What the Birds See

by Sonya Hartnett

Hardcover, 2003

Status

Available

Call number

813

Genres

Young Adult

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

Candlewick (2003), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 208 pages

Description

While the residents of his town concern themselves with the disappearance of three children, a lonely, rejected nine-year-old boy worries that he may inherit his mother's insanity.

User reviews

LibraryThing member mcgarry

Yr. 9 - Yr. 12.
The year is 1977, and Adrian is nine. He lives with his gran and his uncle Rory; his best friend is Clinton Tull. He loves to draw and he wants a dog. He's afraid of quicksand, shopping centres and self-combustion. Adrian watches his suburban world, but there is much he cannot

understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighbourhood children might set out to buy ice-cream and never come back home .

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LibraryThing member librarybrandy

Like her other 2 books I've read (Surrender and Thursday's Child), this is pure poetry. Her writing is gorgeous and engrossing; you don't want the story to end (in part because you just know it won't end happily) because the writing is just so lyrical.

This lacks the surreal elements of the two

other novels mentioned above, and it's a little harder to get into, but it's worth the effort. This poor kid, with all his irrational fears and his completely rational ones. Hartnett captures the pain and loneliness of childhood brilliantly.

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LibraryThing member dalzan

Three children are abducted at the start of the novel. Adrian (9 years old) lives with his Grandmother and Uncle. He is convinced that the new family across the street are the abducted children. Adrian has no friends at school and is worried about everything, especially losing the people closest to

him. He befriends the new kids. Eventually they run away as Adrian thinks he is going to be put into a children’s home. They go searching for the lost children in the local swimming centre which is closed for the winter. They walk on top of the swimming pool cover, which rips apart. They fall into the pool and drown.

Easy to read, only short. Beautifully written, very sensitive. The reader gets a real insight into the worries and life of a young boy who fears abandonment and is often bullied. Shocking ending.

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LibraryThing member jodes101

The copy I have is titled Of A Boy and I am still haunted by this book. Sonya Hartnett is masterful with words and there are so many quotes that will stay with me, somehow the author puts a few words together and they then create this physical reaction when you read them - amazing. It touches on

many raw nerves as a parent and many memories as a child.

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LibraryThing member Estramir

Sonya Hartnett's stories often have a dark shadow lurking, and they don't always turn out as expected. This one is no exception. Her language is concise and poetic and her characters beautifully realised. A poignant story about families, isolation, misadventure and home.

LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

How can I rate this? Beautifully written, pitch perfect, subtly wreaks havoc on a sensitive reader's soul. But not actually enjoyable. No HEA. No 'comic relief.' Not bleak, not graphic, but still not for the easily traumatized. Some children need someone like Hartnett to be honest with

them, because they know that life is hard and don't like the sugar-coated books that dominate library shelves. Some children (and adults) can't really be expected to be able to handle this. I'll be thinking about it much longer than I'll want to be.

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