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A Catalog of Birds
Billy Flynn always wanted to fly. An attractive young man, a patriot, he is also an artist with pencil and paint and has an abiding affinity for nature. It's 1970 and he cannot resist the call to serve in Vietnam. A year later he is the only survivor when his helicopter is shot down.A wounded Billy returns home to his family in upstate New York, especially to Nell, his adoring younger sister. In his absence, the woman he loves has mysteriously disappeared. His wounds have crippled his ability to even hold a pencil and his hearing loss has cut him off from the natural world. Nell, a brilliant student headed for a career in science, will do all that's possible to save him.A Catalog of Birds is the story of a family and a community confronted with a loss of innocence and wounds that may never heal. The legacy of war and its destruction of nature is seared onto the memories of a small American town. Laura Harrington has written a tale of forgiveness, of ourselves, and those we love. Illuminated by heartbreak and promise, the novel is alive with spirit and wonder and hope for the future.
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First published July 10, 2017
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About the author
Laura Harrington
11 books170 followersLaura Harrington's award-winning plays, musicals, and operas have been widely produced across America, in Canada, and Europe in venues ranging from off-off-Broadway to Houston Grand Opera. She is the 2008 Kleban Award Winner for most promising librettist in American Musical Theatre. Harrington has twice won both the Massachusetts Cultural Council Award and the Clauder Competition for best new play in New England.
A Catalog of Birds, her new novel, published by Europa Editions, is set in 1970, a watershed moment in American history, A Catalog of Birds tells the story of the Flynn family and the devastating impact of the Vietnam War. At the heart of the novel is the relationship between siblings Nell and Billy Flynn. Nell excels academically and is headed to college and a career in science. Billy, a passionate artist, enlists as a pilot to fulfill his lifelong dream of flying. The only survivor when his helicopter is shot down, he returns home so seriously wounded he may never use his right hand again. As Billy struggles to regain the life he once had, Nell and their family will have to do all that’s possible to save him.
“Taut and true, A Catalog of Birds is a beautiful book about family, loss and love. Its memorable characters will haunt you long after you put it down.”
Claire Messud, award-winning author of The Woman Upstairs
"You know the Flynns. They’re that family down the street—or perhaps your own family— imperfect, loving, loyal, angry, secretive, stubborn, barely making ends meet, church-going but not always believing, each carrying burdens they can never quite put down. At once spare and richly symphonic, A Catalog of Birds brings you into the very marrow of the Flynns and those in their orbit, each page wrapping you in more tightly until you can’t let go even after the words stop. Get a copy for a friend—you’ll want to have someone to talk to about it as soon as you finish."
Juliette Fay, best-selling author of The Tumbling Turner Sisters
Her first novel, Alice Bliss, (Viking/ Penguin) is a Boston Globe bestseller and the winner of the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction. Alice Bliss has been lauded as a "Discover Great New Writers" at Barnes & Noble, "Best Books of the Summer" at Entertainment Weekly, a "People Pick" at People Magazine and "Best Books of 2011" by the School Library Journal. Foreign rights have been sold in the UK, Italy and Denmark.
Alice Bliss was chosen by the Richard and Judy Book Club in the UK, where it was featured in all WH Smith Book Shops throughout Britain.
Laura teaches playwriting at MIT where she was awarded the 2009 Levitan Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She has also been a frequent guest artist at Tufts, Harvard, Wellesley, and the University of Iowa and most recently, the Jack Kerouac Writer in Residence at UMASS Lowell.
She is currently writing Alice Bliss, the musical, with a commission from Playwrights Horizons in NYC. She is working with the composer Jenny Giering, lyricist Adam Gwon, and director Mark Brokaw.
Book Clubs: If you'd like me to visit your book club -- in person or by phone or Skype -- please contact me. Also, please "Like" my page on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/LHarringtonbooks
Read more at:
Books: www.lauraharringtonbooks.com
Theatre: www.laura-harrington.com
A Catalog of Birds, her new novel, published by Europa Editions, is set in 1970, a watershed moment in American history, A Catalog of Birds tells the story of the Flynn family and the devastating impact of the Vietnam War. At the heart of the novel is the relationship between siblings Nell and Billy Flynn. Nell excels academically and is headed to college and a career in science. Billy, a passionate artist, enlists as a pilot to fulfill his lifelong dream of flying. The only survivor when his helicopter is shot down, he returns home so seriously wounded he may never use his right hand again. As Billy struggles to regain the life he once had, Nell and their family will have to do all that’s possible to save him.
“Taut and true, A Catalog of Birds is a beautiful book about family, loss and love. Its memorable characters will haunt you long after you put it down.”
Claire Messud, award-winning author of The Woman Upstairs
"You know the Flynns. They’re that family down the street—or perhaps your own family— imperfect, loving, loyal, angry, secretive, stubborn, barely making ends meet, church-going but not always believing, each carrying burdens they can never quite put down. At once spare and richly symphonic, A Catalog of Birds brings you into the very marrow of the Flynns and those in their orbit, each page wrapping you in more tightly until you can’t let go even after the words stop. Get a copy for a friend—you’ll want to have someone to talk to about it as soon as you finish."
Juliette Fay, best-selling author of The Tumbling Turner Sisters
Her first novel, Alice Bliss, (Viking/ Penguin) is a Boston Globe bestseller and the winner of the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction. Alice Bliss has been lauded as a "Discover Great New Writers" at Barnes & Noble, "Best Books of the Summer" at Entertainment Weekly, a "People Pick" at People Magazine and "Best Books of 2011" by the School Library Journal. Foreign rights have been sold in the UK, Italy and Denmark.
Alice Bliss was chosen by the Richard and Judy Book Club in the UK, where it was featured in all WH Smith Book Shops throughout Britain.
Laura teaches playwriting at MIT where she was awarded the 2009 Levitan Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She has also been a frequent guest artist at Tufts, Harvard, Wellesley, and the University of Iowa and most recently, the Jack Kerouac Writer in Residence at UMASS Lowell.
She is currently writing Alice Bliss, the musical, with a commission from Playwrights Horizons in NYC. She is working with the composer Jenny Giering, lyricist Adam Gwon, and director Mark Brokaw.
