Customer Reviews

Elsewhere In the Land of Parrots

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful book, gentle and kind, funny and thought-provoking, too. The Amazon book description above gives the story but doesn't give, really, any idea of how good a read this is. By the time I was about a quarter into the book, I hated that it was going to end. So, every night before going to sleep, I would pick it up again and begin to read, slowly, savoring the descriptions, savoring the images, laughing out loud. And it lingers on now in memory as I wonder about those SF parrots, conures, are they really there? And I wonder, too, that irritating childhood question at the end of a book, And then what happened? ...They all live happily ever after, undoubtedly, except for those few who shouldn't.

I passed ELSEWHERE... on to a friend and she, normally a greedy reader, consuming a story in a couple of hours, reacted very similarly.

This a sweet book. I can't recommend it more highly.

"Elsewhere in the Land of Parrots" is a love story for people who love parrots -or perhaps for all bird-lovers. There are two parallel stories. David is a reclusive post-modern poet living in San Francisco with a cherry-headed conure named Little Wittgenstein. Fern is a graduate student working on her thesis in Ecuador, trying to observe cherry-headed conures in the wild. When David and Little Wittgenstein's differences prove irreconcilable, David ejects the bird to fend for himself in the treetops of San Francisco. Meanwhile, Fern is working on a wildlife preserve in exchange for room and board and trying to stay focused on parrots while growing increasingly disillusioned with her prospects of finding them. Feeling guilty for evicting his avian roommate, David becomes preoccupied with learning about parrots and immerses himself in studying the birds. As chance would have it, he is forced out of his apartment just as Ecuador beckons him.

Anyone who has not himself or herself been bitten by the birding bug might find David and Fern's obsessions odd and the idea that people can discover new life and love through birds eccentric at best. But those of us who have been captivated by the birds outside our windows -or in a pet store- and have gorged ourselves on information about them and developed a great respect for the creatures will recognize David and Fern's preoccupation. "Elsewhere in the Land of Parrots" takes on a familiar quality for bird lovers. People really do act this way, and one can discover a world of things through birds. Jim Paul's prose isn't masterful, but it's fluid and precise. The book is a pleasant read, and where I otherwise would have been bored by a romance, the birds kept me interested in this one. I think bird lover's will enjoy "Elsewhere in the Land of Parrots".

This is a delightful read. A sweet and humorous tale of a bright, but slightly neurotic poet meets adventurous girl scientist. Her research on parrots in their native habitat and his guilt over throwing his screeching parrot out the window, leads them both to Equador.

I love to read a novel in which I not only enjoy the story, but also come away with a little more knowledge than I had before I started the book. The descriptions of Equador and it's terrain did just that. One does not have to be a bird fancier to enjoy this story. This book was well worth the time and money. I plan on sending my copy of Elsewhere in the Land of Parrots to my daughter who happens to have one of those screeching conures in her living room.

A mystical summons may have caused the major characters in ELSEWHERE IN THE LAND OF PARROTS to pursue a flock of conures into the mangrove forests of Ecuador. Even though I don't expect to receive such a call, I could appreciate the boisterous challenge issuing from the novel's parrots. "Wake up!" they seem to say. The parrots are Nature's representatives in this book, and Nature is shown to be everywhere--in the city, on an ocean-going freighter, in a cage in the jungle. A person who dares to open his eyes to the world will find his life enriched, as do the reclusive poet David and the somewhat naive zoologist Fern in this charming and often moving book.

Wherever the story goes, Jim Paul smoothly and efficiently evokes a strong sense of place. Descriptions are lyrical but unsentimental. It's a joy to follow David's emergence and Fern's explorations as they take the steps that will ultimately bring them together. There is a quirky sense of humor at work but also an underlying urgency. The parrots need people to look out for them.

I have two parrot roommates and couldn't help but be drawn to the round inquisitive eyes of the conure--or shall I use the more elegant word "aratinga"--on the cover. I was glad that the novel's birds act like BIRDS. They are not the talking stereotypes who utter improbable punch lines on sitcoms.

