I haven’t read much fiction in the last fifteen-plus years. It’s been a long time since a novel has been well-written and interesting enough to hold my attention beyond the first few pages, so I rarely indulge these days.
So, to date, I’d only read Ms. Maynard’s memoirs: first, At Home in The World, and then years later, The Best of Us. I adored both and have re-read them many times throughout the years, my perspective changing each time according to age and maturity. First, as a single young graduate student, then as a young professional woman, and eventually as married and a mother myself.
It's interesting to me now that I never delved into Ms. Maynard’s fiction. In her memoirs, I find her word choice consistently lyrical, yet clear and precise; her voice relatable, even as she relates situations I have never found myself in and describes people I have never met. Her breezy, casual style belies the fact that she is a skilled word-painter, able to use the English language to create incredibly detailed landscapes and portraits for her Dear Reader.
The Almighty Facebook Algorithm recently suggested her to me as a person to follow and since I love her memoirs, I dutifully complied. When she posted about The Bird Hotel a few days after its publication, I read the summary and will humbly admit that I felt a twinge of disappointment: the story was, of course, fiction. And, superficially, at least, it seemed based on a tired old trope: young woman flees a tragic past with nothing, starts a new life in a new country and finds herself in the process. But apparently a ‘tired old trope’ is exactly what I needed, and I was drawn in just enough by my love of Ms. Maynard’s engaging writing to download the sample.
The story opens dramatically, with Irene, the protagonist, making a potentially fatal decision. We are silent and helpless witnesses as we follow her while she makes her preparations. Irene’s narration is tense, terse almost, and matter of fact; yet the intensity of the emotional pain she radiates is overwhelmingly evident. She quickly reveals that she’s been brought to this state by something terrible and tragic involving her husband and young son, but initially that’s all we know.
Suddenly, as she ponders her decision, something shifts: “Even though the place in which I now found myself was terrible, some small part of me couldn’t let go of the world.”
And with that line, I was hooked. What was this tragedy that brought her here? Why couldn’t she let go? What was going to happen to her now? How on earth was the story going to progress when she had nothing? I *needed* to know more.
I won’t go into more details since spoilers abound in the reviews, but one of the things I loved about this story besides Ms. Maynard’s masterful use of language was the intertwining array of character narratives and how they wove together to create the layers of the story. Yes, it gets spider-webby and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. Some are treated with a fair amount of exposition and development throughout the story. Some characters have only a few, but critical, expository details and smaller, but key, roles. Pay attention to those seemingly “minor” characters and you will be amply rewarded.
To me, one of the most interesting aspects of these individual journeys and how they interweave is that they don’t feel contrived. The details make the relationships and their connections seem real, the explanations seem plausible even in their implausibility. The pacing of the broad narrative was that of a nice lope. I didn’t feel as though I was being bogged down by backstory or pulled along too fast to keep track of details that needed to be recalled later as the chapters progressed. Things seemed to happen where and when they should in the narrative.
Caveat: With some dedicated strategizing of my free time, I managed to finish the entire book in about a day. Especially if you have short term memory issues like me, this may not be a novel you can easily set down and pick up weeks later and expect to immediately re-immerse yourself, so my recommendation is to set aside a goodish chunk of time in which to enjoy it if you can.
Overall, it was everything I want in a novel and the most enjoyable one I’ve read in a very long time: it’s well-written, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Interestingly, according to the author, the novel’s being set in a fictional Central American country but told from an American expat point of view was inflammatory enough to put publishers off initially. But the story felt authentic for what it was. The fact that Ms. Maynard has owned property in Guatemala for many years only served to underpin the verisimilitude of the setting and the narrative for me. Geopolitical and social implications aside, the story felt authentic.
And that authenticity is why The Bird Hotel lives up to Ms. Maynard’s assertion in the introduction that in its essence, it’s really a story about the power of love. All different types of love: passionate, platonic, fleeting, family, motherly, thwarted, unconditional, obsessive, unrequited, lost, and found…. and lost again… and found! This novel is a fun and imaginative testament to the ability of love to accomplish miraculous things as it ebbs and flows through our human experience.
