Art that Creates More Art
Review by Ari Blatt
When the blocks of the days of 2023 began receding on my calendar, I indulged in annual reflections and used them as conversation starters on long drives with co-workers to our field sites: what was your favorite trip of 2023? most listened to musical genre of 2023? favorite recipe you made this past year? favorite book you read this past year? As the disher of these icebreakers, I came prepared with my own answers. Canadian Mountain Rockies. Vibe music and a squirrelly mix of indie rock, hip-hop, and discotech. Butternut squash, sage, and hazelnut lasagna. It's nine months into 2024 now, yet my answer to the last question I posed still holds as a top contender for a second year in a row.
Emme Lund’s The Boy with a Bird in His Chest (Atria Books, 2022) is an immersive coming-of-age story set in the Pacific Northwest I know to be true, with a magical twist: protagonist Owen literally lives with a bird in his chest. And that bird’s name is Gail. And Gail is not just any bird, but a java sparrow, to be specific. Gail frequently runs her wingtips down Owen’s spine. She talks- voicing her concerns, offering wisdom, and making wisecracks. But she often must be kept quiet, as Owen’s mom has caught wind that there are other kids in the world with these special companions like him, and authorities call them all Terrors and want to take them away. Understandably, Owen grows up full of fear. Yet after moving across the region to live safely with his Uncle and cousin Tennessee, he becomes enmeshed in a beautiful extended family and friend group that support him in living with depression, honoring his queerness, and finding and sharing joy.
This book is filled with music, both in its lyrical writing, and as with the bird in Owen’s chest, literally! Sleater-Kinney, Car Seat Headrest, Dirty Projectors, and Pixies are some of the artists whose music Owen “let into his skull, felt it sink under his skin and wiggle his muscles. The guitars and drums and pianos and voices hummed along the walls and the whole house felt different. The music cracked Owen open,”. Lund’s lush storytelling and generous referencing to real artists has had a trickle-down effect in my own life. Not long after reading, I wrote a prose poem “In the Chest” which continues the thought experiment of living with a variety of animals and other lifeforms inside ourselves. It was one of those rare, in-one-seating writing moments that felt like it came from not just me. About a year later, the piece was published in Cirque Journal. I was so moved to learn that after reading it, my boss, a working scientist with a background in studio art, had a strong image in her head of the art she would create around the words.
Lund’s debut novel, The Boy with a Bird in His Chest was longlisted for the First Novel Prize from the Center For Fiction, a finalist for an Oregon Book Award, named a best book of the year by Buzzfeed and The Portland Mercury, and included on lists in The Washington Post, USA Today, People Magazine, The Advocate, Cosmopolitan, and Shondaland. It’s much deserved press, but I won’t quit raving until this thing is a bestseller.
Commenti