Fleur Philips
Auteur van I Am Lucky Bird
Werken van Fleur Philips
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Opleiding
- Antioch College
University of Montana - Korte biografie
- Fleur Philips is an award-winning author who holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Montana. Her first novel, I Am Lucky Bird, was selected as a General Fiction Finalist for the 2011 Book of the Year Award from ForeWord Reviews. Her second novel, Crumble, was named Young Adult Winner from the 2013 San Francisco Book Festival and was selected as a Young Adult Fiction Finalist by the 2013 International Book Awards. Additionally, Crumble is a Silver Medalist in the 2013 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards in the category of Young Adult, Mature Issues. Most recently, it was named a YA Fiction Finalist in the USA Best Book Awards from USA Book News. Fleur lives in Whitefish, Montana with her son.
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I Am Lucky Bird by Fleur Philips introduces us to Lucky Bird, a young woman living in Plains, Montana. The closest person to being a mother to Lucky, AnnMarie, cares for Lucky until she mysteriously disappears when Lucky is twelve. Lucky is then basically left to fend for herself, albeit with visits from Marian Bird, the woman she considers her grandmother. Marian drops off groceries, as well as verbally abuses and terrorizes Lucky, at least once a week. And then there is Tom, Marian's creepy boyfriend...
Lucky is most certainly an abused and neglected child in most of this tragic novel. Lucky does make a friend, a new girl to Plains, Rika, and soon the girls grow close and make plans to escape from Plains. Before they can escape, another horrible tragedy befalls Lucky and her life is once again in turmoil. As the novel continues, Lucky's life is the opposite of what her name implies. Even when she does manage to get out of Plains her life continues to spiral down, out-of-control
Even though it is set in Montana, I Am Lucky Bird captures the essence of tragic Southern coming-of-age story, like Bastard out of Carolina. It has also been favorably compared to White Oleander. And, though it might be considered a YA novel, it handles some very dark, adult themes, so it would be for those on the older age span of YA fiction.
Fleur Philips is an excellent writer. I Am Lucky Bird is beautifully written debut, even while the subject matter is difficult to read. She did a notable job giving Lucky a distinctive voice. Even when Lucky is at her lowest, I empathized with her because I understood what she was thinking, even when her decisions were poor choices and lead to more heart break. I Am Lucky Bird should be adapted to be made into a movie. Some of the elements, especially the tie-in with birds, could be beautifully captured in a movie.
Now, I do have one small complaint about the ending. Do not read beyond this point if you are going to read the book - and I'm going to very highly recommend that you do just that. I will try to be vague just in case you continue.
The very end of the novel ties up loose ends for sure, but it also went too far in the other direction for me. For Lucky to get answers about her past and have some closure was all exceedingly good and satisfying and right. But, when she also came into even more overwhelmingly good things, well, that took it just one step too far for me. I would have ended with the closure and avoided the and-there-is-even-more-fabulous news ending. (I hope that was vague enough to not spoil too much.)
Very Highly Recommended
Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book BookSparksPR for review purposes.
… (meer)
Lucky is most certainly an abused and neglected child in most of this tragic novel. Lucky does make a friend, a new girl to Plains, Rika, and soon the girls grow close and make plans to escape from Plains. Before they can escape, another horrible tragedy befalls Lucky and her life is once again in turmoil. As the novel continues, Lucky's life is the opposite of what her name implies. Even when she does manage to get out of Plains her life continues to spiral down, out-of-control
Even though it is set in Montana, I Am Lucky Bird captures the essence of tragic Southern coming-of-age story, like Bastard out of Carolina. It has also been favorably compared to White Oleander. And, though it might be considered a YA novel, it handles some very dark, adult themes, so it would be for those on the older age span of YA fiction.
Fleur Philips is an excellent writer. I Am Lucky Bird is beautifully written debut, even while the subject matter is difficult to read. She did a notable job giving Lucky a distinctive voice. Even when Lucky is at her lowest, I empathized with her because I understood what she was thinking, even when her decisions were poor choices and lead to more heart break. I Am Lucky Bird should be adapted to be made into a movie. Some of the elements, especially the tie-in with birds, could be beautifully captured in a movie.
Now, I do have one small complaint about the ending. Do not read beyond this point if you are going to read the book - and I'm going to very highly recommend that you do just that. I will try to be vague just in case you continue.
The very end of the novel ties up loose ends for sure, but it also went too far in the other direction for me. For Lucky to get answers about her past and have some closure was all exceedingly good and satisfying and right. But, when she also came into even more overwhelmingly good things, well, that took it just one step too far for me. I would have ended with the closure and avoided the and-there-is-even-more-fabulous news ending. (I hope that was vague enough to not spoil too much.)
Very Highly Recommended
Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book BookSparksPR for review purposes.
… (meer)
I read this book but to be honest I can not really remember too many details about it. This is because I felt no connection what so ever to the characters in the book and I found the storyline not that interesting. Even with the car crash I could not warm up to Melanie. Yes, she did turn more human after the accident but I did not feel the warmth about her. Plus her and Sam's romance to me felt too rushed.
For example Melanie had no experience with boys yet she meets Sam and right away is willing to have sexual relations with him. Yes, this does happen all the time but if Melanie was trying to show that she had some brains about her than she was not showing them. For me this book was not a winner but I did see a little glimmer of potential with the author's writing that I may check something else out by the author.… (meer)
For example Melanie had no experience with boys yet she meets Sam and right away is willing to have sexual relations with him. Yes, this does happen all the time but if Melanie was trying to show that she had some brains about her than she was not showing them. For me this book was not a winner but I did see a little glimmer of potential with the author's writing that I may check something else out by the author.… (meer)
I received a copy of Crumble by Fleur Philips in exchange for an honest review.
I have to admit, this was an awesome book! It was short, but the characters were so well developed that it was so hard to not be emotionally invested in this book. The subject matter was tough though, which of us wants to believe that people still live their lives in such an ignorant manner, it’s something we all try to overlook to some degree, but there are entire nations who decide to live their lives in this way. The end was totally unexpected and so devastating to see the havoc hate can create for us all.
A totally eye-opening book and I would totally recommend this to be on anyone’s to-read list – hate is dangerous to us all and this author was able to bring that point across.
… (meer)
I have to admit, this was an awesome book! It was short, but the characters were so well developed that it was so hard to not be emotionally invested in this book. The subject matter was tough though, which of us wants to believe that people still live their lives in such an ignorant manner, it’s something we all try to overlook to some degree, but there are entire nations who decide to live their lives in this way. The end was totally unexpected and so devastating to see the havoc hate can create for us all.
A totally eye-opening book and I would totally recommend this to be on anyone’s to-read list – hate is dangerous to us all and this author was able to bring that point across.
… (meer)
Statistieken
- Werken
- 4
- Leden
- 23
- Populariteit
- #537,598
- Waardering
- 3.8
- Besprekingen
- 8
- ISBNs
- 7
My first reaction after reading this novel was how much it reminded me of Wuthering Heights, a wonderful classic of forbidden love. This book was magnificently written with believable and likeable characters. This is easily in my top ten favorites for 2013. The ending will certainly shock you, I didn’t even see it coming. A truly amazing read, I am now a huge fan of Fleur Philips and I can’t wait to see what else she has in store for us.
… (meer)