GENRE: Realistic Fiction
HONORS: none that I can find
REVIEW: This story is about a Jewish family in New York City that is coming to terms with the death of a loved one. Birdland is told through the eyes of 14-year old Jeb, who is mourning the loss of a brother, Zeke, whom he loved and admired. Jeb finds Zeke's old journal, and decides to film a documentary that retraces his brother's old footsteps in the Lower East Side. The story depicts the neighborhood and its citizens in a detailed, but unmemorable fashion, and Zeke is only characterized by his love of poetry and Charlie Parker. Jeb's curiosity with a young homeless girl that he encounters in his film may lead the whereabouts of Zeke's death. This plot seems enthralling at first, but sets up the reader for impertinence.
OPINION: The audio version of this book has made the family sound African American, rather than Jewish (a detail which I didn't I find out until later). Tracy Mack tries hard to give a hip edge to the story by incorporating artsy interests in big city grit, but the details didn't seem to have any relevancy in the matter. The love of Jeb for his brother is the strongest aspect of the book, but the story line fails to be engaging.
IDEAS: I wouldn't recommend it.
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