However, one does not need to be a bird-fancier to enjoy this book. The reader will meet charming characters, travel to exotic places, and find new wonders in even commonplace surroundings. It's a well-written story about awakenings, and about journeys with hopeful endings.

If you love birds, or animals in general, and quirky characters in your novels, give this one a try. A beautifully written story with an upbeat message awaits you. If you liked "The Parrots of Telegraph Hill" (book or movie), this book will hit the spot--Mark Bittner (as a character) even has a cameo role. I also learned more about Ecuador than I ever knew before which opens up another whole arena of interest. Enjoy!

Jim Paul's novel is a very enjoyable read. For anyone who has seen the movie "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill," this novel adds another dimension to that experience by explaining the native origin of the parrots as well as the "civilization" origin. Intermingled with the story of the parrots is a charming love story of a woman who is investigating the parrots in their native habitat and a rather grumpy, lost soul who has contributed to the fate of parrots who are released far away from their natural home. I would highly recommend this book; in fact, I've already given a copy to each of my children.

David is a reclusive poet living in cramped San Francisco apartment cluttered with books and other debris, but absent of the most vital ingredient for fulfillment-companionship. That changes one day when his father delivers a cherry headed conure named Little Wittgenstein. The parrot, however, proves to be an awful pet and an even worse companion. When it drives away the first date David has had in many years, David, at the urging of a friend, releases the parrot into the wilds of San Francisco. Much to David's surprise, he soon learns that the parrot has joined a flock of feral parrots living in the Telegraph Hill section of city. Sound familiar?

Author Jim Paul clearly draws some inspiration from the Mark Bittner story but his novel came out before Bittner's "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill," so he cannot be accused of stealing Bittner's thunder. His research must have come from articles about Bittner published in the San Francisco "Chronicle." Furthermore, San Francisco is just one of the novel's settings. Running in parallel with the story of David and his parrot is the story of Fern, a graduate student conducting dissertation research on cherry headed conures in the mangrove swamps of Ecuador. Chapters alternate between David in San Francisco and Fern in Ecuador and as I got more into the novel, I found Fern's story to be much more compelling. She has a run-in with a National Park official who is dealing in contraband birds, and spends weeks trying to find her birds in a mangrove swamp-even going so far as to purchase a boat so she can access the swamps solo.

Like star-crossed lovers, David and Fern's paths eventually cross, but I won't reveal how or where. This is a light read, good for a long plane ride, which is where I read the book. The strengths of the book are its characters-complex people whom the reader will find intriguing. Weaknesses include a saccharine ending and a profound lack of understanding about ornithology by the author. A decent ornithologist or bird watcher could find an aratinga erythrogenys in Ecuador in matter of days, not weeks, but this is a love story and not a field guide, so I will forgive the author for his lack of avian knowledge and compliment him for an enjoyable read.

Everybody refers to me as "the parrot guy" so it was not exactly unexpected that a friend of mine browsing the shelves of a bookstore in Great Barrington would get me "Elsewhere in the Land of Parrots" as a gift.

I enjoyed everything about this book. Some people might find it incredible that a few random encounters with our psitticine friends might wind up snowballing into life-changing events, but this kind of thing happens more often than one might think (it happened to me)! I was also delighted to see that Mark Bittner (the real-life protagonist of "Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill") turns up as a character. I enjoyed the story and especially the many insights into the lives of our wonderfully complex bird friends provided along the way.

This book gets Five Squawks!

This might be the only instance in which the technique of prolonging the protagonists' inevitable romance not only succeeds but feels entirely natural and even a little bit perfect. Elegant prose, spine-tingling descriptions, a willingness to let plot be sacrified for the book's sense of wonder and connectedness -- all very welcome and refreshing. And now, like A Reader above, I am wondering if this or "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" came first ...

Excellent book for anyone who loves birds. For that matter an excellent book to learn to love birds.