Book Clubs: If you'd like me to visit your book club -- in person or by phone or Skype -- please contact me. Also, please "Like" my page on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/LHarringtonbooks
Read more at:
Books: www.lauraharringtonbooks.com
Theatre: www.laura-harrington.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 160 reviews
January 18, 2018
I came of age in the shadow of the Vietnam War. It has taken years — decades — for this country to come to terms with how this unauthorized war destroyed the promising lives of young men who fought in it. And still, we persist in the folly of sacrificing our youth.
Laura Harrington, in poetic and lyrical prose, strives to bridge that understanding. Billy Flynn/and his younger sister Nell have a deep bond and a passion for the natural world. His artistic rendering of birds is executed with precision and mastery. One day, like the birds, he hopes to fly.
And fly he does, as a pilot in the Vietnam War, but his helicopter is shot down and the burn injuries he suffers are severe. He wants his life back again —his bonding with the birds and his dream of becoming a pilot—and he is unwilling to accept that the likelihood of recognizing these dreams is close to nil.
We witness Billy’s despair: “He is so tired. Tired of doctors, of drinking, tired of trying to talk or not talk, to tell stories, to lie, to know when to shut up. He misses sleep like it’s a country he can’t go to anymore.” He can’t reach in and he can’t reach out. Billy is isolated, and only his best friends gets it: “I know about the guilt phase, the pissed-off phase, the why-me phrase, the pills and girls and alcohol phase…You just have to hang on.”
Contrasted against Billy is the disappearance of Billy’s first love, Megan, who may or may not have been abducted. The loss of Megan and destruction of Megan unmoor the tight-knit community, who can’t control or find answers to what is going on. Only Nell, who is poised to leave for college, may have the capacity to escape as the natural order of things goes topsy-turvey.
This is a haunting book about the legacy of war and the thin line between the natural and unnatural. There are no easy answers and no ready conclusions—nor are there in real life—and the story is well delineated.
Laura Harrington, in poetic and lyrical prose, strives to bridge that understanding. Billy Flynn/and his younger sister Nell have a deep bond and a passion for the natural world. His artistic rendering of birds is executed with precision and mastery. One day, like the birds, he hopes to fly.
And fly he does, as a pilot in the Vietnam War, but his helicopter is shot down and the burn injuries he suffers are severe. He wants his life back again —his bonding with the birds and his dream of becoming a pilot—and he is unwilling to accept that the likelihood of recognizing these dreams is close to nil.
We witness Billy’s despair: “He is so tired. Tired of doctors, of drinking, tired of trying to talk or not talk, to tell stories, to lie, to know when to shut up. He misses sleep like it’s a country he can’t go to anymore.” He can’t reach in and he can’t reach out. Billy is isolated, and only his best friends gets it: “I know about the guilt phase, the pissed-off phase, the why-me phrase, the pills and girls and alcohol phase…You just have to hang on.”
Contrasted against Billy is the disappearance of Billy’s first love, Megan, who may or may not have been abducted. The loss of Megan and destruction of Megan unmoor the tight-knit community, who can’t control or find answers to what is going on. Only Nell, who is poised to leave for college, may have the capacity to escape as the natural order of things goes topsy-turvey.
This is a haunting book about the legacy of war and the thin line between the natural and unnatural. There are no easy answers and no ready conclusions—nor are there in real life—and the story is well delineated.
August 8, 2017
If you've missed adding this to your TBR list, please check out this novel. It's on my top reads list for 2017!
Second read:
Wow. This novel!!! I fell in love with the characters and, oh my goodness, I'm warning you now they're unforgettable. Billy Flynn and his sister Nell, their parents, siblings, and Harlow—swoon over Harlow! Then there's Megan, Nell's best friend and Billy's love. No words to describe the mystery of Megan. Just read it! Every one of these characters will get into your heart and stay there.
This novel is a journey of living with haunting memories, one you'll take with the Flynn family after Billy returns from Vietnam. But don't expect flashbacks of war in every chapter. Nope. This is about life and the people who fill it—their passions, their heartbreaks, their troubles, their joys, their challenges and triumphs, their faith, their memories, their hopes, their love for nature (especially birds), for each other, for life. It's about holding on and letting go. Just in case, have a tissue!
A Catalog of Birds is storytelling at it's best. Like me, it's possible you'll find yourself forgetting where you are because, through the pages, you'll find yourself transformed to another era and another home.
As I stated originally:
An exquisite masterpiece by the brilliant award-winning author, Laura Harrington. Do not miss this novel. Though it's being published for adults, this is the perfect YA crossover novel.
Second read:
Wow. This novel!!! I fell in love with the characters and, oh my goodness, I'm warning you now they're unforgettable. Billy Flynn and his sister Nell, their parents, siblings, and Harlow—swoon over Harlow! Then there's Megan, Nell's best friend and Billy's love. No words to describe the mystery of Megan. Just read it! Every one of these characters will get into your heart and stay there.
This novel is a journey of living with haunting memories, one you'll take with the Flynn family after Billy returns from Vietnam. But don't expect flashbacks of war in every chapter. Nope. This is about life and the people who fill it—their passions, their heartbreaks, their troubles, their joys, their challenges and triumphs, their faith, their memories, their hopes, their love for nature (especially birds), for each other, for life. It's about holding on and letting go. Just in case, have a tissue!
A Catalog of Birds is storytelling at it's best. Like me, it's possible you'll find yourself forgetting where you are because, through the pages, you'll find yourself transformed to another era and another home.
As I stated originally:
An exquisite masterpiece by the brilliant award-winning author, Laura Harrington. Do not miss this novel. Though it's being published for adults, this is the perfect YA crossover novel.
April 29, 2018
A Catalog of Birds centres around a small 1970’s community in the Finger Lakes region of New York state, an area known for its series of long, thin, deep glacial lakes, it’s high gorges and dramatic waterfalls (and today its wineries).
Despite its natural beauty, this community is affected, as every other is and has been, by the shadow of war, of young men returning from Vietnam, lost dreams, a lost innocence.
The Flynn family’s son Billy has just returned, his body covered in burns, his right arm mangled, his hearing disturbed, after surviving a helicopter crash. The day after his return, his girlfriend Megan disappears.
Megan
Billys field journal
Billy and his younger sister Nell have a close relationship, they know the surrounding lakes and forests like no other, they are connected to their natural environment in a way that even a highly educated academic specialising in the birds they know so well, had much to learn from.
