Customer Reviews

Firebird

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Its surprising that some readers hated this story. What's not to like? The beginning may slowly build up speed, but deep in the plot, the reader appreciates the character development. At first Firebird appears common to other romances- Man agrees to marry under pressure; A new face in town piques his interest AFTER the engagement is announced. Then watch out - a plot twist is about to blow your mind! I didn't see it coming and couldn't believe what I had just read. From there the hits just kept on coming. The plot winds through a labirynth of twists and turns like a serpentine roller coaster ride. The reader is swept along never knowing where the next drop or derailment may be. I have searched for years to find a book I simply could not put down. Firebird was worth the wait. I read it through the first night. I simply had to know how this story could possibly find resolution. Firebird courts the heart and soul. This is Miss Graham's debut novel, hopefully the first of many to come.

Janice Graham is off to a great start with this enjoyable love story. If you're expecting a tale of heavy romance, deceit, murder and a multitude of convoluted sub-plots, you won't find much in this book. Instead, one man's love, almost like a prairie fire, starts in one place, is blown to another, and is rekindled in yet a third as relationships grow and transform over time.

This story shows how death can be a rebirth (remember that title), and how loving a daughter can be as profound as loving a woman. Love's complications lead to grave happenstance; then maturity, enlightenment, and ultimately a deeper love, are born from tragedy. Happens in real life, too.

I'm not the type to dwell on hidden meanings or decipher twists in the plot. So instead, I like to let myself be led wherever the story points. In that regard, this book was perfect for me. Yeah, maybe Ms. Graham isn't the world's best at epic storytelling and character development, but the people in this book are pretty strong nevertheless, with the drama really picking up toward the end. And, maybe the Kansas prairie is a little over-glamorized, but there's a great image there. These would be but minor criticisms rather than major detractors. The story flows well, is easy to read, and you'll identify with all the personalities right away. I enjoyed this book immensely, and finished it in only two days (a rare occurrence for me).

Start reading, get into the flow, and you will be moved by this story. I recommend it highly.

Graham writes well and this is a very sad but intensely moving novel. I thought Ethan Brown was a rather cold, emotionally barren character, who wasn't really worthy of the love of two good women. The thing that annoyed me about the novel, though, is that although Ethan does eventually fall in love with Katie Anne...it's not really her, he loves but her as Annette. The rather selfish, fickle Katie Anne returns from her near death experience a changed woman - she basically acquires all Annette's characteristics; cultured, a loving mother and selfless: I found this transformation to be totally implausible.

While a good effort for a first novel, Ms. Graham's effort is still frankly disappointing. Although she lives in Wichita, Kansas, and thus within an arm's reach of the Flint Hills, she fails to present them any more completely or originally than a writer based in, say, Paris, who has read all about them in National Geographic. Her attempts to describe events are also fraught with errors of both fact and logic that too often detract from the story. And finally, the story itself is much too trite. It sounds like the makings of a bad television movie, although modifications by a good screenwriter could perhaps make it much better.

Now, after having said all that, it's still enjoyable in lots of ways, in presenting (with a pleasant manner) attractive characters and the type of story the romantic in all of us likes to hear. Those who liked "Bridges of Madison County" will doubtless find something to like here as well, although it's not as tightly written and crafted as Waller's text.

Final opinion: It deserves a prominent place on the shelf in the Romance section, but not one next to Austen or Bronte.

I can still recall the horror and surprise I felt in the middle crisis of this story. I reread it several times to make sure I had not made a mistake. From that point on the story became more trite though it did have a mystical aspect to it. I felt that the author left the reader dangling in the end with a lot of gaps and holes in the plot. Still it was an interesting read but I wouldn't buy the book- get it at the library. It reminded me quite a bit of The Horse Whisperer but it wasn't of the same caliber.

Firebird is a wonderful read, a romance that strikes so many emotional chords with the reader, involving realistic characters that it's hard not to relate to. There are moments that provoke genuine happiness from the reader("I love you desperately") and ones that are so tragic you find yourself reading them over and over, similar to picking at a scab.

The main fault comes in the form of what Ethan Brown's thinking is in falling in love with Katie Anne once again, but when reading it, I was so pulled in by the beauty of the rest of the novel that it didn't bother me, and even made sense somewhat.

This is definitely worth a read, though for me her later books, Sarah's Window and especially Safe Harbour, are even better.

I found this book enjoyable and very easy to read. I could hardly put it down. The ending was a little slow and hard to follow, but still well worth my time. I am really looking forward to her next book!

To all those who reviewed this book and gave it a (1) star, I just want to say--you people take life too seriously! I don't usually read "romance" novels because they are generally all alike, but this was more than "dribble", as one reader put it. It was an inspiration for the soul that love can survive and grow. Even death cannot snuff it out. Who's to say what transcends after we are gone. All I know is, this book made me feel a LOT of different emotions and it made me look at my life and my love for the people in my life and not to take it all for granted or waste it. Maybe those (1) star readers need to re-read it with a more open mind--and heart.

This book is one of the worst examples of formulaic romanticdrivel I have ever read. Ms Graham cannot write beyond the level ofadolescent romance. She fails to convince with her characters, they are all two-dimensional, flat and banal. They behave in truly unbelievable ways, unquestioning of some of life's fundamentals, such as whether to leave your young child alone in order to go out into the hills and make love with someone you hardly know. Having already lost one child to a dubious nanny and some off-stage villains engaging in some hideous barbarity only hinted at, this behaviour hardly rings true.

The "noble sacrifice" so essential to this kind of sloppy plotting, is evidenced in the continual suffering of the female characters for the greater good of the men. By the way, is it considered normal these days in America to make a video of yourself dancing naked as a wedding present for your bridegroom? Ms. Graham attempted to make this bizarre behaviour sound cute. All of them, from Annette's dead mother onwards have to give their all in order for Ms. Graham to attempt to progress the plot. To call it "gothic" is an insult to writers of real talent of that genre. I skipped the last third of this book in order to arrive swiftly at the end. It was a complete waste of my time. To compare it to "The Horse Whisperer" on the front cover is quite inaccurate. Whilst "The Horse Whisperer" was not great literature, it was a good read, with convincing characters and a story-line you could at least half believe in. None of which applies to "The Firebird"

I turned back to the Kirkus review and other reviews to find out why in the world I wanted to read this book; I still can't imagine why, since I find Waller's "Bridges of Madison County" so objectionable, and this reminds me of that genre. The author -- who might be a fine writer -- has used every trite plot twist, including the "new" popularity of the great beyond, to reach a happy ending that didn't seem happy to me. Maybe her next book will have more substance; let's hope so.