Emme Lund

CA: homophobia, homophobic language, homophobic violence, suicidal ideation, mild depictions of teenage sex and alcohol and drug use

A few days after he was born, Owen Tanner developed a hole in his chest, and in the hole is a bird. Her name is Gail. Owen's mom is terrified of what the "Army of Acronyms" (doctors, social workers, and so on) will do to Owen if they discover that Owen has a bird in his chest, so she tells Owen that no one must ever know. Thus begins Owen's life of hiding who he show more is to stay safe. Over time he discovers things about the world and about himself. He makes friends. He falls in love. But he plans, always, to leave home at seventeen and jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. He does not do that, and seeing him get to that point, to where he fully embraces the bird in his chest, and does not hide who he is, and loves the boy he loves, and uses his voice was a delight. This is a hard book, sometimes, but it is never grim. The writing is lovely. The characters are real but also somehow just slightly hazy. It felt affirming. I loved it. I recommend it. I hope we see much more from Lund. show less

A beautifully imaginative debut novel from Emme Lund.

Owen Tanner is the boy of the title, a boy living with a slightly crazy single mother who is trying to protect him from a world who would use him to their own ends (reminds me of the film 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'). After years of suffocation housebound with no other company but his little bird for most of the time, inevitably Owen wants to experience the outside world. There is wonder and danger, complexity, and ultimately friendship show more and love.

A story of being othered, disappeared in order to remain safe, and finding the strength to be one's self.

I'll definitely be looking for Lund's next book. show less

The Boy With a Bird In His Chest is an achingly beautiful modern fantasy tale full of creative allegory, vibrant imagery, and young love.

I wasn’t ready for this book. I’d read the reviews, most of which gushed over how emotionally impactful the story was for them. But I’m a jaded adult who couldn’t possibly be swayed by a young adult tale, right? Yet Lund’s character-driven tale got me in the feels right from the start. And it still haunts me now, hours after I finished it. I say show more character-driven because this is a character study shared in brief vignettes, some subtle as a whisper, inspiring as the green flash at sunset, or mysterious as the whisper of wind through a copse of trees. Readers looking for long chapters and clear plot threads should adjust their expectations accordingly.

Lund captured the environments of her vignettes with tantalizing minimalism, evoking breathtaking scenery using careful phrasing and watercolor imagery. Lund similarly captured the kaleidoscopic inner thoughts of Owen, the teenage main character, as he navigates the already tumultuous waters of being a queer teenager from a broken home who also happens to have a small bird named Gail living in a hole in his chest. Gail is at once allegory, turning Owen into the Terror he feels growing up gay in small-town America, and chorus, echoing Owen’s thoughts and giving voice to his budding intuition and sense that the world is somehow wrong.

Despite knowing most of this already going in, I didn’t expect the quiet masterpiece that I found on these pages.

The story contains mild descriptions of violence, teenage drug use, masturbation, and teenage sex. show less

The Boy with a Bird in His Chest is an irresistably warmhearted ode to the many kinds of fierce, forgiving loves we may find through happy accident when we both most need and are least able to accept or believe in them. In Emme Lund's tender narrative of queer coming of age, the necessity of keeping life-or-death secrets clashes with the urgency of being seen, understood, and valued despite--and even because of--difference. This is a gentle story, despite the horrors its characters live in show more fear of and occasionally taste, and its defiant gentleness strengthens the believable nature of its ultimately hopeful conclusions.

I will likely recommend this novel to many people, but I would particularly recommend it to anyone who knows from the inside out what it's like to grow up as a queer, weird, music-loving outcast in a small-town or rural setting.

I received a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. show less