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Birdy
 
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Birdy (Hardcover)

by William Wharton (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (14 Aug 1980)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140053549
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140053548
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 128,515 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Tale of Friendship, 26 Jan 2008
By Ford Ka (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews
  
"Birdy" has been often compared to such novels as Heller's Catch-22, the tendency for the book to be read as a war novel was strengthened by the movie based on the novel in 1985, directed by Alan Parker, which moved the time of its action to the days of the Vietnam War. The book, however, concentrates on the issues of adolescence, growing up, and reaching maturity.
"Birdy" tells a story of two friends Al and Birdy who met in pre-war Philadelphia and who friendship survives the war when Al is invited to a mental ward where Birdy is kept after his traumatic war-time experiences which which brought about his mental-breakdown. The reader becomes gradually acquainted with their adventures in flash-backs and witnesses Birdy re-awakening.
The book rings true both a nostalgic description of the pre-war working class US which no longer exists, a chronicle of friendship and a description of mental disorder. Must read - you can follow the reading with the movie and there is Peter Gabriel's CD to accompany the novel!
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars No wonder it made such a brilliant film!, 21 Aug 2000
By A Customer
This book totally blew my mind - both for personal reasons and reasons of pure genius on behalf of the author. This is such a powerful book which also led to an amazing film and an even better soundtrack by the wonderful Peter Gabriel. The three compliment each other to make a perfect package. A must read for everyone!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Sanity is in the eye of the beholder, 22 Dec 2008
By Trevor Coote "Trevor Coote" (Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Birdie is a canary. Birdy is a man. Birdy's best friend Al is enlisted by the military to visit Birdy in the psychiatric hospital where he sits crouched in the corner flapping his arms like wings. Al is unsure whether Birdy is pretending or not and, in order to elicit a response from him for the baffled authorities, begins to recount their young days together. But Al has a deep and affecting concern for his friend who he is hoping is fooling everyone in a bid to escape from the real madness of the outside world. Al's nostalgic recollections are intercut with increasingly long passages of canary observations related by Birdy, beginning with the delight when he first receives Birdie, the tentative introduction of a male, Al, and the gradual expansion of his canary population which provides a good income for him and his suspicious parents. However, Birdy's hobby turns to obsession and eventually he blurs his life as a boy with dreams of being a bird and becomes totally dislocated from reality.
Birdy is an astonishingly imaginative work and says reams about the fuzzy distinction between perceived normality and insanity. Al and Birdy are war victims and passages describing the horror of Al's war experiences serve merely to show that sanity is in the eye of the beholder. Wharton's book has a rather seventies feel about it and comes out of the same left-field stable as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Catch 22. It is at least the equal of these two iconic novels. If boys who love birds is your thing then Barry Hines's A Kestrel for a Knave (filmed as Kes) should appeal.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
I had seen the film based on this novel almost 14 years ago and I was so moved by it, I expected a great novel. But I was very disappointed. Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2004 by Ganime B. Akin

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