CRANE MURDOCH: I don’t even know where to begin with that question [laughing]. Going to this reservation first of all has defined my adult life. I was 22 years old when I started going there writing about the oil boom. The people I’ve gotten to know there have completely influenced the person who I’ve become. And Lissa more than anyone. At this point I probably know Lissa more than any person in my life. I’m incredibly close with my family, but you don’t ask your family the kind of questions I ask Lissa. Both heartwarming and heart-wrenching, The Yellow Bird sings a song of hope for humanity in its darkest moments. Now, this isn't a kind story. It's about war, so that's to be expected. However, the bond represented between the mother and daughter is lovely. I myself am quite close to my mother and continously envisioned my mom being as protective as Roza - it was difficult, at times, to stomach.

This is a moving Holocaust story. A portrayal of a mothers love and just how far she would go to keep her daughter safe. A story of tragedy, grief, hope and survival. The book alternates between Roza and Shira's point of view. It tells us about their experiences whilst being separated. Thenstory is beautifully written. The plotline is gripping. This 8s a book that will stay with you long after you've finished reading. I do recommend this book. With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, The Yellow Birds is a groundbreaking novel about the costs of war that is destined to become a classic. The Yellow Birds ends with a note of muted hope, and I also hope for Mr Powers, that he and his brothers and sisters find healing in the arts and literature. Some, perhaps, will find healing in religion.I think of The Iliad, 1 and 2 Samuel, War and Peace, All Quiet on the Western Front, Blood Meridian, Catch 22, Slaughterhouse Five, and The Naked and the Dead. I add to the list, Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds. I want to start out by being honest with you. I am conflicted about this one. This is a story about the Iraq war. It was a finalist for the National Book Awards, and one of the New York Times 10 be I read this opening paragraph and then as I tend to do I read it out loud to my wife as she was making (I wrote fixing first, but then realized that was a nonsensical Kansas word.) supper. Her response was WOW! If you decide to read this book you will experience jaw dropping lyrical sentences describing the fear of combat, the futility of war, and the life that has to be rediscovered afterwards.

The most pertinent and obvious thing to say about The Yellow Birds is that it is about the Iraq War, written by a veteran who served as a machine gunner in Mosul and Tal Afar. This is worth mentioning because that war is still a recent and polarizing event. Have an opinion, and you are likely to get a disproportionate response. At the very least, The Yellow Birds is interesting because it is on the vanguard of our literary grappling with the war. There are still novels published making sense of Vietnam; if that serves as any indication, there are countless permutations of the Iraq War-novel ahead of us. First off, I want to say that the problem with this book is probably with me. Many deeper, more thoughtful readers loved it, and I might have enjoyed it more if I was in the mood for a book I had to really concentrate on and think about, and if I had someone there to explain all the lyrical, beautifully written, but somewhat confusing prose. I had to keep rereading, but even now I am not sure of what happened or why in parts of the book. It is the story of a soldier serving in Iraq in 2004. He has foolishly, and a bit flippantly, promised a mother to take care of her son, with whom he serves. It turns out that nobody can keep anyone safe. The consequences of that promise, along with the fear, isolation, and craziness of war, are what make up the story. The story itself, was secondary to the immediate environment and the inner muse of the main character. Maybe that is why the story was somewhat hard to follow, and a bit anti-climactic. Here is an example of the writing:Powers then studied English at VCU and went on to get his MFA in poetry from the Michener Center for writers at the University of Texas. He is a poet and it shows in his prose. Roza and Shira are forced to hide in the extremely tight space of the barn loft, burrowing into the hay at any noise heard. This is particularly hard for a 5 year old and especially for Shira who has music always in her heart and loves to sing. Roza’s grandfather made violins, she herself is a cellist and her husband a violinist. They had already suspected that Shira had a gift for music even at this early age. Staying in the barn loft required silence. Roz and Shira must "...mute the sound of every movement.... Shira practiced being invisible and staying silent." Roz and Shira were not asked to leave. Henryk, repeatedly, had his way with Roz while Shira, yellow bird in hand, quietly faced the wall. The price exacted for safe haven. MARTIN: I loved how you used Lissa’s story and relationships as a window into the history of the tribe. I also love how you walk us through the multi-generational stories of the women connected to Lissa’s life, like her Grandmother, Mother, and even her daughter Shauna. Can you talk about that? A beautiful story of survival of a Jewish girl and her mother during the Nazi madness. Imagination required in the lengthy hours spent in hiding for months and facing the brutality of what has been done to their family; their people.