The Bird Hotel: A Novel
4.5 | 4,123 ratings
Price: 21.83
Last update: 12-01-2024
About this item
Top reviews from the United States
drterileigh
A Well-Written, Thought-Provoking, and Entertaining Read
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2023
drterileigh
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2023
So, to date, I’d only read Ms. Maynard’s memoirs: first, At Home in The World, and then years later, The Best of Us. I adored both and have re-read them many times throughout the years, my perspective changing each time according to age and maturity. First, as a single young graduate student, then as a young professional woman, and eventually as married and a mother myself.
It's interesting to me now that I never delved into Ms. Maynard’s fiction. In her memoirs, I find her word choice consistently lyrical, yet clear and precise; her voice relatable, even as she relates situations I have never found myself in and describes people I have never met. Her breezy, casual style belies the fact that she is a skilled word-painter, able to use the English language to create incredibly detailed landscapes and portraits for her Dear Reader.
The Almighty Facebook Algorithm recently suggested her to me as a person to follow and since I love her memoirs, I dutifully complied. When she posted about The Bird Hotel a few days after its publication, I read the summary and will humbly admit that I felt a twinge of disappointment: the story was, of course, fiction. And, superficially, at least, it seemed based on a tired old trope: young woman flees a tragic past with nothing, starts a new life in a new country and finds herself in the process. But apparently a ‘tired old trope’ is exactly what I needed, and I was drawn in just enough by my love of Ms. Maynard’s engaging writing to download the sample.
The story opens dramatically, with Irene, the protagonist, making a potentially fatal decision. We are silent and helpless witnesses as we follow her while she makes her preparations. Irene’s narration is tense, terse almost, and matter of fact; yet the intensity of the emotional pain she radiates is overwhelmingly evident. She quickly reveals that she’s been brought to this state by something terrible and tragic involving her husband and young son, but initially that’s all we know.
Suddenly, as she ponders her decision, something shifts: “Even though the place in which I now found myself was terrible, some small part of me couldn’t let go of the world.”
And with that line, I was hooked. What was this tragedy that brought her here? Why couldn’t she let go? What was going to happen to her now? How on earth was the story going to progress when she had nothing? I *needed* to know more.
I won’t go into more details since spoilers abound in the reviews, but one of the things I loved about this story besides Ms. Maynard’s masterful use of language was the intertwining array of character narratives and how they wove together to create the layers of the story. Yes, it gets spider-webby and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. Some are treated with a fair amount of exposition and development throughout the story. Some characters have only a few, but critical, expository details and smaller, but key, roles. Pay attention to those seemingly “minor” characters and you will be amply rewarded.
To me, one of the most interesting aspects of these individual journeys and how they interweave is that they don’t feel contrived. The details make the relationships and their connections seem real, the explanations seem plausible even in their implausibility. The pacing of the broad narrative was that of a nice lope. I didn’t feel as though I was being bogged down by backstory or pulled along too fast to keep track of details that needed to be recalled later as the chapters progressed. Things seemed to happen where and when they should in the narrative.
Caveat: With some dedicated strategizing of my free time, I managed to finish the entire book in about a day. Especially if you have short term memory issues like me, this may not be a novel you can easily set down and pick up weeks later and expect to immediately re-immerse yourself, so my recommendation is to set aside a goodish chunk of time in which to enjoy it if you can.
Overall, it was everything I want in a novel and the most enjoyable one I’ve read in a very long time: it’s well-written, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Interestingly, according to the author, the novel’s being set in a fictional Central American country but told from an American expat point of view was inflammatory enough to put publishers off initially. But the story felt authentic for what it was. The fact that Ms. Maynard has owned property in Guatemala for many years only served to underpin the verisimilitude of the setting and the narrative for me. Geopolitical and social implications aside, the story felt authentic.
And that authenticity is why The Bird Hotel lives up to Ms. Maynard’s assertion in the introduction that in its essence, it’s really a story about the power of love. All different types of love: passionate, platonic, fleeting, family, motherly, thwarted, unconditional, obsessive, unrequited, lost, and found…. and lost again… and found! This novel is a fun and imaginative testament to the ability of love to accomplish miraculous things as it ebbs and flows through our human experience.
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Doc 51
A little disappointed.
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2024Mac
Wide ranging
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2024LoneStarBroker
Excellent book
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2024Dr. Roxanne Yahner, DACM, L.Ac., M.A.
Delightful read
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2024Julie
Hoorah for a great story, but more so, for bucking lame gatekeeping in publishing these days
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2024Joan S.
Fate or Good choices?
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2024