The Book of Dead Birds

Ms. Brandeis, the author of the inspirational nonfiction book for writers, Fruitflesh, scores again with this uncommonly lovely and graceful story about Ava Sing Lo, a San Diego native who learns to save birds rather than killing them, and her mother, Helen, who grew up in Korea where she was used as a prostitute on a U.S. army base. There is redemption here that does not come easy, making it all the more worthwhile when it at last arrives.

This first novel is more than just a good story. It's about a recent ecological tragedy at the Salton Sea in southern California where more than 14,000 endangered brown pelicans died. The heroine of the book, 25-year old Ava, volunteers to help out and while there goes through her kind of maturation. She's half black, half Korean, and has been brought up by her rather quirky Korean single mother who was once a prostitute in Korea catering to black soldiers. Her mother has always kept birds, and Ava has always had the misfortune to accidentally kill them. Her mother keeps the bird feathers in a large scrapbook and documents all of Ava's bird-killing misdeeds. It is only when Ava takes the step to drive the few hours to Salton Sea, that she finally gets to understand her mother, her background, and the fascinating and sorrow-filled world of the dying birds. It's all captured well, in well-crafted words, and there's even a bit of Korean folklore. Ava is a sympathetic character who was easy to identify with. And, as the mother's story gradually unfolded, I was filled with horror as well as a new kind of understanding for the world of young women who are lured into the nightmare world of servicing men.I was heartened to see Ava finally emerge from the shadow world of her history and find meaning in her life as well as love. Mostly, though, I was glad to see her working side by side with her mother to help rescue birds. In just 245 pages, the author has managed to do a lot. No wonder this book has won the 2003 Bellwether prize for fiction has been lauded by such notables as Toni Morrison and Barbara Kingsolver.I found the book wonderful. And definitely recommend it. I'm also looking forward to whatever Ms. Brandeis writes next. She is clearly at the beginning of a long a distinguished career.

The Book of Dead Birds sucked me in and didn't let me go until I'd devoured it from cover to cover. This novel is like a rare gem in a treasure chest - unique, beautiful, mesmerizing. Gayle Brandeis is a definite new talented author.Ava Sing Lo has had freak accidents involving the death of birds since she was a little girl. In order to find peace with herself and hoping to win her mother's approval, she moves from San Diego to Salton Sea to help alleviate the epidemic of dead birds in that area. What transpires is a lyrical, slow-paced tale of a young woman's journey to self-discovery. She, too, needs to alleviate herself. Her Korean mother's painful past has haunted her throughout the years. The unraveling of her mother's struggles is both disarming and poignant. There's a great deal of symbolism throughout the novel. As mentioned earlier, The Book of Dead Birds enthralled me from beginning to end. It is a literary force to be reckoned with. Gayle Brandeis is a wonderful new voice that shall be heard for years to come. The book jacket states that this novel won the Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for addressing various social problems. The aforementioned prize is well deserved. I highly recommend this brilliant and beautiful novel...

Gayle Brandeis's The Book of Dead Birds has a powerful simplicity unexpected in a first novel. It is the story of Ava Sing Lo, a young woman with a masters in communications who can barely talk to her mother, Helen. All her life, Ava has inadvertently killed Helen's pet birds. When a horrific bird die-off hits the Salton Sea, Ava is compelled to volunteer to help save the birds, to somehow make up for the past.The scenes at the Salton Sea are rendered so truly, you can smell the air and feel the crunch of the hard shore. Brandeis, who has written about the importance of sensuality in her book Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write, skillfully puts the reader in the triple-digit heat of the stinking bird kill or the cool waters of a lagoon diving for abalone in Korea.But the author is tricky. The places and characters in this fierce novel are deceptively exotic. The story is actually a familiar one, exceptionally well told, of the rage between parent and child when life has been so much less than good. Finally, with all its images of death, The Book of Dead Birds is really about rebirth, about taking one more chance, believing that happiness is possible, and deciding to go get it.

Brandeis' book is astonishing. A mother who loves birds--a daughter who inadvertently kills them. Woven in is the heartbreaking story of how the mother, a Korean woman forced into prostitution, thinks she's found redemption right up until the baby is born. By the end of this lustrous book, both mother and daughter have begun to make their own peace with their own lives--and with each others. Lyrically written and just beautifully, beautifully told. Stunning in its power.