Esme, 45 yr old ornithologist
Nell
Both Billy’s father Jack and his best friend Harlow, also bear and have borne the hardship of the return from war, they cope in their own way, as has Marion, Jack’s wife, waiting out the long semi-recovery, which in the early years, tests every man who dares survive war’s dark parasitic claim to their sanity. Now they must watch Billy go through the same test.
Harlow Murphy
Jack
Nell is too young to remember her father’s return from war, her memories are of the good times she had with her brother and his friend, of the strange feelings that engulf her, of the terrible knowledge of things she knows about Megan, of a desperation to protect her brother, to save his drawings, to bring him back to where he was, when they would go out on the lake, sit in among the trees, listen to birdsong, recognise their warnings, to just be.
Nell
Billy
This is a thought-provoking novel about the effect of war on those who were involved in it, on those closest to them, who try to nurture them through the aftermath, about the inclination to not ever to want to speak about what happened, and how that and the changed behaviour trauma causes, affects everyone.
I hope the selection of quotes above provides something of the essence of the novel, it seemed to me that they resonate more than anything I could contribute by way of the review. It is a touching novel that captures the beauty of a shared childhood, the complicity of adolescent friendship and loyalty, the struggle of families, of how they split and come back together, of love, of loss, of the difficulty of practicing forgiveness.
Despite its natural beauty, this community is affected, as every other is and has been, by the shadow of war, of young men returning from Vietnam, lost dreams, a lost innocence.
The Flynn family’s son Billy has just returned, his body covered in burns, his right arm mangled, his hearing disturbed, after surviving a helicopter crash. The day after his return, his girlfriend Megan disappears.
Megan
Megan hesitates before boarding the bus to a place she's never been before, hesitates before accepting a ride with a stranger. Thinking of Billy, that horrible hospital, all those wrecked young men and boys. She's in flight, in flight from it all.
Remembers Billy's last leave. A year of training under his belt. Three days at home before shipping out to Vietnam. Both of them in the grip of something: anticipation, fear, the unknown.
Billys field journal
The early pages from Vietnam alternate between scenes on the base: insects, common birds, sketches of his crew; and pages where he was off the base: acres of green, rice paddies, water buffalo. There are birds Nell has never seen before, drawn as only Billy can; each of them so individual, so full of personality you expect them to sing.
Black crowned night heron
Glossy ibis
Pacific swift
There are fewer entries as the months drag on: a lone man crouched in tall burning grass, the shadow of a gunship passing over him, mountaintops ringed with clouds, ravines dark as the far side of the moon. These give way to drawings of the dead, downed helicopters, the last pages full of fire. Page after page: birds, trees, fields, burning.
Billy and his younger sister Nell have a close relationship, they know the surrounding lakes and forests like no other, they are connected to their natural environment in a way that even a highly educated academic specialising in the birds they know so well, had much to learn from.
Esme, 45 yr old ornithologist
Over the years Billy taught Esme a new way to listen, showed her how birds organise their communication, how to read body language between pairs, the meaning of their back-and-forth chat, how they check in on each other, the various warning sounds.
Nell
Billy's journals are the thread of their childhood; his coming into his own as a naturalist, as an artist, developing his eye, his hand, his deepening identification with birds. From sketching in the field to detailed study, to painting the portraits he began to make the year before he shipped out.
Both Billy’s father Jack and his best friend Harlow, also bear and have borne the hardship of the return from war, they cope in their own way, as has Marion, Jack’s wife, waiting out the long semi-recovery, which in the early years, tests every man who dares survive war’s dark parasitic claim to their sanity. Now they must watch Billy go through the same test.
Harlow Murphy
On good days he fell right into a rhythm of forgetting, found a girl not quite so dedicated to her antiwar stance she'd forego sleeping with a vet, and then drank enough to numb his nightmares. On bad days he was rendered speechless by fury and confusion. He grew his hair long. Learned never to talk about the war.
Jack
"Did you have nightmares Dad?"
"Still do."
The minutes tick long.
"You can't leave it. You just end up carrying it."He takes another swallow of Scotch. "I don't know how to help him," he admits. Shamed to hear the words out loud.
"Just love him."
He looks at his daughter again,, wishes it were enough, wishes he didn't know the limits of love and hope, how little, really, can be covered over, hidden away, made whole.
Nell is too young to remember her father’s return from war, her memories are of the good times she had with her brother and his friend, of the strange feelings that engulf her, of the terrible knowledge of things she knows about Megan, of a desperation to protect her brother, to save his drawings, to bring him back to where he was, when they would go out on the lake, sit in among the trees, listen to birdsong, recognise their warnings, to just be.
Nell
Something lifts in Nell, hearing her brother laugh like that.
She looks at Harlow's hands. They're square and strong, the Coke bottle almost disappears in them. Thinks of picking apples in the Alsop orchard. The boys thought ladders were for sissies. Determined to keep up with them, she tried to find a handhold and a foothold to get into the tree. Harlow reached down, grabbed her forearm, pulled her up beside him.
That sudden wash of closeness as she found her footing and her balance. The smell of his skin, touching him. The sun low in the sky, the trees heavy with fruit. Hidden from the others. Light-headed. Vibrating with a feeling she didn't know how to describe. Twelve years old. How she had wanted to kiss him.
Still does. But it doesn't look like that's ever gonna happen again.
Billy
He flirts with driving so fast she'll be scared into telling him the truth, a truth he probably already knows. Feels her fear then, takes his foot off the gas.
How stupid they were; believing nothing could touch them, catch them, destroy what they had. Willfully blind to the facts, to the birds and the bees, for godsakes. Charmed, meant to be, summer of love, ain't nothing like the real thing, baby.
He looks at Nell, thinks of how he kept Harlow away from her, but still took what he wanted with Megan. With everything. Grabbed what he wanted with both hands. Flying. The war. Intoxicated in the air. Every time he walked across the tarmac, climbed into the bird. All he'd ever wanted. More awake, more alert, more alive than anytime before or since.
This is a thought-provoking novel about the effect of war on those who were involved in it, on those closest to them, who try to nurture them through the aftermath, about the inclination to not ever to want to speak about what happened, and how that and the changed behaviour trauma causes, affects everyone.
