Customer Reviews

What Begins with Bird: Fictions

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Noy Holland's second collection of short fiction shows a stronger level of character empathy, revealing characters who are deeply troubled and looking for solutions that may not always be permanent but will allow them to survive through to the ends of their stories. Whether they are barren women looking to connect with a child, any child, or a first-timer in front of a crowd revealing a little too much about himself in the process of introducing a speaker, Noy Holland's characters in this book are thick, meaty and substantive. Anorexics and belligerent veterans in wheelchairs are both touching characters in the end, who act out in ways true to their natures (or the natures they have been handed).

While Noy Holland's writing style gets a little too much in the way in selections like the title piece, her writing at its best moments is very direct to her characters, enclosing you under a tent that's really just a sheet propped up by a table in your living room. The tones are warm and inviting, and though the characters are a little scary, Noy settles them down enough to let you watch them without wanting to run away. But sometimes the quietest characters are the ones who will shock you the most, so be on guard.