Zosia, as she is named now, lives at a convent. She is even encouraged to play violin, which makes loud noises. Zosia is afraid to make that loud noise at first. But under a tutelage of Sister Nadzieja, Zosia blossoms as violin player. I've put off writing this review for a few days now while I mulled the book over because something in it just didn't work for me. And this, indeed, is a conundrum, because this novel should have been tailor-made for me. Generally speaking, I'm a fan of contemporary war novels. I don't enjoy them as escapist entertainment; I take them seriously and I respect them because I want to learn, I want to listen, I want to know what it's like to go to war without actually having to go to war. In some ways, I see it as a duty. If we're going to ask young men and women to fight and die for our country, to risk physical and emotional maiming, we sure as hell need to know precisely what it is we ask of them and honor their service by asking them only to fight when absolutely necessary. Sadly, this hasn't always been our country's policy. Michiko Kakutani included it as one of her 10 favorite books of 2012 and called it: "a deeply affecting book that conveys the horrors of combat with harrowing poetry. At once a freshly imagined bildungsroman and a metaphysical parable about the loss of innocence and the uses of memory." [11] In this make-believe world, Roza can shield Shira from the horrors that surround them. But the day comes when their haven is no longer safe and Roza must make an impossible choice: whether to keep Shira by her side or give her the chance to survive apart.Have you ever sat down to start a new book, only planning to read for an hour or so and ended up devouring the entire thing in one sitting? That happened to me the other night with The Yellow Bird Sings. I literally could not put it down. There is no way my review will do justice to just how incredible this book it.

Poland was occupied by the German forces from 1939-1945. During this period the Nazis carried out their racist propaganda and genocidal policies against the Jewish population and others deemed to have no contribution worthy enough for humanity. A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity. Non è il capolavoro di cui in tanti parlano, non è ‘il più’, non è the next big thing: ma, è comunque un romanzo interessante, per certi versi un buon romanzo, guastato da alcune debolezze. Remarkable . . . [The book’s] strength derives not from vast panoramas but from an intimate gaze. . . . I’ve long felt that Native communities are perceived (by Native and non-Native people alike) as places inAmerica but not ofAmerica. Murdoch troubles this false separation and helps us understand Yellow Bird and Clarke, and by extension Native and non-Native lives, as deeply intertwined. . . . Yellow Bird’s fanatical but dignified search brought closure to Clarke’s family and change to Fort Berthold. In her telling of the story, Murdoch brings the same fanaticism and dignity to the search for and meaning of modern Native America.” —David Treuer, The New York TimesPoland, 1941. Roza and her five year old daughter Shira hide in a neighbor’s barn. Shira, a musical prodigy, is told to keep quiet, but struggles with it as any child would. Her mother invents elaborate stories to keep Shira engaged with her mind and not words. One of those stories is an imaginary bird who sings the songs she composes in her head. Your heart goes to the five year old girl, who doesn’t understand why she needs to hide and be silent, why her father and grandparents are gone, why she can’t go to school like the other kids. She doesn’t mind learning in Polish instead of Yiddish, if only she could go to school. Guardian First Book award 2012 shortlist announced | Books | The Guardian". theguardian.com . Retrieved 2014-06-28. The war tried to kill us in the spring," begins this breathtaking account of friendship and loss. In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side: the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from constant danger.