January 15, 2009
Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline is a great read, providing engaging characters facing the very real problems that come along with getting married, having children, and getting older. Bird in the Hand tells the story of two couples, Alison and Charlie, and Ben and Claire. No longer with their whole lives ahead of them and yet too young to be settled down for good, the four face their first real test as grown-ups: getting what they wanted has not brought them the happiness, peace, or satisfaction they were so sure of and so what do they do now? Drink a little too much, have an affair, end a marriage: all three choices and more come up on the radar screen of possibilities. It is only when an unexpected tragedy jars across the landscape of their shared lives that Claire, Alison, Charlie, and Ben finally face up to what is wrong with their lives, what is right, and what is left to be accomplished, cherished, or discarded.
The writing of Kline reminds me of the best of Joanna Trollope's novels (I love reading Trollope): engaging, smooth, well-paced, and hard to put down. Kline's characters did not inspire or repulse me, instead they seemed as friends, as people whom I know and recognize. There was a certain thrill of voyeurism in reading Bird in Hand; it was as if I were reading about the neighbors and finding out more about them than I had ever hoped to know. In the process, I took a harder look at myself and my own choices. I'm happy to say the birds in my hand offer real satisfaction; I count myself among the lucky, and I look forward to reading more from Kline about those more twisted in fate than I.
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