Review and Giveaway - One Bird's Choice - Iain Reid

As Thomas Wolfe said " You can't go home again." Or can you? Iain Reid is 27, highly educated and highly unemployed. He accepts a summer job with CBC radio. But it really doesn't pay a lot....and his parents live very close by.....so the decision is made to move in with them for the summer. The summer comes and goes ...and before you know it  - a year has passed.

One Bird's Choice is the memoir of that year. What struck me first was Iain's descriptions of his parents, their conversations, actions and idiosyncrasies. The affection her feels for them is very evident is his writing. Never identified by name, Mom and Dad are the headliners in this book. They are quirky and slightly eccentric, but oh so comfortable with their lives and each other. I couldn't get enough of their everyday life. The common and mundane take on a whole new look.  Mom and Dad really do live life on their own terms.

Their rural property- Lilac Hill - is home to many and varied animals. The book takes it's title from Lucius - the last guinea fowl left on the farm. Guinea fowl are communal birds. Mom is relieved when Lucius chooses his new flock - the family. Iain - not so thrilled. The bird follows him around and makes him late for work many times.

One Bird's Choice is divided into four parts, based on each season. Iain's state of mind and emotions during his year at home seem to mirror the seasons.  Although definitive words such as depression are never used, his descriptions of not wanting to see friends, sleeping and eating too much and 'hibernating' populate the Winter chapters. But by the time Spring rolls around, Iain finds contentment  in seeing the farm come to life, lambs being born and the simple joy in sitting outside in the sun.

There was just one small sour note for me. I'm not sure if Reid was taking literary license in describing a scene with a hen reluctant to give up her eggs, but really Iain - not cool to punch a chicken.

Nothing earth shattering happens in One Bird's Choice, there are no great aha! moments or epiphanies. Rather, it a slow gentle read filled with lots of humour, warmth and the realization that yes - you can go home again.

Congratulations to Iain Reid for winning a CBC Bookie for Best Non Fiction book for One Bird's Choice.

Check out what everyone else on this TLC Book Tour thought. I thoroughly enjoyed One Bird's Choice, and you can too! Thanks to the publisher House of Anansi Press, I have one copy to giveaway. Open to US and Canada. Simply leave a comment to be entered. Ends Sat. Mar. 26 at 6 pm EST.