The Boy with a Bird in His Chest

The Boy with a Bird in His Chest

By Emme Lund

4 stars

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions are my own and this did not affect my review in any way.

Magical Realism is a genre that I have a complicated relationship with, although I almost always tend to enjoy it, reaching for a magical realism book is not something I do often. When I received a copy of this book for review I was both excited and nervous, however I am happy to inform that I really enjoyed this book.

The Boy with a Bird in His Chest follows Owen Tanner, an ordinary boy that just happens to have a bird in his chest. 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 hiding, Owen takes a brazen trip outdoors in the middle of a forest fire, and his life is upended forever.

I had no idea what to expect from this book, the idea sounded excellent, people that have animals inside of them, absolutely fantastic. Once I started this book, I could not put it down. Owen´s story is so heartbreaking yet so heartwarming at the same time I didn’t want to stop reading.

My favorite part about the book was definitely the characters, honestly I loved every single one of them. Owen and Gail, the main characters, are so sweet and vulnerable I just wanted to hug them. I love how strong and independent Tennessee was, and I was obsessed with Owen´s neighbor. The characters in this book made the story feel real to me, and they allowed me to really connect with what was happening.

Even though this book deal with very serious topics such as bullying, violence, sexuality and acceptance, The Boy with a Bird in His Chest is also a very funny book. There were times were I was laughing out laugh or just straight up crying. This book is a beautiful coming of age story specifically talking about acceptance, accepting others and also accepting who we truly are and what makes us special. This is a book about being different and feeling unlovable but wanting love. About feeling like you have to hide your differences, or feeling like you don’t belong.

The writing style is different, it takes some getting used to, however once you get the hang of it you understand that no other writing style could have worked. This was an excellent debut novel from Emme Lund and I will for sure keep an eye out for anything else the author comes out with.