I hope the selection of quotes above provides something of the essence of the novel, it seemed to me that they resonate more than anything I could contribute by way of the review. It is a touching novel that captures the beauty of a shared childhood, the complicity of adolescent friendship and loyalty, the struggle of families, of how they split and come back together, of love, of loss, of the difficulty of practicing forgiveness.
November 14, 2017
In prose as riveting as it is sensitive, Harrington brings the natural world and the human one into focus. This story is unforgettable. Highly, highly recommend!
July 13, 2017
This is a magnificent second novel to follow and expand the themes first explored in Laura Harrington's brilliant debut, ALICE BLISS. Read A CATALOG OF BIRDS to become a member of the big Irish-Catholic family struggling with the overwhelming impact of the war in Vietnam on their badly-injured returning soldier--and on them all. Billy had been a gifted artist; his wounds have cost him the use of a hand, and he cannot recover the ability to draw his beloved birds. He learns that first love, Megan, his sister Nell's best friend, has disappeared during his absence, terrifying the small community. Nell, a young scientist, is studying the slow destruction of the environment and wildlife. As you become a Flynn, you'll breathe in the natural world of rural upstate New York, love the land with them, and understand the delicate, breakable bones of survival as well as the feather and song of the human spirit. There's not a false note in this important work about the aftermath of war.
July 12, 2021
Nell is seventeen and about to graduate from high school. It's February of 1970 and the brother she is closest to, Billy, has returned from Vietnam after surviving a fiery helicopter crash. Billy's family embraces him as he struggles to regain control of his right hand as well his life. Billy drinks too much and can't seem to get his footing. Nell watches and wants to help, but feels powerless when it comes to Billy's recovery.
The story takes us through the highs and lows and gives us the perspective of Billy and all of those around him. It's a snapshot of a young veteran coping with a reality he isn't quite prepared to embrace. This one is done well and is a good depiction of PTS.
The story takes us through the highs and lows and gives us the perspective of Billy and all of those around him. It's a snapshot of a young veteran coping with a reality he isn't quite prepared to embrace. This one is done well and is a good depiction of PTS.
March 10, 2017
Set in upstate NY during the early 1970s with the Vietnam War as a backdrop and the anti-war protests that happened here, I felt a connection to this book as a New Yorker. More so, the novel resonated with me as an American.
Billy Flynn, the only son of the Flynn family, returns home from Vietnam worse than dead. He comes back severely burned, effectively ruining his love for sketching birds and Ornithology. Billy undergoes extensive rehab to try and gain his strength again, but even then he has to deal with the psychological effects of the intense fighting he was involved in.
Because of Billy's condition, the future of the family shifts to the shoulders of his sister Nell. Nell studies at Cornell University and plans to use her education to better the situation of her family (who are part of the working class).
Many social issues of the 1970s like PTSD, underage sex, females attaining an education and joining the workforce just to name a few are all covered in this book. With all of this happening, the book leads the reader down many loose ends or to incomplete moments, however what does come full-circle really hits.
I found A Catalog of Birds to very reflective of the times we live in today. It shows, through the story of the Flynn family and their son Billy and this town of Rochester, NY, that America is a country of constant change and yet it has these enduring issues to address. I would also go on to say that it also argues that we are a country setback by war, that real American morals and values go against and are better than the constant violence we lead.
I believe the primary message of Harrington's novel is actually a question that asks, "where are we at as a nation and people?" which I truly think about everyday and for the future family that I will raise here one day.
-Christian
Billy Flynn, the only son of the Flynn family, returns home from Vietnam worse than dead. He comes back severely burned, effectively ruining his love for sketching birds and Ornithology. Billy undergoes extensive rehab to try and gain his strength again, but even then he has to deal with the psychological effects of the intense fighting he was involved in.
Because of Billy's condition, the future of the family shifts to the shoulders of his sister Nell. Nell studies at Cornell University and plans to use her education to better the situation of her family (who are part of the working class).
Many social issues of the 1970s like PTSD, underage sex, females attaining an education and joining the workforce just to name a few are all covered in this book. With all of this happening, the book leads the reader down many loose ends or to incomplete moments, however what does come full-circle really hits.
I found A Catalog of Birds to very reflective of the times we live in today. It shows, through the story of the Flynn family and their son Billy and this town of Rochester, NY, that America is a country of constant change and yet it has these enduring issues to address. I would also go on to say that it also argues that we are a country setback by war, that real American morals and values go against and are better than the constant violence we lead.
I believe the primary message of Harrington's novel is actually a question that asks, "where are we at as a nation and people?" which I truly think about everyday and for the future family that I will raise here one day.
-Christian
January 2, 2018
This book seemed to be slowly building toward some sort of redemption for Billy, but by the time I was 30 pages from the end, I realized there really weren’t enough pages left for anything but disappointment. It’s not that the ending was unbelievable, it’s just that it made everything that had come before seem kind of pointless. Why did I need to explore these people’s hopes, fears and dreams if it was all going to come to naught? Perhaps what bothered me most was the way that nature, arguably a character in its own right, wound up being just a painted backdrop, pretty to look at but with no real power to redeem or save anyone. And what was the deal with Megan’s disappearance? I still can’t figure out the purpose of that unresolved side plot...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2017
Laura Harrington’s lyrical and unforgettable Catalog of Birds examines the hard questions of what makes a life worth living. A talented artist returns from Vietnam so badly wounded that, after countless surgeries and months of physical training, he can hardly hold a pencil. Meanwhile, the troubled girl he loves mysteriously vanishes. Harrington paints both human frailties and the larger Vietnam conflict with the empathetic clarity she does best, and the parallels between our recent wars in the Middle East are both nuanced and startlingly wise.
July 25, 2017
I grew into adulthood at the height of the Vietnam war. This novel took me back to that time and the issues faced by soldiers returning from the war only to be met with anti-war protestors and a government that still didn't understand Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. As veterans tried to deal with their psychic and physical injuries, there was little support from the population as a whole, most of whom just wanted to see the war end.
Billy Flynn has always wanted to fly, like a bird or as a pilot. As a child he studied birds, keeping beautifully artistic journals of the natural world and he possessed an uncanny ability to mimic the calls of every bird he came into contact with. He comes from a large family and has been especially close with his younger sister Nell.
