Customer Reviews

Birdy

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
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2 star:		(2)
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The book is best described as "bird-y", like it's title. Whoever reads it will understand what I mean. In the center of the story stands an eccentric, introverted boy called Birdy, who's entire life is driven by an obsession with birds, and a dream - to fly and be free. The book opens with Birdy in a military mental hospital, traumatized by his experiences in WWII. His childhood friend, Al, has been called over to try and bring Birdy back to reality. At a loss of what to do, Al begins telling Birdy stories from their childhood, and recounting all the adventures they lived through together. Through Al's narrations and the remembrances they trigger in Birdy, the fascinating story of a most unlikely friendship unfolds. Al is a handsome, athletic Italian girl-chaser, with an abusive father and an obsessive need to prove himself. Birdy on the other hand, is a wild spirit. You can sense throughout the story how he feels caged, and reveres the birds he sees to be free. He constucts an aviary and raises canaries in his bedroom, studying them, learning their language, getting to know each one personally, and losing himself in their world. The descriptions of the canaries are so intense that the reader himself feels as though they are human, or he is a bird. Birdy is an amazing character - brave, self confident, a mechanical genius, who struggles to fit himself into human life, but who's mind works in a completely different way than anyone else's. The book tells the extraordinary story of the two friends, and is simply a pleasure to read and a refreshing change from the conventional.

I first read BIRDY when it was published in 1978; I was going into the ninth grade. Since that fist reading, I have read it two other times--once in college while pretending to work at the library and once just recently for a book club I'm in. It is an amazingly memorable book about friendship and war and our definition of what is sane. Some of the scenes are so vivid that they have become a part of my own memory. I have explored other books by William Wharton, but none of them have equalled BIRDY. (DAD and MIDNIGHT CLEAR are also worth reading, though.) I remember the first copy I bought had a blurb on the front cover which read, "a classic for readers not yet born." I hope those words come true.

This is an incredible and beautifully told tale of friendship, sanity(& insanity,) obsession and the horrors of war. The second reading is even better! As a bird lover and owner, I especially enjoyed the details of what the experience of being a bird is really like. I can only suppose that William Wharton has spent time as a bird, or has some very close friends who are birds and were willing to describe the experience of "birdness" to him for this book. The story of friendship and growing up is quite moving and enjoyable with much humor and insight. The section dealing with the boys' job as dogcatchers should be skipped or abridged by the squeamish, (or animal lovers, such as my spouse, who take fiction for reality too easily!) Highly recommended! Two enthusiastic wings up! (P.S. Also recommended; "Dad" by William Wharton.)

Birdy, as a novel, does not so much tell the story of friendship and its associated triumphs, or eleviate common support for the horrors of war. Instead, Birdy acts as a wake-up call for traditional notions of insanity, human behaviour and the traditional belief that individuals, as varied and complex as they are, can be labeled.

"We all have our own private kinds of craziness. If it gets in the way of enough people, they call you crazy."

Birdy is a disturbing insight into the minds of two men, each effected by the past, war and their own calculated decisions as rare individuals. I believe it makes the reader think twice before labeling the people that occupy their lives. Such a positive result can be no better applauded by a second reading .. and a third .. and a fourth.

"Sometimes you cant take it anymore yourself, so you tell somebody else you're crazy and they agree to take care of you."

-Dade

Thats right. One of the best books I have ever read. I have already purchased some 5 copies for my friends - to share the beauty of the book with them too. Its a masterpiece.

The depth of description about a bird, and its daily life, is described here in a way I have come across before. But thats not what its all about. There are many concepts discovered here, and it makes the reader ponder. Issues such as war, friendship, love, dreams, insanity and sanity.

I especially got involved in Birdy's dream. I am a bit of a dreamer too. He goes onto explore the fact that maybe we living now, is a dream. And the dream that both you and I will have tonight, is actually our real life. I liked this view.

Buy the book, its very much out of the ordinary, and I hope you really enjoy it as much as I did! Happy Reading!

I just happened upon this book in my school's library one day last week. I decided to get it out if only because my own facination with flight seemed somewhat similar to the storyline. I read the whole thing that day, and I still can't get it out of my mind. I went back to the library maybe hoping for a sequel (I always do that), but since there was none I got out the only other Wharton books they had: Dad and A Midnight Clear. While they were both great books and I enjoyed them greatly (even though I'm usually a strictly scifi fan and this really far from my range), none of them are even half as good as Birdy. Theres something about that book that makes you think about it long after you've turned the last page. Now I need to get the movie.

I've read a lot of books in my day, but Birdy is easily one of the most memorable. A traumatized World War II veteran trapped in a VA hospital stays sane solely through his preternaturally detailed recollections of raising canaries as a teenager--and through the perfect loyalty of his closest friend.

Wharton's better known World War II novel, A Midnight Clear, comes nowhere near this one in terms of originality and emotional truth.

Birdy is a beautifully written, most unclassifiable story, unsentimental, sometimes painful, but extraordinarily life-affirming and imagination-affirming. Some day it will be recognized as a genuine classic of American fiction.

I saw the film "Birdy" twice when it first came out. At that time I did not yet have any of my own birds, but I was captivated by the storyline and especially by Matthew Modine's character in the title role. Since then I have become a caregiver to my own flock of budgies and can see myself in the role of Birdy to a certain extent, especially in the shared view that birds should be free and not forced to live in a cage for humans' entertainment.

Over a quarter century after seeing the movie, I decided to read the novel Birdy by William Wharton. Birdy drew me in from the first page. I usually struggle through the first pages of any new novel, acquainting myself with characters, plotlines and the author's writing style. With Birdy, as I turned from page one to two, it felt as natural and as engaging as turning from page 301 to 302.

