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Book Review: The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner

This is a hard one for me to comment on mainly because not a lot happens in this story of a family told over four decades. We have three separate POVs, all first person, told over three distinct years: 1975, 1988 and 2013. Bruce and Linda, Dad and Mom, and first born, Sonny, short for Sondra.

It’s a story of family, of adoption, of the fallout of Vietnam, of growing old and coming of age. It’s about a mom’s love for her girls, a dad’s love for his girls, a husband and wife growing old together and falling more in love with each other, of grappling with parents and an adopted child’s impressions as a kid, a teen and as as an adult.

It’s quite ordinary. Every day stuff as we go to the mall, go on first dates, family vacations, fishing trips, visiting grammy and grumpy and caring for sick parents.

And it’s surprisingly captivating. Most of the time. It’s more literary than I expect from Christian fiction which was a nice change. An author is allowed to write about the ordinary in literary fiction. It’s almost essential. Finkbeiner keeps swapping POVs and years with ease and after a few chapters it’s easy to get in the groove, even though we’re unsure of what the next year and/or POV will feature next.

But it’s Minh’s story, the adopted Vietnamese girl from Operation Babylift, that I find most compelling. So much so I wish I had her POV. She arrives in a new country to new parents as a four year old and there’s always a sense of displacement whenever Minh or Mindy, as she becomes known, enters the story irrespective of whether she’s 4, 17 or 42. It adds a sense of discomfort to a very happy family story. Mindy is greatly loved and accepted and she knows this but it’s that sense of loss of not knowing her birth parents, of birth siblings, of birthplace. Finkbeiner does a great job managing this dichotomy.

I liked how the three POVs were very distinctive and their three characters were extremely likeable. I particularly appreciated how Bruce and Linda had found such contentment in the choices they’ve made and the life they’ve engineered together. And their love for each other is very believable and admirable. They’ve learnt how to love by championing the other and making the other each other’s focus and priority. I especially liked Bruce, a wonderfully gentle, kind man who adored his wife and daughters and grappled with the notion of letting his daughters fly the coup.

There really is a lot to like in this story and I recommend it heartily.

I received an early ebook copy as part of Revell Reads Blogger program via NetGalley with no expectation of a positive review.

Book Review: Stories that Bind Us by Susie Finkbeiner

This is my first Susie Finkbeiner story and gosh, what a delightful surprise it was. It starts slowly and never really increases in pace which is unusual for the stories I mostly read. But it wasn;’t long before I was captivated by this story of family.

We meet Betty Sweet, recently turned 40, in the early 60s. Her husband, Norman, dies suddenly and there is a void in her life. Small town LaFontaine, not too far from Detroit, is the setting featuring a Main Street with the family-owned and run bakery: The Sweet Bakery, Betty’s in-laws where Norman also worked.

Norman’s family comes around Betty in her grieving and we get to meet Albert, his brother and Marvel, his sister plus Pop, the patriarch of the family. We could meet these characters on the street, there’s no frills, simply true to life people. Marvel has twin ten year old boys: Nick and Dick, who are full of energy and mischief as one expects of twins at that age.

Finkbeiner writes short chapters which typically are split between Betty telling us a story of the past: her mom, her childhood with sister Clara, meeting Norman and their courtship and then the current time. They’re usually linked in some manner and so what gradually builds is a family portrait, one full of the love, loss, struggles with mental health and the everyday meanderings of life. Nothing much happens but it’s engrossing.

And then there’s Hugo. He shines a light into Betty’s world. He’s a special little boy, and Finkbeiner ever so gracefully deals with issues of race and prejudice with this innocent child. It’s beautiful to read.

I was sad the book ended even though not much happened but Finkbeiner’s soft touches with the character’s faith, familial love and gentle portrayal of mental health are captivating. I feel privileged to have read this beautiful story.

Now to locate Susie’s earlier ones.

I received an early release ebook copy from the Revell Reads programs enabled by NetGalley with no expectation of a positive review.