Customer Reviews

Bird Room

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William is insecure when it comes to his girlfriend Alice. She is beautiful, sexy, and smart while he considers himself a loser. He has doubts she loves him though she insists she does. Will introduces his Alice to his extroverted friend Will the artist.

Meanwhile Helen, formerly known as Claire, claims to be an actress although she has never performed; instead she is a model for what increasingly seems to be a carrier in pornography over the net. Will the introverted non-actor looks back as to how his greatest relationship ends while Helen wonders if prostitution is her best bet.

This is not an easy read as the profound character driven story line is not just nonlinear, it is all over time with two key subplots starring Will and Helen respectively eventually merging with an unexpected spin. Chris Killian looks deeply into Internet relationships as cyber distance leads to increase isolation from needed personal contact, but instead creates a false sense of bonding in which no one has to give up any part of their soul. The Bird Room is depressing, but extremely well written as the dark side of the cyber communications and relationships are explored.

Harriet Klausner

The Bird Room follows the uncertain course of love of two separate individuals. Will, who has never had a steady girl, finds love when Alice spends the night and doesn't leave. Claire reinvents herself as Helen, an actress, or so she dreams, in the meantime she'll take what comes.

This is a strange yet alluring novel. First impression is it will be a slight and flippant tale, yet it is hard not to be drawn following Will's witty first person narrative. He can't quite believe he is living with a steady girl, but the course of love is never that easy and there are troubles ahead, and Will's solution is far from conventional. Helen's path to potential love is equally unusual, if she chooses to follow it.

The two intertwining stories are told with economy, humour and candour, occasionally being quite explicit. What makes Will's story particularly touching perhaps is that it is so very easy to relate to him. He is very ordinary, he lacks confidence, his life is far from perfect, decision do not come easily to him, he is the antithesis of everything he would like to be; which if we are honest with ourselves is perhaps many of us feel at times. He would like to be able to go back and start all over again, avoid all the mistakes, who of us would not like that chance? So we easily identify to him, and consequently his story is all the more touching and ultimately (perhaps?) sad.

The Bird Room is not a long novel, it can easily be read in one sitting, yet it is a perceptive story full of insight, one which is bound to make an impression on the reader, to leave one thinking about the nature of relationships, and about oneself.

Will is incredibly introverted and self-conscious; more comfortable at home, he quits his job just because he doesn't want to work. Sometimes he forgets what his voice sounds like. Regardless of his awkwardness, he finally finds a girl - Alice. Alice is outgoing, an ultimate force with a cloudy past. Alice loves him, but like most relationships, trouble looms around the bend and its name is also Will (the first Will's best friend). And this trouble puts Will in a place even he never thought he'd go.

Meanwhile, Helen (or, Clair - her real name) is an actress, or, she hopes to be someday. For now, to make money, she "acts" and "models" for whoever finds her online profile. Desperate to be more than the Clair she grew up as, she covers up who she is and learns how to act her way through life.

The Bird Room is a dark comedic love story that bounces back and forth in time to show how Will and Helen's lives come together. Sharp and funny at times, it's a truthful look at relationships, and how far someone will go to be loved/liked/seen.

As Chris Killen's first novel, The Bird Room is a strange and interesting look at the lives of four people. With no exact details given, minus a few physical characteristics, these people can be anyone in a painful look at motivations and life. Killen is incredibly honest and blunt in his writing, not shying away from any topic or thought. I blushed quite a few times when reading.

The book is very good, if not jaw dropping at times. It was as if Miranda July wrote Closer and packaged it as a 20-something novel. The characters are jarring. Will (#1) is troubled from the beginning, as he notices his girlfriend's interest start to wander. Not knowing how to react, he shies away and holds on to whatever hope he has. Meanwhile, his best friend Will (#2) is someone EVERYONE knows. That outgoing, lewd, pompous artist-type who isn't incredibly attractive, but manages to get every girl he sets his sights on. In a Will vs. Will battle, it's interesting to see who comes out on top. And although it may sound hard to follow, with two Wills, this only enhances the whole blurred identity theme.

On the other side of London is Clair/Helen who's done a number of risque online movies. Just trying to live a glamorous life, she takes what she can and creates intricate scenarios in her mind. Young and fragile, she's like a delicate piece of glass that's constantly falling down the stairs.

The characters aren't incredibly likable, and I think that's what interested me most about the book in the end. Regardless of my distaste for them, I still wanted the best for them. I still wanted them to find what they wanted and I think that's Killen's best strength. He makes these dark characters who you really want to hate, but part of you still cheers them on, if only to see them get past what they're dealing with. Because with each dark side has a reason.

The book is daunting, yet memorable. Dark, yet funny. It's a fast-paced read that I read in a day. It's a little bit of everything wrapped into one and I'm definitely excited to see what Killen has in store next.

I received The Bird Room as part the First Reads giveaways and I found that it was sort of bizarre. At first look, you think you get a humorous love story. But then it delves into something depressing and a tad bit profound.

While reading this, I found myself amused at first, and then deeply confused as to where exactly this story was going. It has two separate plots: one of Will and the other of Helen/Clair and then you see how those two plots weave together (and when it did, I found myself laughing at the absurdity of it all).