When Billy comes back to his home in upstate New York, he comes with many injuries - burns on a lot of his body, a hearing deficit, PTSD, and the inability to make much use of his right hand. He was the only one in his platoon to come back alive. His girlfriend, Megan, with whom he has envisioned a future, has disappeared. The search for her has come up with nothing. Despite his family's efforts to provide him with the best care, they are bankrupting themselves. The VA is denying many of the health claims and they are in dire debt. Nell has been accepted to Cornell on scholarship and it is looking doubtful if she will be able to attend.
This is a beautiful book about family, art, and the tragedy of war. As Billy tries to fit in, he is at a loss and feels more and more hopeless. Nell tries everything she can to help Billy, to no avail. She and her family lack the tools and ability to understand and remedy what Billy has experienced.
This novel is beautifully written without being maudlin. It brings beauty and sorrow to the surface and hits a home run. I thank Europa for providing me a copy.
Billy Flynn has always wanted to fly, like a bird or as a pilot. As a child he studied birds, keeping beautifully artistic journals of the natural world and he possessed an uncanny ability to mimic the calls of every bird he came into contact with. He comes from a large family and has been especially close with his younger sister Nell.
When Billy comes back to his home in upstate New York, he comes with many injuries - burns on a lot of his body, a hearing deficit, PTSD, and the inability to make much use of his right hand. He was the only one in his platoon to come back alive. His girlfriend, Megan, with whom he has envisioned a future, has disappeared. The search for her has come up with nothing. Despite his family's efforts to provide him with the best care, they are bankrupting themselves. The VA is denying many of the health claims and they are in dire debt. Nell has been accepted to Cornell on scholarship and it is looking doubtful if she will be able to attend.
This is a beautiful book about family, art, and the tragedy of war. As Billy tries to fit in, he is at a loss and feels more and more hopeless. Nell tries everything she can to help Billy, to no avail. She and her family lack the tools and ability to understand and remedy what Billy has experienced.
This novel is beautifully written without being maudlin. It brings beauty and sorrow to the surface and hits a home run. I thank Europa for providing me a copy.
October 18, 2022
Such a beautifully written book. As a nature lover, this book is especially relatable and Harrington does such a wonderful job of writing so vividly the relief and life that being in nature can bring to you even in the darkest of times.
Even the way Harrington describes grief and loss is somehow starkly beautiful. This book is a heartbreaker for sure. Do not read if you aren’t ready to shed some major tears.
Even the way Harrington describes grief and loss is somehow starkly beautiful. This book is a heartbreaker for sure. Do not read if you aren’t ready to shed some major tears.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2017
The most lyrical and lovely war story I've read, this novel concerns a young man's return from Vietnam, largely told from the perspective of his younger sister. The plot is linear and it's not a happy tale, but the landscape is glorious and the description of small town life is evocative. Also, every so often the characters go silent, to listen for the sounds of birds in the woods, and it is like a refreshing pause in the story, a chance for characters and the reader to calm themselves.
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
April 15, 2020
It seems like I’ve been reading so many books about WWII. Those were mostly set during the war - people were in it for the long haul until the end of the war.
With the Vietnam War - people were in it for their tour of duty - often 2 years for those drafted. Then they returned to ‘normal’ society but nothing was ever normal again. How sad it is that Vietnam vets received such ill treatment after coming home - both from society and from the government.
It makes me wonder how many homeless men of our generation are still dealing with the war.
This book drives home how the war never leaves people that have fought in it - any war.
With the Vietnam War - people were in it for their tour of duty - often 2 years for those drafted. Then they returned to ‘normal’ society but nothing was ever normal again. How sad it is that Vietnam vets received such ill treatment after coming home - both from society and from the government.
It makes me wonder how many homeless men of our generation are still dealing with the war.
This book drives home how the war never leaves people that have fought in it - any war.
July 19, 2017
Laura Harrington manages to write down to the very bone in A Catalog of Birds. Weaving the familial with the political with expertise and heart, Harrington shines a light on the ways that battles of war scar everyone connected to our soldiers, cutting back the dreams of those who serve and those who love them. Separating the soldiers of the Vietnam war from the loved ones left behind is impossible. Harrington, with intensity, sympathy and truth-telling provides a journey into the heart of America.
October 17, 2018
"Catalog" is a meditation on loss, written for people just my age. It brings me back to the betrayals of the Vietnam era by following siblings Nell and Billy Flynn as the depth of Billy's wounding in Vietnam is explored along with the impacts on those who love him- but most especially Nell. Book Group really liked Harrington's tale and felt that the lack of resolution was an authentic outcome. Every member of the group had become invested in the characters and the story and discussion occurred on a range of topics. Recommended.
August 9, 2017
Really, really strong book. Sucked me right in. I wanted to drive to Geneva and see/hear all that these characters were living through.
From a technical point of view, this author does an amazing job of presenting a variety of points of view by being an omniscient narrator. Rather than have chapters devoted to one character's POV and then switching, this narrator just knows what everyone is thinking, feeling, meaning. It really works.
From a technical point of view, this author does an amazing job of presenting a variety of points of view by being an omniscient narrator. Rather than have chapters devoted to one character's POV and then switching, this narrator just knows what everyone is thinking, feeling, meaning. It really works.
January 27, 2018
Laura Harrington has set this beautiful novel in upper state New York in 1970 for a distinct purpose -- that "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." The hopelessness experienced by those who lived through the seemingly endless Vietnam era which scarred this country beyond redemption, is being repeated by currently witnessing even longer conflicts that show no signs of slowing down or resolution. The large Irish/Catholic Flynn family of Geneva is a warm, close knit clan, devastated over the burns and scars suffered by only son Billy, returned after a helicopter crash in which he was the only survivor and who is constantly reminded that "at least you're still in one piece." PTSD, a condition unrecognized at that time, is explored in ways original and devastating, not only in Billy, but also in his father who suffered from the condition following World War II.
A talented artist and young man with plans of becoming a commercial pilot, Billy has seen all his dreams dissipate due to the extreme nerve damage done to his right hand. In addition, his girlfriend, Megan, has disappeared, a plot device which could in other hands have been used to lurid effect, but here is a side line of behavior in wartime. Central to the story is Billy's sister Nell, representative of the prototypical woman of that era, breaking from expectations in pursuit of a degree in science, usual for the day. Her lifelong bond with her beloved brother, their love of birds and pursuit of their study, are emblematic of the strong family ties within the Flynns.
