Word: als
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...HAVE bigger brains than birds. Somewhere in there, tucked away under the folds of our brains, is a unique sense of purpose; we must exist for a reason, we think. William Wharton's soaring Birdy is about that sense of purpose. Birdy and Al--the novel's heroes--come to realize life is a game worth playing, not merely a block of time to pass away. They force their minds...
Birdy and Al are boyhood chums. They fall out of the nest at the same time, both managing to land on their feet in a poor neighborhood outside Philadelphia. Al is a Sicilian tough guy, dark and intent on making himself a strongman. He excells as an athlete, making it with the cheerleaders, before getting his face and gut shattered by artillery in World...
...boys have a hero. He is Richard Halliburton, who sent a message from a Chinese junk while crossing the China Sea: "Having a wonderful time, wish you were here instead of me." The emphasis is on escape: escape from parents, school, war, self, and finally, madness. Al learns that he cannot muscle his way through to escape. He must follow Birdy in struggling to wing his way to freedom. Imagination takes them a long way. As Al puts it, Birdy makes up the lying part and I back him with the details to make it seem real. What a team...
While we suspend disbelief, we also hold back cynicism. We glide in Bridy's tailwind, tramp behind Al and Birdy through a series of touching, painful and often hilarious boyhood adventures, and we dodge mines and shells with Al as he takes on the Germans. Along the way, Al discovers that his muscle is a front hiding a fearful but honest man-boy. Birdy confronts his birdness and slowly lets it migrate from...
...boys sing in two-part harmony. Al speaks solidly, narrating the story of their lives step by step, unhesitantly supplying details and background references. Birdy speaks in a more flighty tone, but in sharper focus, offering the history of his bird colony and telling us how, in his dreams, he goes from boy to bird...