Birdy is told from two points of view, that of Alfonso Columbato (played in the movie by Nicolas Cage) and "Birdy", his childhood friend whose real name is never revealed. The text distinguishes the two, with Alfonso's in normal type and Birdy's in italics. Alfonso and Birdy seem to be an unlikely pair since they are opposites in every way (physical appearance, popularity with girls, sports prowess) yet are lifelong best friends.

Birdy and Alfonso start to breed pigeons, and they build five-star aviaries for them. Birdy grows to develop an obsession with the birds, and Alfonso notices that he is becoming birdlike in his appearance and behaviour. Birdy builds bird models, flying machines and he even exercises for hours each day to develop his arms for flying in the future.

After Alfonso abandons the hobby, Birdy takes it to the next level and beyond. Birdy decides to care for canaries and then sets up an elaborate aviary in his own bedroom as he develops a lucrative breeding program. Birdy grows as an adolescent with a bird's-eye view of the world. Alfonso sets him up with a prom date and Birdy reluctantly agrees to go, much to the delight of his parents who are thrilled to see him take an interest in something and someone other than his birds. If only. The girl Alfonso sets him up with, Doris, has a reputation which is anything but virtuous and throws herself all over Birdy after the prom is over. Birdy, however, does not look at Doris as a sexual young woman but instead compares her physical appearance and behaviour to the attributes of his canaries. He gets out of having sex with Doris by claiming that he wants to save his virginity for his wife.

Birdy does, in a way, save himself for his "wife". At night he has erotic dreams but not about girls. He fantasizes about one of his newest female canaries, Perta. They nest together and hatch several clutches of eggs. At this point late in the novel it gets boring, as Birdy confuses his reality as a young man with his version of reality being married to Perta. The chapter goes on far too long and furthermore, there is another dream within this dream which made it all the more confusing trying to distinguish between the two.

Both Alfonso are drafted in WWII. This is changed to the Vietnam War in the movie, and I did not realize the time change until later on in the book, after noticing the primitive creature comforts each boy was living with. When I realized the novel was taking place in the 1940's and not the 1970's, it all made sense. Alfonso is disfigured in the war, and Wharton's description of bodies sliced apart by bombs and skin peeling off and eyeballs popping out of sockets left me wincing on the bus with limbs restlessly probing the air. I haven't read anything as gruesome since American Psycho. I read these war scenes while commuting and could not go on any further at times. The last thing I wanted was to faint while on a bus of all places.

Birdy suffers from wartime post-traumatic stress and is institutionalized. He believes he is a bird, squats like a bird and can only be fed like a baby bird. Alfonso is contacted by Birdy's mother to see if he can help her son in any way. Alfonso, heavily bandaged and barely able to talk, reluctantly agrees to try to bring Birdy back to reality by triggering memories of the times they had spent together. This is the basis for the movie: the boys' reminiscences while Alfonso and Birdy are in the mental institution.

I likely enjoyed Birdy more since I have become a bird owner like the lead character. The rituals that we must go through: cleaning cages, washing the toys, feeding and talking to the birds made me feel that it could have been me Wharton was writing about. That Birdy and me are both social misfits did not go unnoticed. The descriptions Wharton gives of canary breeding and bird habitat leave me with the impression that he himself must have first-hand knowledge of the subject. I want to borrow the library's copy of the "Birdy" DVD and revisit the movie that I fell in love with twenty-five years ago.

Birdy is William Wharton's 1978 novel about life's biggest issues - love, friendship, death, and (above all) finding meaning. Though I believe that there are a few flaws in the book, I strongly recommend it to readers. Birdy is very good - and like nothing else that I have ever read.

The plot concerns two young friends - Birdy and Al - and their experiences in high school and World War II. Birdy is a strange boy who obsesses over the birds he keeps in his back yard. Birdy believes that he can fly, if only he can understand the birds well enough. Al is an Italian-American boy who present himself as a jock, a tough guy. The novel reveals, however, that Al actually is a deep, sensitive person. Wharton does an excellent job of developing the characters of Birdy and Al. The unlikely relationship between the two men is a central part of Birdy.

What makes Birdy remarkable, however, is something else. If the story described only the friendship between Birdy and Al, Birdy would be a good novel, but nothing special. What makes Birdy unique is that Wharton uses the story to ask us to consider the ways that we lives our lives. Birdy's desire to fly, then, is a symbol of his desire to live a meaningful, "elevated" life.

It is these little pieces of philosophy that make Birdy so special. Consider the following lines from Birdy: "I have the feeling you could pull all the feathers out of him and he could still fly. He flies because he isn't afraid and not just because it's what birds are supposed to do. He flies as an act of personal creation, defiance" (page 77).

There are a few negatives in Birdy. Readers who are not interested in birds will find that the narrative drags a bit in places.

The best thing about Birdy is that it is different. It took nerve to write a book like this, and I admire Wharton's courage. Birdy will "stay with" its readers. For those seeking something different, it is well worth reading.

"Birdy" has been often compared to such novels as Heller's Catch-22, the tendency for the book to be read as a war novel was strengthened by the movie based on the novel in 1985, directed by Alan Parker, which moved the time of its action to the days of the Vietnam War. The book, however, concentrates on the issues of adolescence, growing up, and reaching maturity.
"Birdy" tells a story of two friends Al and Birdy who met in pre-war Philadelphia and who friendship survives the war when Al is invited to a mental ward where Birdy is kept after his traumatic war-time experiences which which brought about his mental-breakdown. The reader becomes gradually acquainted with their adventures in flash-backs and witnesses Birdy re-awakening.
The book rings true both a nostalgic description of the pre-war working class US which no longer exists, a chronicle of friendship and a description of mental disorder. Must read - you can follow the reading with the movie and there is Peter Gabriel's CD to accompany the novel!