Title: Other Birds

Author: Sarah Addison Allen

Rating: 4.6/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            Well, here we are in fall, finally. I am hoping that by the time this post comes out that it’s not like 90 degrees outside, that at this point is the goal. 

            Alright, there might be spoilers, I don’t know yet. I never really do as I start these posts whether or not there is going to be spoilers for the novel. I try not to, but in the course of a review it might happen. 

            I read this book in one sitting, I didn’t mean to. Seriously, I didn’t mean to read it all in an afternoon but it was a quick read. It took a minute for me to get into and then when I was into it, I couldn’t put it down. 

            This is book 90 of the year for me which is crazy because I didn’t think I would get anywhere close to that number. 

            So, this book shifts between characters pretty frequently and that worked in this novel, in some it just doesn’t, but in this one it made sense because you are seeing the lives of the people who live in the Dellawisp condos and I love the quirky cast of characters in this novel. You meet Zoey first, who is moving across country, well halfway for school and because her father doesn’t want to be a part of her life. Everyone knows how much I love the found family trope, everyone by now should. 

            There is a death in the building and it’s Zoey and Charlotte cleaning out the apartment, it’s building relationships between the residents and bringing up old issues and secrets. It’s half a ghost story too, but in the best way. I would say more guardian angels rather than ghosts. Frasier, the caretaker, can see them, but they are just there at the fringes and that was such a fun concept. 

            Seriously, the relationship building in this novel was amazing, that made this novel so fun and so worth the read because it felt real, it felt like the natural progression of how you find people who make you whole. 

            Mallow Island seems like a fun place and I would have liked to have seen more interaction with it, but I understood why most everything happened at the condo complex. I liked the bird aspect throughout and the invisible bird that followed Zoey around, it took me most of the book to figure that out, but I loved that symbolism. 

            There are so many characters mentioned that were in the fabric of the main cast’s lives that you never see in person and I thought that added so much to the story as a whole. One decision, one person can make such a difference in your life and that’s true in reality as well. 

            I would for sure recommend this one, it’s an easy and quick read that holds a lot of meaning through its pages. The shifting perspectives and the chapters of the reality and the ghost stories was done so well and the added in ghost stories gave so much more to the story than at face value. 

            I really enjoyed this one, I really did and I would suggest it if you like found family, a bit of quirk, and some magical realism, a touch of drama and intrigue as well. There was a moment that this book went from zero to sixty in about seven seconds and then it hit its conclusion pretty fast as well, but again, that worked here. 

            If you want to see what else I have read this year, you totally can with the rest of my Book of the Month posts for January, February, March, April, May, June, July, and August.

            I will be back later in the week with another post, but until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy.

            -MJ