A talented artist and young man with plans of becoming a commercial pilot, Billy has seen all his dreams dissipate due to the extreme nerve damage done to his right hand. In addition, his girlfriend, Megan, has disappeared, a plot device which could in other hands have been used to lurid effect, but here is a side line of behavior in wartime. Central to the story is Billy's sister Nell, representative of the prototypical woman of that era, breaking from expectations in pursuit of a degree in science, usual for the day. Her lifelong bond with her beloved brother, their love of birds and pursuit of their study, are emblematic of the strong family ties within the Flynns.
July 14, 2017
Highly recommend this book! So many important issues — war, nature, loss — addressed in such beautiful prose. Harrington's characters come to life; I didn't want the novel to end. It’s poignant and sad, but also full of love and beauty.
January 14, 2020
This was a heart-wrenchingly sad and beautifully written book about an injured Vietnam vet and his attempts to recover from his injuries and the horrors of war. I read it in one day and sobbed at the end......
July 19, 2017
A beautiful follow-up (prequel, actually) to Harrington's "Alice Bliss." She writes nuanced male characters and depicts complicated, loving relationships so perfectly, not to mention her messages about the ravages of war are poignant and, sadly, timely.
December 13, 2017
A Catalog of Birds is a quiet exploration of the emotional aftermath of a soldier's re-entry after serving in Vietnam. The war intruded into all of our lives, but for some, it tore them apart. Some were sons of WWII vets where the trauma will carry through yet another generation.
The birds are a backdrop for the story. Billy spent many hours in the woods observing and listening to birdsong. He is a gifted listener and shares his time and experiences with his younger sister, Nell. But after the war, Billy's relationship with Nell changes. Nell quietly tries to regain that relationship; but she finds she has to navigate a difficult path to any relationship with Billy. He suffers a loss of hearing, massive burns, pain, loss of a hand and independence.
This is a beautifully written novel and no less important today than it was during the aftermath of Vietnam.
The birds are a backdrop for the story. Billy spent many hours in the woods observing and listening to birdsong. He is a gifted listener and shares his time and experiences with his younger sister, Nell. But after the war, Billy's relationship with Nell changes. Nell quietly tries to regain that relationship; but she finds she has to navigate a difficult path to any relationship with Billy. He suffers a loss of hearing, massive burns, pain, loss of a hand and independence.
This is a beautifully written novel and no less important today than it was during the aftermath of Vietnam.
March 16, 2021
Deceptively quiet book that is poignant and stays with you.
February 7, 2025
Deeply moving and beautifully written. Billy and Nell are siblings who grew up in the Finger Lakes with a deep appreciation for nature and an ability to listen to birds and identify them. Billy returns from the Vietnam War dreadfully injured and family, friends and community try to help him heal. His little sister Nell does what she can to help him while also growing up herself. A sub story of missing girls is not well fleshed out. Another sub story of chemicals' impact on nature is also not the focus of the story but adds depth.
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August 14, 2017Stunning
Ms Harrington has crafted an amazing work full of loss, pain, longing, and love. When you finish the book you don't know if you should be sad or hopeful.
Ms Harrington has crafted an amazing work full of loss, pain, longing, and love. When you finish the book you don't know if you should be sad or hopeful.
December 31, 2021
Laura Harrington’s “A Catalog of Birds” turned out to be an unexpected pleasure.
Based on reviews, I would not have been surprised, going in, to find good things here. But a few dozen pages in, I had my doubts — you know, the good writer, poor execution thing. This novel is like stepping into and out of stripey sunshine: beauty, then disorienting lack of clarity. Fortunately, this is one of those novels that gets better all the way through, and while much of what happens is dark, I felt I was walking in light much of the way. I'm glad I completed the journey.
“Curing and healing are not the same thing. To cure is to remove disease. To heal is to make whole.” So says a character in “A Catalog of Birds,” and much of the novel is about trying to heal. Billy Flynn, the lone survivor of a Vietnam helicopter crash, comes home needing a great deal of physical therapy and peace of mind.
He returns to his parents’ home in a lakes region of New York, to his 17-year-old sister Nell and, he thinks, his one-time girlfriend, Megan, who is Nell’s age.
But Megan disappears, authorities try to find her, and Billy, who also suffers tinnitus and hearing loss, walks the very slow road to healing his damaged hand and arm. Billy had an extraordinary knowledge of birds and their songs and was a remarkable drawer of them, and imagery of flight and birds runs throughout this novel. The actual plot isn’t that similar, but the general themes of “A Catalog of Birds” reminded me of William Wharton’s stellar “Birdy,” another tale of a war-damaged young man obsessed with birds.
Harrington weaves flashbacks in and out; early on, this really screwed with momentum and was a bit disorienting. I almost gave up on the novel, but Harrington’s crisp imagery and knack for revealing character through dialogue eventually won me over.
Truth be told, “A Catalog of Birds” sometimes seems like it’s trying to decide what it is. Small-town tale; dark mystery; family story; period piece on the attitudes toward the war in Vietnam; romance. One would be tempted to say Harrington couldn’t find her focus, but she’s in such tight control of the words and story that she knows exactly what she’s doing. Not everything gets tied up nicely — and some readers may have a problem with this — but Harrington works wonders with these people, particularly Nell, a girl accepted into Cornell who should have her whole life ahead of her but instead is mired in the suck of her friend Megan’s disappearance and her brother’s struggle to find some semblance of his old hope and fire.
“How stupid they were; believing nothing could touch them, catch them, destroy what they had.” Through Harrington’s simple yet powerful writing, “A Catalog of Birds” becomes a moving story of a family dealing with the effects of war and a town on the downturn over five months in 1970. She gets the feel of the turbulent times right and sets some sharp and troubled characters smack in the middle of them.
Though Harrington is primarily a writer for theater, this second novel is a quiet, affecting winner.
Based on reviews, I would not have been surprised, going in, to find good things here. But a few dozen pages in, I had my doubts — you know, the good writer, poor execution thing. This novel is like stepping into and out of stripey sunshine: beauty, then disorienting lack of clarity. Fortunately, this is one of those novels that gets better all the way through, and while much of what happens is dark, I felt I was walking in light much of the way. I'm glad I completed the journey.
