Chasing Redbird

Oh man. What a book. What a beautiful, confusing, nail-biting wonderful book. I had no idea when I started this book. I'd put it on a list and I needed to read it, to make sure it was okay to be on that list. I'd chosen it because it fit a criteria. I figured, hey, Walk Two Moons was good, Sharon Creech is a well-known, acclaimed author, I'm sure it'll be great. But I needed to read it, for confirmation.

Oh I'm so glad I did.

This was one of those books that I ripped through. I identified with the narrator, Zinny, even though I'm sure most people who know me would never believe me. She talks little, I talk a blue streak. She is one of seven kids. I was an only child. But she often thinks her thoughts aren't worth sharing, that she isn't worth loving, that she isn't important. She feels lost in the clutter of having seven children, and she escapes the clutter of her own life by going to the connecting house and spending time with her aunt and uncle, whose only child died when she was four from the same whooping cough Zinny had.

The book starts off with a metaphor about spaghetti, and it's incredibly apt. Everything in this book is incredibly tangled and confused and it takes the whole book to work out that it's just spaghetti. I loved that, though. I couldn't believe how worked up I was getting over a book with a fairly regular plot. There were no evil twins or super powers or even a corporeal antagonist. It was just a family and a girl trying to cope with difficult circumstances - losing a child, feeling lost, feeling guilty, not believing yourself worth of love. And yet I was completely bowled over. I was almost biting my nails towards the end and I kept exclaiming loudly to the empty apartment while I was reading.

More than that, however, it was just filled with everything wonderful. Pieces of advice and wisdom dropped in like the zinnia seeds she plants alongside her trail. Wonderful scenery -- Bybanks, Kentucky seems like the kind of place a girl'd like to go. Plus, there were wonderful Southern turns of phrases, colorful and familiar all at the same time.

I would definitely recommend this book. I'd recommend this book with two hands. When I get back to school on Tuesday, I'm going to recommend this book left, right, and down the middle. This book feels like a gift and passing it along is the least I could do. You should read this book. I mean it. I don't take book recommendations lightly. You should read it. I think you'll like it. I don't actually much care if you do or not, because I like it so much I hardly think it matters. This book needs to be read and I am going to be out there hollering about it from now on, so that's that.