The Boy with a Bird in His Chest

A Novel

By: Emme Lund

Narrated by: Nicky Endres

Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

Longlisted for The Center for Fiction 2022 First Novel Prize

A “poignantly rendered and illuminating” (The Washington Post) coming-of-age story about “the ways in which family, grief, love, queerness, and vulnerability all intersect” (Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author). Perfect for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Thirty Names of Night.

Though Owen Tanner has never met anyone else who has a chatty bird in their chest, medical forums would call him a Terror. From the moment Gail emerged between Owen’s ribs, his mother knew that she had to hide him away from the world. After a decade spent in isolation, Owen takes a brazen trip outdoors and his life is upended forever.

Suddenly, he is forced to flee the home that had once felt so confining and hide in plain sight with his uncle and cousin in Washington. There, he feels the joy of finding a family among friends; of sharing the bird in his chest and being embraced fully; of falling in love and feeling the devastating heartbreak of rejection before finding a spark of happiness in the most unexpected place; of living his truth regardless of how hard the thieves of joy may try to tear him down. But the threat of the Army of Acronyms is a constant, looming presence, making Owen wonder if he’ll ever find a way out of the cycle of fear.

“An honest celebration of life and everything we need right now in a book” (Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize–winning author), The Boy with a Bird in His Chest grapples with the fear, depression, and feelings of isolation that come with believing that we will never be loved for who we truly are and learning to live fully and openly regardless.

©2022 Emme Lund. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Meh

Overall a cute and interesting concept but the story took a while to hook and fought itself between a more lyrical prose and advancing the plot.

WONDERFUL!

I loved this unusual and deep book! It is different than the average tale: love wins.

Effort to mix genres doesn’t work

Magical realism or science fiction? This story can’t decide, or wants to be both, and it doesn’t work. The reader makes choices with some of the female characters’ voices that don’t seem to match the tone or story. All in all it was a very disorienting experience. I gave up at the halfway point.

Amazing writing

This is one of my favorite books now. The writing is impeccable and the emotions and though experienced by the main character are immensely relatable and powerful.

I tried and I tried

I really tried to like this book but just couldn’t…I stuck it out until the end but can’t think of many redeeming qualities to the story or performance…

Not impressed

Try though I might, I just could not get through the book. I could not find the purpose or meaning behind the story and was disappointed to have wasted a credit on this read.