“Curing and healing are not the same thing. To cure is to remove disease. To heal is to make whole.” So says a character in “A Catalog of Birds,” and much of the novel is about trying to heal. Billy Flynn, the lone survivor of a Vietnam helicopter crash, comes home needing a great deal of physical therapy and peace of mind.
He returns to his parents’ home in a lakes region of New York, to his 17-year-old sister Nell and, he thinks, his one-time girlfriend, Megan, who is Nell’s age.
But Megan disappears, authorities try to find her, and Billy, who also suffers tinnitus and hearing loss, walks the very slow road to healing his damaged hand and arm. Billy had an extraordinary knowledge of birds and their songs and was a remarkable drawer of them, and imagery of flight and birds runs throughout this novel. The actual plot isn’t that similar, but the general themes of “A Catalog of Birds” reminded me of William Wharton’s stellar “Birdy,” another tale of a war-damaged young man obsessed with birds.
Harrington weaves flashbacks in and out; early on, this really screwed with momentum and was a bit disorienting. I almost gave up on the novel, but Harrington’s crisp imagery and knack for revealing character through dialogue eventually won me over.
Truth be told, “A Catalog of Birds” sometimes seems like it’s trying to decide what it is. Small-town tale; dark mystery; family story; period piece on the attitudes toward the war in Vietnam; romance. One would be tempted to say Harrington couldn’t find her focus, but she’s in such tight control of the words and story that she knows exactly what she’s doing. Not everything gets tied up nicely — and some readers may have a problem with this — but Harrington works wonders with these people, particularly Nell, a girl accepted into Cornell who should have her whole life ahead of her but instead is mired in the suck of her friend Megan’s disappearance and her brother’s struggle to find some semblance of his old hope and fire.
“How stupid they were; believing nothing could touch them, catch them, destroy what they had.” Through Harrington’s simple yet powerful writing, “A Catalog of Birds” becomes a moving story of a family dealing with the effects of war and a town on the downturn over five months in 1970. She gets the feel of the turbulent times right and sets some sharp and troubled characters smack in the middle of them.
Though Harrington is primarily a writer for theater, this second novel is a quiet, affecting winner.
December 24, 2021
This is an excellent novel, one that grabs you from the get-go and never lets up the tension. It is certainly an all-nighter - I never found a stopping place. I am certainly looking for more from Laura Harrington.
Set in the spring of 1970, Billy Flynn has major burns and broken bones after his chopper went down in Vietnam. He lost his whole crew, dear friends, and the injured they were transporting to base. After months in the Army hospital. in Japan, he is sent to a military hospital near his home for rehab and more surgeries to remove shrapnel and repair bones trying to mend crooked. His girl is missing, has been for months. His extended family members are all there for him - many are still living at the family home in upstate New York, and home is where his heart really is. He has the church, the locals, his dog as well. The finger lakes, the woods, the birds. But his right hand and arm, his drawing hand, are badly burned, and getting back the use of that hand is doubtful. Using his left is about his only option, so he is trying but it's really hard, even just to write. His art may well be a thing of the past. The future, as he once imagined it, is no more. Between the tinnitus and the hearing loss he experienced in the wreck, his world is more restricted.
His sister Nell, always his closest companion, does her best to keep his spirits up. And there are always the birds that he so loves, that he can identify from just a chirp or a flash of light between the trees. It is finally summer, and the lake has always been a second home to the Flynn siblings. Altogether, Billy is having a hard time feeling positive. Even with the help of Nell and his family. Someway, he must envision a new future, one he can accomplish despite his injuries. He must find a different happy ending to his story.
Reviewed on December 23, 2021, at Goodreads, AmazonSmile, Barnes&Noble, BookBub, Dobo, and GooglePlay.
Set in the spring of 1970, Billy Flynn has major burns and broken bones after his chopper went down in Vietnam. He lost his whole crew, dear friends, and the injured they were transporting to base. After months in the Army hospital. in Japan, he is sent to a military hospital near his home for rehab and more surgeries to remove shrapnel and repair bones trying to mend crooked. His girl is missing, has been for months. His extended family members are all there for him - many are still living at the family home in upstate New York, and home is where his heart really is. He has the church, the locals, his dog as well. The finger lakes, the woods, the birds. But his right hand and arm, his drawing hand, are badly burned, and getting back the use of that hand is doubtful. Using his left is about his only option, so he is trying but it's really hard, even just to write. His art may well be a thing of the past. The future, as he once imagined it, is no more. Between the tinnitus and the hearing loss he experienced in the wreck, his world is more restricted.
His sister Nell, always his closest companion, does her best to keep his spirits up. And there are always the birds that he so loves, that he can identify from just a chirp or a flash of light between the trees. It is finally summer, and the lake has always been a second home to the Flynn siblings. Altogether, Billy is having a hard time feeling positive. Even with the help of Nell and his family. Someway, he must envision a new future, one he can accomplish despite his injuries. He must find a different happy ending to his story.
Reviewed on December 23, 2021, at Goodreads, AmazonSmile, Barnes&Noble, BookBub, Dobo, and GooglePlay.
July 28, 2017
Inspiring, heart-wrenching, thought provoking, deeply moving, beautifully written, one of my favorite books of the year. Buy one for a friend because you're going to want someone to talk to about it!
May 27, 2024
Loved this book. So well written. Made me cry. Didn’t want it to end.
February 15, 2018
A wistful novel set in upstate New York nearing the end of Vietnam War, “A Catalog of Birds” focuses on a recently-returned soldier Billy Flynn who was injured —both physically and mentally— from his last battle in Vietnam. He was injured on the right-hand side of his body, in addition to the emotional yet less-visible scar he carries for feeling guilty of having survived the war while his close buddies perished.
We will never be entirely sure if the story is meant to be a veiled criticism of the futile war itself, or the inability of the US government to take care of our military veterans well, but it is obvious from the start that the lives of Billy and those around him might never return to “normal” again. The book never even mentions the term PTSD, as the disorder was not commonly-treated back then, but it is evident that PTSD is the overarching theme of Billy’s road to recovery.
