Imperfect Birds

Anne Lamott can be counted on to deliver an honest, engaging read.  Imperfect Birds starts as a clumsy and inauthentic tale, but stumbles along, until it reaches a believable, loping and smooth gait.  I continued to read past my initial judgment and ennui, only because my other experiences of Lamott’s writing have been so positive.

In the end, Lamott came through with the tender story of a rag-tag family of three, battling a disease that knows no physical boundaries, no eras, no exceptions.  Once this disease strikes, it is in the lead, unless a miracle happens to intervene.

The brilliance of this book was in the points of view, which faithfully spotlighted and juxtaposed the angst and denial of Elizabeth, the mother, struggling with her own chronic, mental health issues and her fragile sobriety, and the casual denial in which her seventeen-year-old daughter, Rosie, lived.

Lamott faithfully transcribed the language of seduction and false love that drugs and alcohol use to lure the innocent, as only someone who has walked the walk can do.  This book will serve well as a primer for parents of troubled teens.

I am a native Californian.  Parts of me cringed as rituals with sticks and candles, sweat huts, protests, demonstrations and other activities were described.  Even the description of the mall and the Parkade were so “California”.

Imperfect Birds will continue to propagate the notion that California is the land of fruits and nuts.  Still, place became a likable character in this book, as real as the human characters Lamott crafted from her own experiences of struggle and recovery.

Reviewed by Marta Chausée, September 2011.

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Congratulations to Liz, winner of

Where Angels Fear by Sunny Frazier!

When his abusive father kicks him out for having the audacity to fight back, 16-year-old Jace Witherspoon has only one place to go–his older brother Christian in New Mexico. From Chicago to Albuquerque is not an easy trip, particularly if you have only recently gotten your license and  don’t have money, but Jace goes with the faith that his brother will take him in.