The Yellow Birds

A Novel

By: Kevin Powers

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Finalist for the National Book Award, The Yellow Birds is the harrowing story of two young soldiers trying to stay alive in Iraq.

"The war tried to kill us in the spring." So begins this powerful 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. Bound together since basic training when Bartle makes a promise to bring Murphy safely home, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for.

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. As reality begins to blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world around him and Bartle takes actions he could never have imagined.

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 that is destined to become a classic.

Critic reviews

"The book is so heartfelt and so good that it not only reaffirms the power of fiction to tell the truth about the unspeakable, but also asks serious questions of a generation of writers--myself included--who have thus far avoided addressing these disastrous wars directly. Reading The Yellow Birds I became certain that I was in the presence of a text that will win plaudits, become a classic, and hold future narratives of the war to a higher standard. Impeccably structured and told with the poetry of a master, I often had to put the book down, close my eyes and savour the depth of the writing. Comparisons with Hemingway will be inevitable because of the brevity and economical style, and with Cormac McCarthy because of the author's talent for landscape. But Powers builds on this literary foundation to create a style of his own. He writes without hauteur, and his insights into the post-traumatic condition have a degree of sharpness that frequently subvert the classical mode of his storytelling and leave the reader with heart hammering. This is a superb literary achievement. I urge everyone to read it."—Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee

"Compelling, brilliantly written, and heart-breakingly true, The Yellow Birds belongs in the same category as Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead. Thus far the definitive novel of our long wars in the Middle East; this book is certain to be read and taught for generations to come."—Philipp Meyer, author of American Rust

"Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds is written with an intensity which is deeply compelling; every moment, every memory, every object, every move, are conjured up with a fierce and exact concentration and sense of truth. The music of his prose has an exquisite mixture of control and then release which mirrors the action of the book, and the psychological and physical pressures under which the characters are placed."—Colm Toibin

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Would you consider the audio edition of The Yellow Birds to be better than the print version?

probably because I don't like to read anymore

Who was your favorite character and why?

the main character. he was the "I"

What does Holter Graham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great listen.

If you could rename The Yellow Birds, what would you call it?

how to develop post traumatic stress disorder

Any additional comments?

I work with veterans who won't or don't talk about their experiences. This story helped me understand some of what they might have experienced.

Wonderful and powerful

I needed to read it, to re-establish my faith in truth-telling... beautiful and poetic in its bluntness, every word is an image, powerful and terrifying...

Sobering View of the Mental Effects of War

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would highly recommend this audiobook to anyone interested in war, particularly the after effects of being in highly intense, traumatic situations. The novel is detailed, compelling, and quite indicative of the mental and emotional toll the Iraqi war has had on our generation of veterans.

What other book might you compare The Yellow Birds to and why?

I haven't read too many books like this, but I've read in other reviews that this is sort of like the modern day version of "All Is Calm On The Western Front".

What does Holter Graham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Graham conveys the emotion of the characters very well, especially during some of the internal monologues.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Absolutely. About 3/4 of way into the story, there's a particularly epic internal monologue/rant where the main character essentially vents all the pent up emotion at once, and you hear first hand what kind of impact such experiences can have on a young man.

Any additional comments?

A solid first novel from Kevin Powers, the story is captivating and gripping, and I found it hard to put down as soon as I got it.

OverRated Cause it's the first real Iraq War Novel

Any additional comments?

'The Yellow Birds' is pretty typical war book fare. The one time it gets beyond that is when he comes home and everybody is congratulating hin om killing all those hadjis. Then he knows he is not deserving of praise, because he had unbelievably stronger fire power which he used indiscriminately. A book about the Iraq War from the Iraqi viewpoint would be much more interesting.

Literary novel, Not a "buddy book"

This books deserves to rank among the top modern war novels, but listeners looking for a war adventure or listeners looking for a triumph of spirit will be disappointed. But this well narrated book drills down to capture the alienation of thoughtful soldiers and veterans. I was emotionally and intellectually transported back to my Vietnam days. The plot is in fact a modest mystery that unfolds ingeniously as the narration moves back and forth between the war and the narrator's return to the states. Descriptions are often poetic, dialogue simple and raw. Holter Graham does a great job for me of capturing the young voices (they were all young) of the troops in Afghanistan and the accents of the narrators and his ill fated "charge," Murphy.