journey but one well worth my time, and I thoroughly enjoyed being lost within the pages. Bird is a delightful and whimsical mystery.

I picked this book up just because of its very pretty peaceful cover. It took me all of 3 hours to read, but though short, it does not lack in quality. An amazingly quiet book. After reading the first few pages, I was hooked. I worried about the girl, what she was, where she came from, what was going to happen to her. I thrilled when she made it out. Other people I suggested this book to have also enjoyed it!

This little tale packs enough tension, drama, interesting characters and unusual setting to rival lengthier stories. The main character has a troubling and unique physical characteristic that affects every aspect of her life. And in spite of her difficult living situation with an eccentric old woman in an oppressive estate, there's something good that shines through in this girl's personality which causes the reader to empathizing and sympathizing with her plight. Now whenever I see a kite, I will always think of this charming story and the girl who found pleasure in watching the kites rise on the same wind which brought great risk to her very existence. Young and old alike will enjoy reading this charming tale as tragedy gives way to a brighter destiny. The richly painted artwork on the front cover captures perfectly the unusual setting and Gothic like atmosphere of the story.