Bird in Hand

Why can’t people have what they want? The things were all there to content everybody; yet everybody has the wrong thing.

These sentences from the novel’s epigraph are prophetic of its premise: What if, in a duo of married couples, the spouses are paired up wrong? Can they still have what (who) they want?

Alison grew up best friends with Claire in a small Southern town. She met her husband through Claire and Claire's husband; they all relocated to the New York City area, and although Alison has sensed a distance in the relationships, she doesn’t realize that it’s because her husband and Claire are having an affair. When Claire’s debut novel -- a fictional account of their childhood -- is released with a book-launch party, it’s show more with mixed feelings that Allison drives into the City to attend. A couple of martinis ease her discomfort there, but they also dull her reactions on the drive home and contribute to a fatal car accident. Emotional aftershocks force the foursome to wake up to what they have -- and what they want -- in their friendships and marriages.

Bird in Hand is a very quiet story, ethereal even, told largely through interior rumination and backstory. It's unoriginal except for an interesting narrative structure: one linear storyline (told through an alternating focus on the four main characters) moves forward from the time of the accident; another, reverse-chronology “backstory”-line (reminiscent of Seinfeld’s “backward” episode, minus the comedy) traces their relationships back a dozen years. The structure works -- what begins as a collection of angry, whiny characters -- so unsympathetic that I nearly abandoned the book -- evolves with understanding into semi-sympathetic men and women whose stories I wanted to follow to a resolution. show less

Here's a new book just coming out. Ms. Kline does some interesting things with this story - she sets up a catalyst, but it has little to do with the story. She tells a story mostly chronologically, yet she has this backward moving story set against it, illuminating the present. She tells an all-to-common tale of infidelity with the stereotypical participant - the best friend, and then has the ability to show grace without wrapping everyone up in a "everything is so much better" blanket. Each of the protagonists is left with loss, but also there is some undefinable gain - although the lovers seem to lose more, somehow. I liked the story better than I thought I would half way through. I also liked the subtle poking Ms. Kline does at the show more bookselling process - the building of buzz, and being at the mercy of popular whim. show less

Wow! This book gripped me from the start and wouldn't let me go. It's heart-wrenching yet not overly emotional. The multiple viewpoints worked well, and the disintegrating marriages were portrayed realistically. The background information, fed to the reader through independent flashbacks in a different size and style of font, provided the clarity necessary to understand the protagonists' motivations. I felt for these characters and identified with them. A must read for lovers of contemporary fiction.

What happens when the choices you made come back to haunt you in the worst possible way, and at the worst possible time?

The titular idiom of Christina Baker Kline's Bird in Hand tells us that it's better to keep hold of what you know, rather than chucking it all for what might be around the corner. But is it really?

Two couples, each seemingly perfect lives. Charlie and Alison have been married for several years, living in the suburbs with their two young children. Claire and Ben, also married for several years, living in the city, devoted to their careers. Claire and Alison are childhood friends, growing up in a South that has been loosely fictionalized in Claire's new novel. The foursome have maintained their disparate friendship since show more their college days, seemingly rolling with the changes that have come their way. But all is not as it seems. Charlie has realized his mistake in marrying Alison, a choice he made years ago in order to stay in Claire's sphere. After miscarrying their child, Claire realizes that she's not sure she wants the baby that Ben so desperately does. Charlie and Claire embark on an affair, as unsettling as that betrayal is to both of them.

Into this guilty mix comes the accident. After attending Claire's book launch party and having a few drinks, Alison is involved in a car accident in which a child is killed. Though she is ultimately proved not to be at fault, the accident sets in motion the events that eventually cause the unraveling and rebuilding of these four lives. Alison is guilt-ridden about the accident, barely able to function in its wake. Charlie, who has made the decision to leave his family, is angry and guilt-ridden at his obligation to stand by his wife instead of proceeding with his plans. Claire's guilt at her affair with Alison's husband has manifested itself in hostility toward her friend, and she feels badly that she refused Ben's suggestion to have dinner with Alison that night, which might have averted the accident. And poor Ben just isn't getting any of this. At all.

Kline deftly presents the unveiling and unraveling of these families. The novel is a bit clunky in parts; the beginning of their relationships is presented not just in flashbacks, but backward - moving flashbacks. I understood that Charlie was devoted to Claire, I just never really understood why.

Claire and Charlie were both highly unsympathetic, though I found myself feeling sorry for all four people, caught up in such hopelessly tangled connections and emotions. In the end, it shows that both doing the right thing and doing what makes you happy can result in a tangled up mess. Well done. show less

I am always "shocked" when I find that I am rereading a book OR listening to a CD that I have already heard! It happened with this book and I'm surprised and/or disappointed with my brain that I really couldn't remember much beyond something in the first few pages! However, this reread really helped---I did NOT like any of the characters but I definitely like the way Kline writes and have read more of her books and have another one sitting here waiting. I apparently did not care for this as much the first time I read it!! I do like the way Kline shows events from the different points of view of her subjects. I also like the flow of the story---there really isn't a dull moment as you find out what happens.

After reading the first couple pages of Bird in Hand I knew I was going to enjoy it. I quickly got lost in the story of Alison, Charlie, Claire and Ben.

Bird in Hand is the story of marriage, friendship, and what ifs. I immediately was drawn to Alison, she seemed the weak one out of the four but honestly her tenacity to keep going through all that came at her really showed that she was the strongest. The foursome were divided into the selfish, and the giving. You right away after reading the first twenty five pages knew who the selfish were, and their behavior was plain gross and of the me, me, me variety but sadly this is the way of the world. I couldn't help but be emotionally attached to some of the characters and found myself show more thinking Charlie and Claire deserve each other. Good riddance!

Marriage is hard. It is ever constantly changing, and growing as are the people in it. Bird in Hand is the realistic view of what happens when one outgrows the relationship, and seeks something more. Ms. Kline's writing is so engaging, you feel like you are peering through someone's window watching the raw realness of a marriage that is on it's last breath.

Bird in Hand is the first book i've read by Christina Kline, and it certainly won't be the last. I read it in a couple of hours. A really great book, it is definitely worth the read.

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I love when a book takes me somewhere I didn't expect. In this case, I thought this was a book about an accident. But it is really a book about marriage - it's steady joys, but more often its tiny and grand disappointments. In this story, 2 couples who are friends for years are changed when infidelity enters their quartet. Well written, nicely paced. I am interested in finding more of this author's work.