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A review by karieh13
Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline
3.0
It’s difficult for me to enjoy a book in which there is not one character that I can identify with, or like, or even love to dislike. “Bird in Hand” is one of these types of books. The four main characters: Charlie, Claire, Ben and Alison are four people who hold almost no interest for me. Two come across the page as incredibly self centered and self absorbed and two almost seem so weak as to be pitied.
I thought this book would be a realistic portrait of the difficulties of marriage, especially when a major life event occurs, in this case, a tragic accident. And there are teasers that the book will be that way.
“A marriage hinges on these moments. Does she answer or does she lie still? All Alison could feel was an overwhelming dread. She did not want to know what he had to say. She remained quiet; the moment passed, and she drifted into sleep.”
But instead, the accident almost becomes a side note as we learn how unhappy these four people are with the lives they have chosen. Well, at least two of them have chosen, the other two end up seeming a bit like pawns as friendships and marriages are established.
“And as he sat in the dank common room, chatting with the Argentinean, feeling the vibration against the ceiling, he understood that the only way they might continue like this, together, was to make this group of three a four.”
This is how Charlie, enamored of the new couple he’s met (Claire and Ben) decides that he should get partner up – with whom remains to be seen. In college, Claire picks Ben to marry, causing Charlie to pick someone, who turns out to be Alison, to marry so that they can be a foursome. Claire and Charlie make the choices, Ben and Alison accept those choices.
The tragic incident at the beginning of this book really sums up the whole theme. Alison is involved in a car accident that isn’t really her fault. The other people involved made bad choices and the accident occurred because Alison didn’t get out of the way. Her marriage is much like that – she chooses very little in her life, she just happens to be in the right/wrong place at the right time and then events take place with her in them.
“It was real life, the way things should be, and even as it was happening it felt to Alison like a distant memory, the moment already slipping into the past.”
I would agree with the book jacket on my copy that author Christina Baker Kline has explored how people tell the stories of their lives and what those stories reveal about who they are. I think the writing of “Bird in Hand” was well done and the characters are well drawn – the drawings just happen to be of people that I wouldn’t care to spend much time with.
I thought this book would be a realistic portrait of the difficulties of marriage, especially when a major life event occurs, in this case, a tragic accident. And there are teasers that the book will be that way.
“A marriage hinges on these moments. Does she answer or does she lie still? All Alison could feel was an overwhelming dread. She did not want to know what he had to say. She remained quiet; the moment passed, and she drifted into sleep.”
But instead, the accident almost becomes a side note as we learn how unhappy these four people are with the lives they have chosen. Well, at least two of them have chosen, the other two end up seeming a bit like pawns as friendships and marriages are established.
“And as he sat in the dank common room, chatting with the Argentinean, feeling the vibration against the ceiling, he understood that the only way they might continue like this, together, was to make this group of three a four.”
This is how Charlie, enamored of the new couple he’s met (Claire and Ben) decides that he should get partner up – with whom remains to be seen. In college, Claire picks Ben to marry, causing Charlie to pick someone, who turns out to be Alison, to marry so that they can be a foursome. Claire and Charlie make the choices, Ben and Alison accept those choices.
The tragic incident at the beginning of this book really sums up the whole theme. Alison is involved in a car accident that isn’t really her fault. The other people involved made bad choices and the accident occurred because Alison didn’t get out of the way. Her marriage is much like that – she chooses very little in her life, she just happens to be in the right/wrong place at the right time and then events take place with her in them.
“It was real life, the way things should be, and even as it was happening it felt to Alison like a distant memory, the moment already slipping into the past.”
I would agree with the book jacket on my copy that author Christina Baker Kline has explored how people tell the stories of their lives and what those stories reveal about who they are. I think the writing of “Bird in Hand” was well done and the characters are well drawn – the drawings just happen to be of people that I wouldn’t care to spend much time with.