Keir Lowther

This peculiar little volume by Keir Lowther repels and fascinates in equal measure, but it also gets under your skin and doesn't let you catch your breath until you finish it. This is the story of a boy/teenager named Travis who lives with his mother Trina. Travis's father is in jail and the family has had various recent tragedies to deal with, such as the loss of Trina's sister to cancer and the death of Trina's nephew Miles, a schizophrenic, to a sad misadventure after he travels to Calgary and goes off his meds. Trina is a depressed boozer and she and Travis have recently moved in with Trina's boyfriend Jody, who neither likes nor trusts Travis--a feeling that is mutual. The bulk the action takes place in and around this residence somewhere in semi-rural P.E.I., but Lowther provides plenty of background to give the events context. The wildcard in all of this is Travis, who is afflicted with some sort of social deficiency disorder that leaves him with no empathy or inhibitions. Much of what he does results from whatever impulsive desire strikes him at the moment: to have something or feel something or satisfy some craving. He is oblivious to the feelings of others and does what he wants regardless of the harm or discomfort his actions might cause someone else. He openly admires women's "coconuts," he has a pathological dislike of crows and takes pleasure in stalking and killing them, and he annoys just about every adult he encounters with obsessive and repetitive questions. At an early point in the novel he is outside a neighbour's house spying on her when she falls asleep with a lit cigarette in her hand. Travis observes the flames erupt and the woman's clothes catch fire, but instead of trying to help he wanders home for something to eat and tells nobody what he saw. Trina acknowledges there is a problem and has taken Travis to doctors, but she deflects Jody's increasingly vehement concerns about her son's behaviour--concerns that become more urgent after Travis declares that his dead cousin Miles has come back--by saying he's just going through a phase that he'll eventually outgrow. The action builds toward a confrontation between Jody and Travis that at a certain point starts to seem inevitable given Travis's unnaturally protective feelings toward his mother. Dirty Bird is a gruesome and compelling reading experience, much like an accident that we watch unfold, horrified but unable pull our gaze away.… (meer)