Books
Mini Review: The Aviary
Though I figured the plot twists out to some degree early on, it didn’t detract from the story
Review Date: May 14th, 2012
Cover Copy
The Glendoveer mansion was once the magnificent home of a famous magician and illusionist. But now it is crumbling and nearly closed down — home only to the magician’s aging widow, a cage full of exotic birds, a cook, a housekeeper, and the house-keeper’s eleven-year-old daughter, Clara
Clara loves Mrs. Glendoveer, but the birds in the aviary frighten her — they always seem to screech and squall whenever she’s near. Until one day when the mynah … speaks. “Elliot,” he says. “Hurry!”
When Clara asks if the name Elliot means anything, she unwittingly tugs at the edge of a decades-old mystery. She learns the tragic tale of the Glendoveer children, who were kidnapped and later drowned — all but baby Elliot, who was never seen again. No arrest was ever made, but the children’s own father, the great magician, stood accused until his death.
As Clara digs deeper into the Glendoveers’ past, she stumbles onto secrets from her own past as well. Will the mysteries never end? Somehow the birds in the aviary seem to be at the center of it all, and Clara can’t shake the feeling that they are trying to tell her something. If only the mynah would say more than “Elliot!”
Review
I loved this book so much {because of the story as much as the birds} and though I figured the plot twists out to some degree early on, it didn’t detract from the story in the slightest — in fact, it was fun to read on and see if my theories were right.
First Line
As a young child, Clara Dooley had felt that the Glendoveer mansion contained the whole world.
Favorite Lines
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…the birds inside would flutter and scream as if they were on fire…
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Life has many ills, but the mind that views every object in its most cheering aspect bears within itself a powerful and perpetual antidote.
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To be seen, to be described — it was as if the plain girl she always saw in the mirror might be magically transformed by the simple act of being observed by others.
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But it was hard to swallow these questions once she started.
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So many things become a source of dissatisfaction. Your heart can pull you in different directions, and you must decide the right way to go.
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No happiness built on another’s pain can come to a good end.
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And she knew that no matter how fast she moved … tomorrow would be terrible in a way that would make her long for the security of all her old dissatisfactions.
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Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…
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One needs a temper, I believe…
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Her mother had a way of inhaling half the air from the room and holding it quietly in her bones.
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She tried to set her mind right. But it was her heart that struggled, and she had little idea how to master it.
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“Tsip-tsip!” said the bird. … “So you agree?” … “Tsip-tsip!” … “What a fine conversationalist you are. I feel fortunate to have made your acquaintance…”
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It is one thing to be a man afraid, and quite another to conquer that fear day after day.
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When young and in love, we are wishful people.“
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No matter what passes, for good or ill, it is always better to know.
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We must not be bitter. If happiness has at last arrived on our doorstep, we must be grateful.
Last Word
- Glendoveers
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