We Should All Be Birds

A Memoir

De: Brian Buckbee, Carol Ann Fitzgerald

Narrado por: Brian Buckbee

“A sparkling example of the best kind of first-person storytelling in that its specificity succeeds in revealing universal truths…An extraordinary story full of humanity and life lessons from a man whose disability has largely removed him from society.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A charming and moving debut memoir about how a man with a mystery illness saves a pigeon, and how the pigeon saves the man.

Featuring an exclusive audio conversation between Brian Buckbee and Carol Ann Fitzgerald.

On a spring evening in Montana, Brian Buckbee encounters an injured baby pigeon. Heartbroken after the loss of the love of his life and increasingly isolated by a mysterious illness that overtook him while trekking through Asia, Brian is unaware that this bird?who he names Two-Step?will change his life. Brian takes in Two-Step, and more injured birds, eventually transforming his home into a madcap bird rehabilitation and rescue center. As Brian and Two-Step grow closer, an unexpected kinship forms. But their paths won’t converge forever: as Two-Step heals and finds love, Brian’s condition worsens, and with his friend’s release back into the world looming closer, Brian must decide where this story leaves him.

We Should All Be Birds follows Brian, unable to read or write due to a never-ending headache, as he dictates the end of his old life?as an adventurer, an iconoclastic university instructor, and endurance athlete?through his relationship with a pigeon that comes to define his present. Limited to dictation, Brian teams up with Carol Ann Fitzgerald, an editor who channels the details of his personal history to the pages. Raw and perceptive, delirious and devastating, We Should All Be Birds is an unflinching exploration of chronic illness, grief, connection, and the spectacular beauty of the natural world?and the humble pigeon. The surprising, heartwarming relationship between man and bird provides insight into what it means to love, to suffer, and to “never forget, even for a second, how big it all is.”

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Brian Buckbee gives his memoir a careful, unadorned narration. He pulls listeners in close as he weaves the story of his encounter with an injured pigeon in Montana after the loss of his partner and the onset of a debilitating neurological condition. As Buckbee describes taking in the bird he eventually names Two-Step, his pacing reflects the slowed, pensive tone of days shaped by grief and loss. He recounts the transformation of his home into a small rescue space as he begins caring for other birds and strengthening his bond with Two-Step. These hopeful elements contrast with the parallel decline of his own health. Sharing the weight of these events with listeners, Buckbee is hopeful and resigned as Two-Step is prepared for release."

snapshot of compassion

the adventures of a creative soul who deeply cares about all creatures weaving a story of rescue that offers deeper understanding as tale of character and struggle.

Together in our loneliness

this memoir, he beautifully captures the gains and losses, the quiet victories, and the search for meaning when the life you once imagined is no longer possible. His words speak for the millions who are missing — and for anyone who wants to understand what a loved one with ME/CFS or Long COVID might be going through.
Through his story (and one unforgettable pigeon), Brian has found a way to be immortal in words — and to help the rest of us feel less alone.

Pigeon lover extraordinaire

I rescued a small bird from my cat's mouth this morning. It flew to the top of a tree before I could identify it. I fully understand expletives associated with predators, including cats. Ironically, I rescued this tiny kitten next to a highway last spring, likely having been grazed by a passing car. He was appropriately named Dash by my husband after he spent two days under the dashboard of my car.

While your literary talents are indisputable, the passion and pain you share have held me captive as I have listened to your book. Audible had recommended it after I finished "Mozart's Starling" (another "hated" bird through no fault of its own).

I am also a rescuer and clandestine rehabilitator of suffering and injured unwanted creatures. I have also risked my life rescuing animals-though none so daring as at least one of your rescues of Two Step.

I pray that the evil monster (expletives seem warranted) that has you in its grips will soon be destroyed and you will find a life filled with unquenchable joy and love.

Heartfelt and heartbreaking well at the same time, redemptive and uplifting

This is a heartfelt honest story of the human experience, all of us have had it on some level, but maybe not to this degree. The experience of heartbreak, of the uninvited guest of medical illness that takes our lives apart, when we least expected, and also the story of the unexpected rebuilding of something new, born of love, creativity, and openness. I loved hearing it and Brian’s own voice. I highly recommend going on this journey with him.

Needed more Two Step, Less Brian

Perhaps because I am in medicine the author’s chronic medical disease made me feel like I do listening to one of my patients who when you ask what brought them in starts at “well, 35 years ago “…. And on and on. Also the constant references to the “woman I love” who dumped him is annoying. I wanted to love this book but alas did not.