Scott Simon (1) (1952–)

[Pretty Birds] is both a disturbing and funny novel. Irena Zaric is 17-year-old Muslim high school student whose life, and those of her family, neighbors, and friends, is completely changed when civil war erupts in her country. When the fighting begins it is so intense in their neighborhood that Irena’s parents decide that they must move across the river to her grandmother’s house. In trying to do so they are attacked by Serbian fighters who rape and beat the family and murder a show more neighbor. Her mother’s rage at their actions is so great that she physically and verbally assaults the soldiers. When the family reaches their grandmother’s apartment it’s to find that the grandmother and one of her neighbors were both victims of a sniper. With only the clothes on their backs, the Zaric’s and one of her grandmother’s friends, Aleksandra, plunder for food and clothing the apartments of those who have died or left.
Life for the Zaric’s becomes daily survival and boredom. No electricity, no water, no food, only what they can scrounge. When relief parcels begin the Zaric’s must weigh the necessity of getting food and water against the possibility of being shot or bombed while standing in line (as one of Irena’s friends was).
The title of the book comes from the name of the Zaric’s parrot, Pretty Bird, which has the talent for imitating the sounds of mechanical objects (washing machine, coffeemaker, telephone, etc.). When bird seed is no longer available and Pretty Bird is dying from starvation because she won’t eat other food, Irena braves the streets to go to the vet in the hopes that she has seed. Later Irena works with the vet in trying to alleviate the suffering of the city’s animals, including those at the zoo.
Later while in line for water, Irena is approached by Miroslav Tedic, a former assistant principal of a rival school, now attached to the Home Ministry. He suggests to her that with her athleticism she could help her country. He introduces her to a group of other young people, all of whom he has given the names of Hollywood stars. He renames Irena to Ingrid. She is trained as a sniper and paid in American cigarettes and beer. Her parents turn a blind eye to her strange hours and to the chances she takes when trying to reconnect with a school friend living on the other side.
Simon, who spent a great deal of time in Serbia as a correspondent for NPR, does a masterful job of showing the day-to-day situation for the inhabitants of Sarajevo. His characters have nothing nice to say about the U.N. soldiers who are sent into the carnage, but are allowed to do nothing but watch. This was a book filled with pathos and black comedy and will, I’m sure, live in my heart for a long time. show less

I never really understood what caused or influenced the outbreak of the Serbian-Bosnian war and [Pretty Birds] by Scott Simon doesn’t really delve into these issues either. Instead it tells the harrowingly haunting story of Irena Zaric a seventeen year old school-girl interested in pop music, boys and being the star of her basketball team whose world changes overnight as she and her family are forced to flee their home, live on starvation rations, learn to duck bullets and live in a new show more world, one of horror and violence. “Ethnic Cleansing” is a terrible, dirty phrase, yet one I fear the world is still hearing about from many different quarters.

Irena’s world quickly develops into one where she, her family and her friends are classified according to their ethnic background. Irena’s best friend, Amela, is classified as a Serb. Irena and her family are considered to be Muslim, although their background is truly mixed. Irena is slowly drawn into the war until she finds herself being trained as a sniper. Many young girls on both sides were trained as snipers thereby freeing the young men to join the front lines of their respective armies.

Scott Simon is a journalist and tells this story in a straight forward, unemotional way. Yet through the development of his characters, great emotion is shown and felt. Irena’s parents, a pair of grown up hippies whose world has crumbled, are wonderful characters, showing both dignity and humor in facing their situation. One scene comes to mind that was filled with humor, dismay and grace was an evening meal prepared by Irena’s mother that included both grass cuttings and chopped up snails, along with their U.N. provided macaroni. As they chew on this stew, no complaints are made, instead they all start making animal sounds, mooing like a cow or bleating like a goat. When one member pulls a chewy piece of macaroni from their mouths and discovers it is really a worm, they simply get on with their meal.

I was glued to the pages of this book finding it gripping, emotional, painful, and yes, at times even funny. Like a small time capsule one minute I am reading about Irena’s joy in her Air Jordans and Espirt jeans, or her crush on Johnny Depp, suddenly something will happen to throw me back into the horror that the beautiful town of Sarajevo became in the early nineties. This was a truly moving read. show less

This was a perfect audio book for Mother's Day month. Scott Simon reads his own account of his mother Patricia's last days in his wry, soothing, NPR voice. Such a treat! Pat, 84, went into the hospital for a blood test and never left. This sounds dramatic, but she had already battled lung cancer, had part of a lung removed and thought she was in the all-clear. She just hadn't been feeling well lately and wanted some answers. She never got them officially from her doctors, but the reality was show more her body giving up. I lost track of time -- but I think it was about a 2 week span that Scott sat vigil at her bedside, telling stories, jokes, reminiscing, singing songs. What a dedicated and touching relationship. Pat was by no means a "saint" -- by the accounts included here, she would be described as "colorful" euphemistically. Wife to 3 husbands, paramour of many more, but a completely dedicated mother as she raised Scott without a husband in his most formative years. She held fascinating jobs -- showgirl, shopgirl, all in the spirit of the greatest generation and the Chicago references are fun and fitting. What comes through most is the lessons she taught her son: how to take life (and death) on your own terms, valuing the people around you (including all her nurses and doctors), finding the joy in the hard times, and sticking together. He intersperses tweets he shared from the hospital room in 2013 -- which alone give an idea of what a special woman Pat was and what a special relationship they shared. I don't know if the paper copy contains pictures, but Simon painted them vividly in his description. It was an honor to be a third party witness to the situation and to receive the story Simon wanted to tell. show less

I am a long-time fan of Scott Simon from NPR, and a longer-time fan of the Cubs. I thoroughly enjoyed and related to this book. Unlike Simon, I did not grow up in Chicago, I was one of the cadre of devoted out-of-state fans who learned to love the Cubs because they were always on WGN. Like Simon, however, I lived and died by the box scores, and started every season saying, "This year is our year!" — despite the Cubs propensity to mathematically eliminate themselves from the playoffs by show more mid-August.
It was easy in 2016 to be a Cubs fan, the season was magical. But for those of us who bled Cubbie Blue in the 1909-2015 era, Simon captures what it was like to be one of us. I won't lie, this book had me in tears more than once remembering the feelings of bygone players, close-but-not-quite seasons and that amazing season, the parade, the signs and messages to Cubs-fans-past who didn't live to see the day and President Obama greeting the team at the White House as his last public event in office.

If you're like me and have spent your life waiting and hoping and finally got to see it really happen, you will enjoy this book. It's well-written, personal, touching and heartfelt. show less