The book starts with a huge red herring (which I won’t reveal here to avoid spoilers), but this distraction would fool readers into believing that this issue would be resolved at the closing pages. It wouldn’t. Rather, it’s the reaction of those affected by this issue that would ultimately prove to be the cause for redemption —or lack thereof— of the people who were affected.
The author Harrington is very adept in using descriptive prose to describe the nature —animate and inanimate ones alike that are found in the environment. I do not even care much for the different type of birds (I cannot even picture a finch or cardinal in my head without doing a Google search), but Harrington can get into detail on the types of birds and the respective noises they make. Hence the title of the novel!
The familial relationships among the Flynn family members as well as the romantic relationships they have with other townsfolk also warm the heart at times, as they are the type of close relationship that are to be expected from small town folks. I absolutely love the way Billy and his sister Nell’s relationship are depicted, as they are filled with mutual admiration and respect from one another.
There are some religious undertones at times, as the Flynn family is nominally Catholic, but not imposing enough to make the story fall into Christian Fiction genre. For example, Billy’s father Jack prays quite often (as does his sister Sheila), and Father O’Rourke who is the parish priest is shown to be a close friend of the family. Billy often slips in to the confessional box without ever being able to confess his sins in detail, simply because he did things in the war that he was deeply ashamed of (as do most soldiers during war, I suppose).
Though there are dreams and wishes that never comes true at the end of the story, it could perhaps serve as a reminder what life expects of us anyway: though we always wish for the best, sometimes there are things that are just not meant to be. Such is life. It goes on.
We will never be entirely sure if the story is meant to be a veiled criticism of the futile war itself, or the inability of the US government to take care of our military veterans well, but it is obvious from the start that the lives of Billy and those around him might never return to “normal” again. The book never even mentions the term PTSD, as the disorder was not commonly-treated back then, but it is evident that PTSD is the overarching theme of Billy’s road to recovery.
The book starts with a huge red herring (which I won’t reveal here to avoid spoilers), but this distraction would fool readers into believing that this issue would be resolved at the closing pages. It wouldn’t. Rather, it’s the reaction of those affected by this issue that would ultimately prove to be the cause for redemption —or lack thereof— of the people who were affected.
The author Harrington is very adept in using descriptive prose to describe the nature —animate and inanimate ones alike that are found in the environment. I do not even care much for the different type of birds (I cannot even picture a finch or cardinal in my head without doing a Google search), but Harrington can get into detail on the types of birds and the respective noises they make. Hence the title of the novel!
The familial relationships among the Flynn family members as well as the romantic relationships they have with other townsfolk also warm the heart at times, as they are the type of close relationship that are to be expected from small town folks. I absolutely love the way Billy and his sister Nell’s relationship are depicted, as they are filled with mutual admiration and respect from one another.
There are some religious undertones at times, as the Flynn family is nominally Catholic, but not imposing enough to make the story fall into Christian Fiction genre. For example, Billy’s father Jack prays quite often (as does his sister Sheila), and Father O’Rourke who is the parish priest is shown to be a close friend of the family. Billy often slips in to the confessional box without ever being able to confess his sins in detail, simply because he did things in the war that he was deeply ashamed of (as do most soldiers during war, I suppose).
Though there are dreams and wishes that never comes true at the end of the story, it could perhaps serve as a reminder what life expects of us anyway: though we always wish for the best, sometimes there are things that are just not meant to be. Such is life. It goes on.
November 5, 2017
Laura Harrington’s stunning new novel, A Catalog Of Birds, is a beautifully rendered portrait of a family’s struggle to navigate through the litany of unexpected loss that to this day, continues to haunt the American soul.
I’ve been eagerly awaiting Harrington’s next work after her brilliant debut novel, Alice Bliss, and am delighted to let you know it was well worth the wait.
A Catalog of Birds is set in 1970, a time when the loss of American innocence has been experienced in full living color. While the tragedy portrayed here belongs to one family and is intensely personal and specific, it speaks to a disaster of more epic proportion that has befallen the country as a whole. This is the heart of what I believe makes Harrington such a gifted writer. Her ability to communicate the inner lives of her characters with such evocative, lyrical strokes reveals a power of observation so keen and empathetic that I felt fully in the presence of her characters and their lives.
On top of that, Harrington is simply a great storyteller. The threads of plot are skillfully woven into a seamless cloth about the coming of age of the wonderful Nell Flynn and a series of tragic events that befall her and her family, including the disappearance of her closest friend and her brother Billy’s crushing emotional and physical struggle upon his return from Vietnam with wounds that refuse to heal.
While A Catalog Of Birds is the story of one family and one town, it reaches so deeply into their experience that I could feel the vibrations of profound universal truths being strummed. Truths about mankind at war with itself and with nature, about a world out of balance and about the power of love that somehow, sometimes, keeps the whole thing from flying hopelessly apart.
I hope you love A Catalog Of Birds as much I do. I’ve already given multiple copies to my friends and family. I’m now looking forward to Laura Harrington’s next masterpiece.
I’ve been eagerly awaiting Harrington’s next work after her brilliant debut novel, Alice Bliss, and am delighted to let you know it was well worth the wait.
A Catalog of Birds is set in 1970, a time when the loss of American innocence has been experienced in full living color. While the tragedy portrayed here belongs to one family and is intensely personal and specific, it speaks to a disaster of more epic proportion that has befallen the country as a whole. This is the heart of what I believe makes Harrington such a gifted writer. Her ability to communicate the inner lives of her characters with such evocative, lyrical strokes reveals a power of observation so keen and empathetic that I felt fully in the presence of her characters and their lives.
On top of that, Harrington is simply a great storyteller. The threads of plot are skillfully woven into a seamless cloth about the coming of age of the wonderful Nell Flynn and a series of tragic events that befall her and her family, including the disappearance of her closest friend and her brother Billy’s crushing emotional and physical struggle upon his return from Vietnam with wounds that refuse to heal.
While A Catalog Of Birds is the story of one family and one town, it reaches so deeply into their experience that I could feel the vibrations of profound universal truths being strummed. Truths about mankind at war with itself and with nature, about a world out of balance and about the power of love that somehow, sometimes, keeps the whole thing from flying hopelessly apart.
I hope you love A Catalog Of Birds as much I do. I’ve already given multiple copies to my friends and family. I’m now looking forward to Laura Harrington’s next masterpiece.
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