Bird Brain
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Review
"A great book - I love it"--Jilly Cooper
“Funny, poignant and original, this country-house whodunit made me laugh out loud, and nod in recognition at its acerbic observations”--Robert Uloth, Country Life
“Bird Brain turns a ludicrous scenario into a wonderfully astute satire with full confidence in its own eccentricity. There is a sharp metropolitan intelligence quietly ticking over behind this tale of conga-dancing pheasants who can recite Keats and make plans for holidays, not to mention dogs who talk and turn out to be smarter than their owners. Kennaway writes the fantastical side of the story with a tongue-in-cheek gusto, nicely juxtaposing it with a more realistic world of dodgy coppers, Brixton job centre and Tracy Emin’s cat. Ripe, rich, fun, this is a beautifully turned story, good to the very last drop”--Phil Baker, Sunday Times
"For pheasants themselves he has unqualified respect, reminding us that the ancestral lands of these ‘flying dartboards’ once stretched from Kashmir to Thailand. With or without their help, the narrative builds to a satisfyingly violent climax. Whatever one makes of this mixture, this is a bloody brilliant book”--Andrew Barrow, The Spectator
"Eccentric and anthropomorphic, you’ll either love or hate this book. I loved it. It’s high-spirited, subversive and full of wry social observation and excellent jokes. Think Paul Torday meets Chicken Run”--Wendy Holden, Daily Mail
“A brilliant new comic novel made me laugh out loud last week: Bird Brain, by Guy Kennaway, describes the fate of Banger, a member of the landed gentry murdered for his estate. Banger comes back to earth as a pheasant, and as the shooting season approaches he is set on revenge. Kennaway’s pheasants are spookily realistic and hilariously funny”--Janet Street-Porter, Independent on Sunday
“The funniest book I’ve read this year is Guy Kennaway’s Bird Brain”--Kate Gunning, The Guardian Readers Books of the Year
“I loved it… It’s a book I’ve been waiting to read all my adult life, for it feels to me like nothing so much as a rather adult version of that other great pheasant story, Roald Dahl’s Danny, Champion of the World”--Rachel Cooke, The Observer
“What sets it apart from any other flippant comic novels is that buried in all the ridiculous frivolity there are some valid points about the nature of country estates and the whole shooting business”--www.bookbag.com
“Kennaway certainly tells the tale with gusto”--Alex Peake-Thompson, Times Literary Supplement
“The characters of the animals and the way they drive the story is a delight, as you understand the frustration of every cat or dog that wants to tell its owner something. The story is full of subtle humour and life lessons learned by a pheasant, which melts the hardest of hearts. Well written and well paced it has no cheap laughs but plenty of warm moments and genuine guffaws. Definitely one to Tweet about”--www.welovethisbook.com
“All in all an excellent release. I thoroughly enjoyed it and whizzed through it in a couple of days. Perfect if you have a long journey in front of you. I highly recommend”--www.verdictbookreviewsblogspot.com, selecting Bird Brain as their November 2011 Book of the Month
“Funny, poignant and original, this country-house whodunit made me laugh out loud, and nod in recognition at its acerbic observations”--Robert Uloth, Country Life
“Bird Brain turns a ludicrous scenario into a wonderfully astute satire with full confidence in its own eccentricity. There is a sharp metropolitan intelligence quietly ticking over behind this tale of conga-dancing pheasants who can recite Keats and make plans for holidays, not to mention dogs who talk and turn out to be smarter than their owners. Kennaway writes the fantastical side of the story with a tongue-in-cheek gusto, nicely juxtaposing it with a more realistic world of dodgy coppers, Brixton job centre and Tracy Emin’s cat. Ripe, rich, fun, this is a beautifully turned story, good to the very last drop”--Phil Baker, Sunday Times
"For pheasants themselves he has unqualified respect, reminding us that the ancestral lands of these ‘flying dartboards’ once stretched from Kashmir to Thailand. With or without their help, the narrative builds to a satisfyingly violent climax. Whatever one makes of this mixture, this is a bloody brilliant book”--Andrew Barrow, The Spectator
"Eccentric and anthropomorphic, you’ll either love or hate this book. I loved it. It’s high-spirited, subversive and full of wry social observation and excellent jokes. Think Paul Torday meets Chicken Run”--Wendy Holden, Daily Mail
“A brilliant new comic novel made me laugh out loud last week: Bird Brain, by Guy Kennaway, describes the fate of Banger, a member of the landed gentry murdered for his estate. Banger comes back to earth as a pheasant, and as the shooting season approaches he is set on revenge. Kennaway’s pheasants are spookily realistic and hilariously funny”--Janet Street-Porter, Independent on Sunday
“The funniest book I’ve read this year is Guy Kennaway’s Bird Brain”--Kate Gunning, The Guardian Readers Books of the Year
“I loved it… It’s a book I’ve been waiting to read all my adult life, for it feels to me like nothing so much as a rather adult version of that other great pheasant story, Roald Dahl’s Danny, Champion of the World”--Rachel Cooke, The Observer
“What sets it apart from any other flippant comic novels is that buried in all the ridiculous frivolity there are some valid points about the nature of country estates and the whole shooting business”--www.bookbag.com
“Kennaway certainly tells the tale with gusto”--Alex Peake-Thompson, Times Literary Supplement
“The characters of the animals and the way they drive the story is a delight, as you understand the frustration of every cat or dog that wants to tell its owner something. The story is full of subtle humour and life lessons learned by a pheasant, which melts the hardest of hearts. Well written and well paced it has no cheap laughs but plenty of warm moments and genuine guffaws. Definitely one to Tweet about”--www.welovethisbook.com
“All in all an excellent release. I thoroughly enjoyed it and whizzed through it in a couple of days. Perfect if you have a long journey in front of you. I highly recommend”--www.verdictbookreviewsblogspot.com, selecting Bird Brain as their November 2011 Book of the Month
Book Description
A very, very funny novel about country sports, murder, intrigue - and talking pheasants.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I love this book. As I started reading I wasn't quite sure what it was or where it was heading but it doesn't take long, just a few pages before the protagonist is dead. We then discover a whole bunch of unusual, well drawn and charismatic characters that take you on a journey that you most certainly have never been on before. It is so hard to review this book because the joy was in the discovery of what unfolds on the page, to mention it in too much detail is to deprive you of something special.
