Birdy (original 1978; edition 1992)

I write the following in 1993:
On rereading what do I get from this book? I found the part where Birdy gets so involved with Perta and his dream relationship rather tedious. It showed his involvement and perhaps explains his later delusion about flying away from the Japanese bayonetting all the sick soldiers but I did find it a bit much. Anyway it can't just be explained away as it has a surrealistic tone when the events of the dream no longer follow the events of the day but precede them. The cat gets Perta in the dream and so it happens the next day - just one example. What are we meant to understand by that? Is it that extra something that Birdy is going to use to help him do more than just get by? Is it connected to his idea, equally impossible, of Weiss having that supple young body underneath his psychiatric mask? It's not just to do with optimism and Birdy finally abandons his closeness to the birds. Perhaps Wharton just overstepped the mark?

Still, what did I like? I like the parallels. Alphonso the bird helping Birdie as the two boys do in their own lives. Even the way they meet is the same - Al initially being aggressive towards Birdy and then accepting as it is with the birds - and then Al helping Birdie to become a better mother and nest builder just as boy Al helps Birdy find his feet so to speak. I like the way both Birdy and Al have come up against the harshness of the world and managed to face it again, even if along the way, the book shows how sad life is - several quotable parts for this. I like the humour tinged with meaning - Birdy's comments on girls, for example. I also like the way Al's problem and character gradually emerge with him becoming a more self-aware person. Life is fraught with harshness, says the book, but the closeness of Al and Birdy so actively helping each other even when they're so dissimilar is warming.

I like the ending, with some cautious optimism in it. I like the parallels between Al's dad and Birdy's mother - both so unpleasant (Al's dad with his selling the car and the beatings and the mother with her parsimonious and pusilllanimous attitude towards life) but both turning out to care for their sons, Birdy's mother begging Al to go and help him (having disapproved of Al) while Al's father shows he cares when he visits his son in hospital.

What's it about? Coming to terms with yourself and life and making the most of it. Showing how full the world is of those trying to make life difficult for you (though some of this may be paranoia from Al). Showing that insanity isn't so much Birdy's obsession with birds but more the stupid behaviour of others trying to make life difficult. ( )

The story is that of two men who have known each other since childhood, both of whom are locked up in a military hospital. The book goes back and forth between present day and the past. The past mostly involved one of the boy's obsession with breeding canaries and learning how to fly. This is the kind of book with a plot I don't even want to discuss because if you knew what it was about you'd likely have no interest in it. 10 pages of detailed descriptions of tending to canary breeding? It should be dull but it isn't. It's fascinating, and engaging, and everything an exceptional book should be. This is definitely a very unique book, but one that manages to be unique without the use of gimmicks or manipulation. The narrative voice reminded me very much of John Irving, and overall it was a surprisingly exceptional read. ( )

I saw the movie first and enjoyed it so I thought this would be a good read and it is. I like to read about men's friendships where they have real feelings of love for each other. Sorare because I think there's almost a homophobia about the topic. ( )

The late William Wharton was popular in Poland, and my Polish friend has very strongly recommended the book for years. "Birdy" includes an extremely detailed account of raising canaries, a vivid portrayal of a World War II battle scene late in the book, and a terrific ending. The character Birdy is vividly wrought and as memorable as Ignatius in "The Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. ( )

Fiction. On the literal level, this is about a boy who raises birds and who wants to fly. But the boy's yearning for birdiness, and all that comes to mean to him, goes far far beyond a "mere" obsession and enters the realm of the truly, deeply, movingly mad.