October 2016 Review
Year of the SongBird
An emotional reading experience.
Year of the Songbird was suggested to me, and after reading the blurb, I thought that book was something I usually would be interested in reading. Unfortunately, my initial reaction after reading the first chapter was to give up. The language used is very advanced, and this might scare off some readers before they even get into the gut of the story. It is worth struggling through those first few chapters. Lucky the story moves forward, and the language is easier to deal with once more diverse characters were introduced. I have to say my favourite part of the novel was the interconnectivity between characters. Relationships formed during the early chapters cause reactions when new characters are introduced later. Meeting new characters and for their presence to mean more due to an early moment makes it fun for
the reader. It is an intricate process and done well.
I did feel the details were at the perfect pace to give a full picture. Without exacting details acts of violence and love were fully exposed and explored without it being distracting or leaving me feeling distraught.
Unfortunately the list of things I did not like far outweighed the enjoyment.
Year of the Songbird is very relevant for our political climate and could be seen by some as a warning. The author clearly has some adamant opinions regarding a hypothetical future where America has fallen after a war with the Islamic State. Throughout the book, different characters fill in the blanks of the steps before the war, the hostile takeover, and the eventual end of freedom as we know it. Through these stories, we get to see exactly how they remember these events accumulating over time and their final effects. I openly admit that due to the biased opinions expressed by certain characters, that there were passages in this book that were hard for me to read. I kept waiting for a strong counter-argument to help even out the hatred towards Muslims and Mexicans, but it never appeared.
The author needs to understand that physical and sexual abuse are not gender exclusive. If a woman is threatened in this book, it is immediately sexual. Rape is mentioned several times, and the main character herself is forced to it by other characters, but this is never spoken about being used against a man. Characters discuss past experiences where they witnessed the rape of women close to them, but no male character says they were raped. Men are routinely beaten by others, and women get into physical fights, but it appears the author believes only a woman can be threatened sexually.
Finally, the protagonist is blind, and there are a few scenes where she does describe actions that she couldn't possibly see. This adds to our feelings of the main character not being reliable. A slight inconvenience to the reader, but when you add this to the tendency of the author skipping meaningful discussions and replacing them with a quick sentence, it is worth mentioning. An example of this would be "I walked into the house, we had an argument, and I left." I would have preferred to hear the argument. It felt to me that the author was watching their word count instead of focusing on the drama.
Overall, the author clearly knows how to write a book. The flow of the story is textbook quality. Their use of English can be a little intimidating in the beginning, but since the languages are used as character traits, it is easily forgivable. The pacing of drama, reconciliation, and finally closure is good, and the overall plot is something that others may respond to in a good way. However, the ending of the novel was painful to witness - and not in a good way. Madeline does not grow throughout this novel. She reaches no further understanding and remains as selfish as she seemed at the beginning of the book. I felt cheated by the ending and if she was a real person, punching her in the face might make me feel better (although she would probably kick my butt after my first attempt)