Owl In Love

There was a fanfic author who wrote a cannibalistic mermaid story and described it as "intentionally dumb garbage." I didn't read the fic. I haven't read any fic in awhile. But I remembered the phrase "intentionally dumb garbage". Right before I read this book, I thought of that phrase for no reason. Except twenty-five pages into the book, I considered this book to be that. I think the author giggled to herself, wanted to write a book with various tropes, and had this published. I first read this book when I was a teenager and heavy into reading piles of books that had teacher-student relationships. I wondered what I'd think of it as an adult and yeah, noted in the review previously. I remember taking it seriously as a teenager while show more simultaneously being terribly confused.

Were-owls. Okay. I took little notice of were-animals in romance novels until I was an adult. I took it for granted growing up that werewolf stories were common, especially romances. Twenty years later, it seems like were-animal stories are everywhere. I like that the cover model is not smiling. Fits the character super well. The narrator-protagonist is named Owl because the author wasn't going for subtlety here. Did the parents know she would be a were-owl when they picked the name? Best left unanswered, since logic would dissolve the world-building. Owls mate for life, the young teenager insists. So why does she fall in love with a boy three quarters of the way through the book, after she's spazzed out hardcore over her thirty-four-year-old English teacher since he's the plot of the book? Even with how fucking weird this book is, that was a jarring plot twist. Not that it wasn't welcome. Get with someone your own age and who's not in a position of authority over you.

Why are the parents okay with and encouraging the crush? Why do they firmly believe a thirty-four-year-old man is their daughter's soulmate? Why do they constantly, unquestioningly agree with everything their child does? Does the child go to a physician or a veterinarian when she's sick? What shows up on her medical tests? Can she get vaccines? Do her parents have bird lung disease? Shouldn't they have to have an exotic pet license? Why don't they teach her boundaries or tips on how to make friends? She would ignore that, but I would have appreciated the effort. They--don't even really seem to raise her, really. They just go along with whatever. She's pretentious and insufferable. She's almost antagonistic towards girls who have tried to be her friend. One manages to get through to her, and she's just so disdainful in her head. She barely says a word normally, and has the powers of Epic Stare Down To Get Her Way. She considers herself above humans. She makes no effort to blend in. The identity struggle that accompanies were-animals in every media ever, is much needed here but is largely absent. It's a big part of these stories, and I wanted to read about her going through it. She barely does, and acts like she has it already figured out. Then a boy her own age shows up and things shift a little.

She transfers the exact feelings and ways of socializing that she had towards her teacher, onto this fellow were-owl within a few pages. It was weird and unconvincing. So's the book's end. I'm glad the teacher never really knew that his student was stalking him nightly and obsessed with him. Even with those elements, this story was super boring. I was relieved when it ended.
I'm glad I read it again, even though I disliked it now. show less

I bought Owl in Love by Patrice Kindl on a complete whim. It turns out to be the author's debut novel. In it, Owl Tycho, an owl "by name and by nature" spends her days as a teenage girl and her evenings as a barn owl (Tyto alba).

Her name is so similar to what she becomes, that one can just imagine the other characters in the book doing a double take whenever Owl is first introduced. Owl, though, has other obsessions — namely her science teacher who is more than twice her age. Why he intrigues her so is never fully explained, although Owl does try. The feeling, is thankfully, not mutual.

Things change when a mysterious boy appears — camping out in the teacher's backyard (how convenient). The boy, we are lead to believe, has similar show more talents and needs as Owl.

Where the book lost me though is in the spareness of character. Owl, in all her strangeness, is the most normal person in the entire book. Owl's human (but self-described witch) parents are less socially adjusted that she is.

