As Zoey integrates herself into life at the Dellawisp, we meet her neighbors. Pets aren’t allowed, but no one can see Pigeon. Like the birds, she is curious, tentative and eager to a part of the community. It’s her first time alone, and she wants to reconnect with the memories of her mother, but also experience life at the Dellawisp and is hoping to meet its residence. Zoey is a recent high school graduate who is spending the summer in the condo she inherited from her mother. The author introduces us to the island and Dellawisp along with young Zoey. It’s tucked away beyond the main streets and provides a sanctuary for tiny turquoise birds who flutter about observing the tenants as they go about their day. Allen immerses readers in this island world, as well as in the process of self-discovery, the experiences of being haunted and the gift of surrendering to what we can and cannot control.I loved the island and the Dellawisp, a horseshoe cobblestone building with a courtyard that’s been converted to condos. If you’re looking for a bit of mystery, whimsical characters and a keen sense of place, Other Birds offers all these delights and more. Pigeon prods and cajoles Zoey, helping her grow. Zoey even has a bird named Pigeon that only she can see. The fictional dellawisps-curious, loud and loitering-shape both the setting and how the characters interact within it. Ghosts and birds-imagined or real, but all mysterious-guide the meandering cast, allowing opportunities for joyful circumstances. Magical elements are hewn into the marrow of Other Birds. In time, each resident seeks to be understood, to build connections with one another and to understand how their lives are intertwined. From Zoey’s artist neighbor, Charlotte, to the property manager, Frasier, each tenant of the Dellawisp is haunted by ghosts-of who they were, whom they love, pasts they don’t understand or want to flee.
So, too, has it become a home for a number of interesting people. Zoey finds herself at the Dellawisp, a quirky old building that hosts a flock of nosy, noisy birds for which it is named. Zoey never felt at home with her father and stepmother in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so after turning 18, she moves to the island to live in the apartment left by her late mother.
An apartment building on Mallow Island, South Carolina, beautifully illustrates this principle in Sarah Addison Allen’s sixth novel, Other Birds. Rather, it must feel like an extra layer where secrets might be kept-and possibly revealed.
What does it mean for a story’s setting to really act as an additional character? It can’t just be a well-defined place where players act out their roles.
0 kommentar(er)
