I’m sure we’ve all been in this scenario; you just finished a book, you don’t have any library holds coming anytime soon, you don’t feel like re reading something, and you just keep looking at books on your TBR hoping that the library will have them but they don’t, so you find something random that people seem to like and just give it a go. That’s why I picked this book up, and I kind of regret it since I feel like it was a waste of a perfectly good 1-2 hours of my life that I spent reading this… and I didn’t even finish.
This book follows Leigh, who’s mother died by suicide, but Leigh is convinced that she turned into a bird. Leigh ends up going to Taiwan with her dad to talk to her maternal grandparents, where she gets left by her dad (intentionally) with her grandparents that don’t speak English. She ends up keeping chasing after the bird, finding family secrets, and spending time with ghosts, until she finally comes to terms with her mother’s death.
Honestly, even before I read it the plot seemed a little weird, but everyone seems to love this book so I decided to give it a go. My first issue was with the writing style, it just wasn’t my favorite. Then, I realized that I absolutely hated all the characters. Leigh is just kind of annoying at first, and a horrible person towards the middle and end. Axel, Leigh’s friend, is not a great friend and doesn’t help or support Leigh when she is grieving. Leigh’s dad is next level, since he is not only portrayed as a somewhat-absent parent, but then he leaves his daughter in Taiwan with grandparents that she can’t understand and that can’t understand her. Then, the plot just got really weird and I wasn’t prepared for any of it.
Overall, if you liked it that’s great and I’m glad that so many people did, but it really just was not for me.