Margret Snow is lonely and figuratively lost at sea. After the tragic loss of her husband, Charles, she loses interest in her promising job of dressing windows at her friend Emily’s art gallery and at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City. Instead, she is a secret, amateur taxidermist by night, finding small dead birds in the city parks and near buildings to take home and stuff. “[She] always had a Baggie in her pocket, just in case she found something fallen.” Margret’s fascination with birds started with her Grandfather Milton who was a birder and entomologist who took her bird watching when she was young.

Jacobs’ writing is poetic and very descriptive, especially in the way she describes Margret’s love of birds. “To find them and lift them off the ground. To hold them weightless in her hand. To smooth with the side of a finger the nape of a broken neck. It filled Margret, this ownership of something that cannot be owned.”

This is a novel about a woman with an unusual hobby, but the story is good and encourages you to find out what happens to Margret and her bird collection. I also enjoyed the detailed descriptions of Margret’s window dressing projects. A fascinating job unto itself.

Thank you to Laura Jacobs and LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers for giving me the opportunity to review this book. You may find more information on Laura Jacobs at http://www.laurajacobs.info/. ( )

Grief is personal. Coping with grief is also personal. We all have our own methods of coping with the grief of losing a loved one. Grief can be so consuming that it leaves one unaware of how our grief changes the way we treat our friends and family, and also how the behavior of those who love and care about us shifts to make allowances for the self-centeredness we sometimes unthinkingly wallow in.

I loved this book. It was quiet. It was poignant. It's the story of a woman who dresses windows in Saks and who loves birds. It's a story about a woman and her relationship with her grandfather, her soulmate and her best friend. It's a story of a woman who finds herself adrift after a tragic event. As certain events in her life appear to spiral out of her control, it's also a story of a woman who gradually finds her way again and sees light at the end of a dark tunnel.

There are some good descriptions of birds found in Central Park, NY and incredible details in the art of taxidermy - at least the taxidermy of birds which I found fascinating, but which I can see might revolt those with a lighter stomach for this art.

I liked how the story focused on this one woman, Margret, and her love of birds, and how her thoughts and fears were gradually shared. We know she has a secret with the birds she looks for, but we're not quite sure what she's doing. There are little hints that all is not well in her life at the start of the book, but we're not given the full details until much later, after we've already started to suspect a tragedy and we're already starting to feel we want to wrap her in our arms. While we may not whoop out loud at the end of her journey, there is a definite lift in our spirits as we see her start to straighten her shoulders, lift her head and look forward with clear eyes and a spring in her step. ( )

Newly widowed Margaret Snow tries to find her equilibrium, going through her days as a window dresser, spending her evenings at artistic functions and her spare time watching birds. Her bird watching hobby leads to a creative endeavour that in turn leads to unexpected overnight success as an art sensation and just as quickly plunges her to the depths of disgrace and finally a chance at redemption.
The book was well researched and presented. ( )

Laura Jacobs has an amazing writing style. It's fast and light without feeling superficial or shallow. She describes people well, by showing what they do and say rather than paragraphs of descriptions. I especially enjoyed how she described the character of Emily, and doesn't render judgment so much as just expose her for the reader to imagine. Margaret is also a full-bodied character, one that is unique for her multiple interests...birds, Botticelli artwork, opera, and poetry. Despite all that, she doesn't come off as pretentious (although at times her conversations about these things sound pretentious).

Manhatten and Central Park are as much characters in this novel as the humans...she describes the tangible elements of spaces with detail and charm, and then puts in a backstory that makes you wonder "what would it be like to live in a wall?" The curiousity of Margaret and her calm demeanor sets this apart...she's neither callous nor naive.

The birding details were fascinating, especially in that she admits she'd love to study a dead bird, just to see up close what is always so far and otherworldly. Additionally, seeing how a gallery works and creates exhibitions is also enlightening.

The only thing that keeps me from going to five stars is that I felt the author spent an awful lot of time mentioning name brands, name-dropping authors, poets, and artists to the point it seemed excessive. I think those details may actually date the novel prematurely. Additionally, while I consider myself possessing a basic knowledge of pop art and culture, this made me feel stupid as I understood maybe a tenth or less of the references.

Otherwise, this is a lovely book and one I can imagine rereading to see how she creates her story and builds her pace. ( )

I found The Bird Catcher to be a quiet, contemplative book that took awhile to catch my attention. Jacobs spends almost half the book really developing her characters and their relationships with each other. The payoff, for me, was that by the end I cared deeply about them and their triumphs felt personal. Though not fast paced, the plot was unusual and unique enough to be really intriguing to me. The writing is beautiful, very poetic and descriptive, almost in a dreamy way. I recommend this book to someone looking to quietly drift into another life for awhile. ( )