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| Plot Summary of The Book of Dead Birds |
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"The Book of Dead Birds is an intimate portrait of a young woman at a defining moment in her life, who stands at the intersection of two cultures and races.
Ava Sing Lo has been accidentally killing her mother's birds since she was a little girl. Now, having just finished her graduate work, Ava leaves her native San Diego for the Salton Sea, where she volunteers to help environmental activists save thousands of birds poisoned by agricultural run-off.
Helen, Ava's mother, has been haunted by her past for decades. As a young girl in Korea, Helen was drawn into prostitution on a segregated American army base. Several brutal years passed before a young white American soldier married her and brought her to California. When she gave birth to a black baby, her new husband quickly abandoned her, and she was left to fend for herself and her daughter in a foreign country.
With great beauty and lyricism, The Book of Dead Birds captures a young woman's struggle to come to terms with her mother's terrible past while she searches for her own place in the world. This moving mother-daughter story of migration, survival, and reconciliation resonates across cultures and through generations.
"
Dara Baylen, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Book of Dead Birds |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Animal story
Yes
Kind of animal:
- bird
Family, loving relations
Yes
Special relationship with
- mother
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Ethnic/regional/gender life
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- musician
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Other Asian
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- prostitute
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 8 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- California
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Desert?
Yes
Small town?
Yes
Misc setting
- fort/military installation
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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