Since I never managed to connect with Owl or the other characters, I didn't care to see how the book ended. Although I was only about thirty pages from completing the book, I decided to move on to something new. show less

This book is quirky, unique, and surprisingly touching. I wondered how the author was going to pull off the were-owl aspect, but as Kindl seems to have created a sort of alternate Earth where magic is possible and shapeshifting occasionally crops up in families, it wasn't nearly as farfetched (in terms of the story's internal logic, that is) as I'd thought. Certainly Kindl does an excellent job of conveying Owl's detached, alien perspective on human life while still making her a sympathetic character. I can see how some readers (especially some teens) might be instantly put off by Owl's crush on her forty-year-old science teacher and want to put the book down right there, but Kindl actually gives us a logical explanation for the show more attraction and handles it sensitively and well. On the whole, I really enjoyed this book and might even pick it up and read it again sometime. show less

Owl in Love is hilarious! I love her odd way of speaking and her confusion with human society. Owl nature makes more sense to her than human society. I can see where it will be easy for outsiders of any pack, pride, or flock to identify with Owl and her tribulations through love, loyalty, and survival.

Fourteen-year-old Owl Tycho, a shape shifter who can transform from human to owl at will, is in love with her science teacher, Mr. Lindstrom, and keeps a nightly vigil outside his bedroom window. When a starving, wild-eyed boy sets up camp in the woods nearby, she senses a connection between the boy, whom she names Houle, and the new, rather inept owl in the neighborhood. Owl literally takes him under her wing and feeds him the prey she catches. Once she learns that Mr. Lindstrom has an institutionalized son and that a patient has recently escaped, all the pieces fall together, and Houle becomes the focus of Owl's affection. With the help of her loyal friend and lab partner, Dawn, Owl learns to understand the real meaning of love and show more the importance of friendship. The coincidence of Owl's obsession with Mr. Lindstrom, a man whose son is also a shape shifter, is a bit much, and the scenes in the institution from Houle's point of view are out of sequence with his escape and arrival in the woods. Overall, however, the story, though rather camp, is both entertaining and suspenseful. The dialogue is crisp and funny, the first-person narrative is clever (as well as informative about owls), and the theme is well developed. A good choice to introduce readers to fantasy.
(Jeanne Triner (Booklist, Sept. 1, 1993 (Vol. 90, No. 1))
CLCD
(The Golden Kite Award Honor Book 1993 Fiction United States
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature Winner 1995 United States) show less

A very funny, well realized story with depth. Kudos to the author for pulling it off. Studded with the perceptions of a wereowl, based loosely on suburban teen life. I read it years ago and when I read it again recently it was just as good.

Maybe some of you may recall my tweet about this book being a creeper. I still stand by that tweet. I will say, I did warm up to Owl In Love a bit, but definitely feel a little too old for it. Owl In Love by Patrice Kindl is about this 14 year old girl named Owl who is -get this- a wereowl. She has a creeper crush on her teacher Mr. Lindstrom, who is pushing mid-forties, and somewhat balding. Basically she turns into an owl and watches him from the window. I know gross, right! Anyhoo, I spent most of the book creeped out until she met someone her own age.I guess by virtue of my ripe old age (as of 3/10 -22), I couldn't connect with the main character. She had this odd way of speaking, and was condescending towards humans. She didn't eat show more normal food. She didn't have friends. Her parents don't have electricity, and are like, yes honey please marry your teacher. For realz. As a grown-up reading this, might I mention a grown up who is an educator, I just have to say EW. I know adults don't say EW. Let me tell you, any kid starts watching me through the window, I will send my boyfriend after you/let the dog loose on you. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand adolescent crushes and projecting lust on older people. I do know what it's like to be young and get crushes, and how consuming they can be, but I guess being on the other end of the spectrum has changed my mind a bit.Now, I will say this, Owl In Love has a rather unique voice. Also, the concept of wereowls -- I've never heard of that before, so yay for originality. Oh, and Owl In Love was a quick read, I read it in about one sitting. Plus there was a friendship theme underlying the book, and I am a sucker for friendships. I guess, I recommend this book to the younger set. show less