I am a terrible reader, a few pages and i'm off, but this book - I started and I finished in one sitting. I laughed out loud, each giggle more and more personal and heartfelt. A different world from mine and yet I fell under the skin of the characters and the world. I Love Love this book and if I could, would hand out free copies to all grey grumpy looking people especially rich ones with big estates who have no idea what is happening at the bottom of their gardens.
I am a terrible reader, a few pages and i'm off, but this book - I started and I finished in one sitting. I laughed out loud, each giggle more and more personal and heartfelt. A different world from mine and yet I fell under the skin of the characters and the world. I Love Love this book and if I could, would hand out free copies to all grey grumpy looking people especially rich ones with big estates who have no idea what is happening at the bottom of their gardens.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I loved this book. It is funny and fair, showing both sides of the passions, felt one way or the other, pro or contra hunting. The dogs especially are wonderful characters in themselves and the birds, well, some of them just a little bird brained.Great story, murder and treachery all bound up with talking animals,who in this story are our best friends, as always.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I must admit that I did not think I would like this book. I thought that the world viewed through the eyes of animals had been done to death through Watership Down, Duncton Wood, various 'BB' stories and of course Roald Dahl's "The Magic Finger" where ducks turn the tables on their tormentors. Also I thought I would struggle to empathise with pheasants, which I have always thought to be garish, noisy, greedy creatures,
How wrong I was - I really enjoyed this book. Guy Kennaway has succeeded in creating a set of vivid characters, both animal and human, who alternately inspire love and loathing in equal measure. Kennaway also displays a comic touch which had me chuckling away to myself on a number of occasions. The way he portrays the interactions between humans and dogs is done cleverly, particularly the disdain in which dogs hold most humans, valuing them most seemingly for their ability to make 'beautiful' smells!. His finest accomplishment was in persuading me to root for the pheasants in their attempts to avoid coming to a sticky end.
If like me you are unsure whether to buy this book, be bold and take the plunge, you will not be disappointed.
How wrong I was - I really enjoyed this book. Guy Kennaway has succeeded in creating a set of vivid characters, both animal and human, who alternately inspire love and loathing in equal measure. Kennaway also displays a comic touch which had me chuckling away to myself on a number of occasions. The way he portrays the interactions between humans and dogs is done cleverly, particularly the disdain in which dogs hold most humans, valuing them most seemingly for their ability to make 'beautiful' smells!. His finest accomplishment was in persuading me to root for the pheasants in their attempts to avoid coming to a sticky end.
If like me you are unsure whether to buy this book, be bold and take the plunge, you will not be disappointed.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
a good read
even if you are not into shooting then i would still say give it a try as it is about the birds life could not put it down
Published 21 days ago by cwh
Hugely entertaining
...so much so I am compelled to write my first review. I rarely laugh out loud when reading, but this had doing so many times at brilliant comments and observations in this very... Read more
Published 2 months ago by C Pegg
Top Gun Guy Kennaway !!
I really enjoyed this book , which is clever, amusing , shocking sometimes, and has a narrative which makes you turn those pages ,
take sides, Gasp at the caddish behaviour ,... Read more
take sides, Gasp at the caddish behaviour ,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by john guinea
Proof?
I'm still enjoying reading this, following recommendations, but there are some seriously dodgy grammatical errors sprinkled throughout - have Jonathan Cape dispensed with... Read more
Published 4 months ago by David
Brilliant!
Bird Brain is a very funny, cleverly-written book. I bought one copy for my shooting-mad husband and one for a friend for Christmas. Both absolutely loved it. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Jan H
The New/Old Tom Sharpe?
Adored this, much more raucous than One People (also 5*) but no less brilliant for it. A must Xmas gift for anyone for or against shooting.
Published 6 months ago by Euan Whosearmy
Bloody brilliant
"Bloody brilliant," said the reviewer in the Spectator. I blinked in the semi-darkness at my Kindle and though I had never heard of Guy Kennaway or 'Bird Brain' before, I turned to... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Qaestor
A great read
Is this the same Guy Kennaway who wrote One People? I hope so! Such a different book but just as dry and observant. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mrs. M. L. Campbell
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