One thing that the book accomplished was making me feel for the characters. I was interested in where exactly Helen/Clair's story was going. As for Will, I felt extremely sorry for him. Yes, he was pathetic, but in a kicked puppy sort of way and you can't help but like him for his flaws. He just didn't know where to draw that relationship line (and let's face it, I think everybody has had that problem once in a while).

This was a pretty good book. Admittedly, it did have it's flaws. Half the time I had no idea where the story was going or what exactly was the point in some instances, but not knowing what exactly is happening had me flipping the pages faster. It was an incredibly quick read that can be read in one sitting. Highly recommend it. One of the better First Reads books I've read.

the synopsis of this book (and the cover) really drew me in. a smart and sexy debut book with the unexpected relationship, it promised to be a dark and modern love story. and although the writing was good and the raw and graphic portrayal of their relationship was quick and easy reading, the book just fell flat for me in the end. it's not that it was bad, but it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth, like i'd just thrown up or eaten something that was rotten.

the story centers on Will, our narrator, and Alice, a couple who are in a challenging relationship. when Will introduces Alice to his friend, also named Will, the dynamic shifts drastically. our narrator begins a downward spiral of doubt and remorse for his inability to react normally in any exchange of emotions, all while watching himself lose Alice but inable to react appropriately. full of lies and deceit and second guessing, this definitely isn't a feel good book.

"She'd been stood up, she said. I realise now how contrived that sounds. I guess it was. She contrived it. She approached me, asked if I was alone and sat down. (Maybe she was lying. But at the time, both of us piss-drunk, it seemed pretty plausible.) And I was left thinking, She has decided to like me, now I must decide to like her, too.

So I sat there, squinting at her, trying hard to like her, too."

the writing was fast paced and quick witted, very reminiscent of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho (which i also did not like all that much), but very readable. the characters were wary, realistic and very flawed, and the interactions between them were very intense, though i think it all could have been developed better. what i thought was going to be a smart and sexy love story was more just a satire on love, with a lot of sex instead. you know, i've read weird books that really delivered before, but in the end, i think The Bird Room was just weird and twisted.

maybe it had to do with the fact that it sort of reminded me of porn in a book, or that the characters weren't meant to be liked, but i didn't find myself enjoying it, particularly towards the end. i liked the characterization and writing style, but the overall presentation and packaging left me unsettled and sort of put off. i understand that some people may love this style, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

i think just on writing alone, i'd be willing to pick up another Killen book in the future, but it definitely would be with caution.

I thought that maybe putting a little time between the end of this book and my review would give me more clarification on how I felt, but nope. I still think that it was just weird. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes! Did I LIKE it? Maybe yes, maybe no. Because really, it was just plain weird.

My favorite thing about this book was that I absolutely adored the writing style. It was one of those books where you sort of feel like the main character is talking to you while at the same time feeling as if he doesn't care about you at all. It just sort of plods along, if that makes sense, and yet the story itself is completely non-linear. It goes back and forth and back and forth while at the same time slowly and succinctly moving forwards. In a way, this caught me off guard, and yet it was also a pleasant surprise. I love books that are written like this.

This book is also extremely interesting in that you never actually get to know any of the characters, which could come from the fact that they never really get to know each other, and yet it is very much character driven. Who is Will, who is the other Will, who is Alice? None of this is really important, as they are only important characters inasmuch as they are important to the first Will. They are all so flawed and confused.

While the style of this book makes it easy to read, the content does it. It's an intriguing look at the sex-lives of adults, at our perception of love and sex . It's an intimate look at relationships, and it's so real. While I didn't relate at all to the relationships in the Bird Room, as I didn't relate at all to the characters, the ideas presented through their relationships did make me think a little bit about the relationships in my life. And how real they may or may not be.

Will (the first) disgusts me, and he absolutely deserves everything he gets. I would NOT deal well with having a person like him in my life. And yet, the book is narrated from his point of view, and I absolutely ate it up. He made me laugh, he made me think, and he almost made me sad while at the same time shunning him.

So it's a good, well-written book, but it will not make you feel good. It might even depress you. And you may like it without actually liking it's content. It's GOOD while at the same time. . .leaving you unsure as to what exactly there was about it that you liked.

Clive James once said that to be a lousy writer takes energy: average novelists remain unread not for being bad, but for being flat. Although written with Judith Krantz in mind, the same applies to Chris Killen.

The trouble is that the tale's too similar to the teller. It's like those ghosts in folk tales - caught between worlds, adrift, and affectless. It's no accident that words such as 'ghost', 'insubstantial', and 'absent' threaten to crowd out the words such as 'and', 'the' and 'then'. Will, the main character attracts such comparisons the way magnets attract iron filings. Even Will's love interest Helen/Clair, ostensible actress and actual prostitute in denial, gets a hint of this: 'There's this blankness to him, as if he's a more an idea than an actual person.'

So with the novel. With the interior monologue turned to full volume, all externals are drowned out. Oddly, it's the everyday things that pierce Will's solipsism: shopping at Tesco Express, chipped Ghostbusters II mugs, notes to record trashy films on Channel 5. Little happens and little is felt, least of all by Will or us.

The Bird Room is scrappy, unsatisfying, and more of an outsized short story than a novel. There had to be easier ways for Canongate to squander its Life of Pi money than this.