The Bird Woman

by Kerry Hardie

Ellen McKinnon's clairvoyant experiences damage her mental and physical health. She must face and assimilate an unwanted but unavoidable family secret, experiencing a revelation that turns her life around in this insightful look at the rift between mysticism and rationalism.

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Contemporary, Womens

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Rhoda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book a little tedious to read at times, mainly due to the main character Ellen, who was intense and self-absorbed. She took herself way too seriously and really needed to get over herself!!

The book was well written and definitely had some interesting themes running through it, however I can't really say that I enjoyed it very much. Although I don't believe you have to like the characters to like the book, Ellen's character was so intense and I just wasn't able to relate to her at all. The story was so much about her it rendered all the other characters as minor and I never felt that I got to know them very well unless it was from Ellen's self-absorbed viewpoint.

Quite heavy reading, so I'm off to read some fluff now to get over it!!

[Marta E C R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This is a stunning gem of a book, though not an easy one. Not knowing much about Ireland/Northern Ireland and the Catholic/Protestant "Troubles," I struggled a bit with it at first, trying at least to get things geographically, if not historically, understood in my mind. What this author did, throughout the book but especially with her ending, was to bring together family secrets, betrayals, clairvoyance and healing, and at the bottom of it all, love, into a brilliant synopsis of the messiness of life. This book would not be for everyone, but I'm very glad it crossed my path.

[Rosanna Miranda o'leary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know. I had to force myself to finish this book. The fact she could heal was interesting, but the main character was just too removed and moody. I couldn't empathize with her. All I kept thinking was, "good Lord, get a grip. It's not all about you." All I can really say about this book is, "meh..."

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The protagonist of Kerry Hardie's The Bird Woman is struggling with some walloping identity crises. Ellen, a Protestant from Northern Ireland, almost has a nervous breakdown because she is so troubled by her premonitions. She's also in an unhappy marriage and feels unaccepted by her distant family.

Acting on impulse, she runs away to the south with Liam, a Catholic sculptor who lives in the country. Eventually, her husband dies in a motor accident, and she and Liam marry and have a family. Over time, her occasional visions turn into a mysterious ability to heal, which she fears and resists. Liam believes that she should use her gift, creating tension between them.

Ellen is conflicted in so many ways. Her Presbyterian upbringing left her with a picture of a cold, judgmental God that she doesn't want to believe in, and yet any trace of the supernatural, such as her healing gift, completely terrifies her. She also has prejudice against Catholicism, which she isn't even fully aware of until she lives in the south. When she finds out that a friend of hers, an artist named Catherine, used to be a nun, this idea is so upsetting that she actually gets mad at her.

Questions of faith and finding personal meaning dominate this book. Liam and several other characters are artists, and devotion to art--the mysteries of inspiration--is another complicated issue. Then there are the ties of love and family. Ellen is estranged from her mother and brother (her father is dead), and when she and Liam begin to drift apart, she isn't sure how to navigate that, either.

It was an interesting story, although I found the characters, especially Ellen, to be rather annoying. There were a few really good scenes, and the author weaves images of nature into the narrative in an effortless way. Unlike many books, this story is fully grounded in the natural world and the seasons.

On the whole, though, for my personal tastes, the book was a bit too squishy and emotional. It felt like what would happen if you tried to mix a Lifetime movie and a serious discussion about religious faith together. Still, the descriptions of the Irish countryside made me want to buy a plane ticket, and the book did have its moments that made it worthwhile.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really struggled to get through this book. Just when I’d get interested in part of the story, it would wander off and some other tale would be inserted. It left the story feeling very disjointed. For instance, I liked that she at first struggled with her healing abilities and in time realized she needed to be the vessel, but her premonitions felt awkwardly inserted here and there. The story shed light on The Troubles in Northern Ireland, but oftentimes the author would mention things in Ellen’s past without any previous reference then explain it insufficiently after the fact. The title itself refers to nothing significant in the story, and any story related to her interaction with birds felt like an afterthought.

The problem was that Ellen was so full of herself. Her prejudices, self-righteousness, insecurities, religious bigotry, and black-and-white views on everything make her internal life so much more difficult than it needed to be. She sabotaged all the relationships in her life. And although she mends somewhat by the end, it should have happened much sooner than it did in this drawn out and overly complicated story.

[Suzan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of this book were beautiful. Parts were disjoint. Overall I really liked it and would recommend but things bothered me like, birds and the main characters connection with birds just came magically into the story about 1/4 th of the way through and then they were a central image... Huh? Maybe I missed something. I read this in honor of it being March and I'm glad I did,it was sufficiently Irish and I liked the interesting way the author delved into prejudice, living in the art world and the impact of creativity on relationships. Glad I read it and will read more of this author.

[Raluca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written with beautiful language and with quite a few twists here and there but I couldn't help but want to slap Ellen several times because lord, she sounds insufferable. I understand that was the point, that she is struggling with social anxiety and depression and this causes her to not seek to develop relationships with those around her but man, she just made me audibly sigh in some scenes.

One thing I haven't seen other reviews talk about is the casual SA that is mentioned in the first third of the book. Her husband Robbie becomes jealous and oftentimes SA's her and the author just moves on with the story like it's totally normal. Maybe that was the point? That Ellen's past is so screwed up that she does not understand what a healthy relationship is supposed to be like? Maybe. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.

I loved all the tidbits about the relationship between Catholics and Presbyterians in Ireland, even though at first it was very confusing. Why was Ellen so upset upon finding out that her friend was a nun in the past? Like almost enraged and constantly avoided that subject manner. I figured out eventually that I am missing some key cultural context here and I left it at that. But it was very interesting!

Overall, this story was not what I expected it to be but I am glad I read it. The language flows beautifully, but the main character is at times, insufferable so I don't blame the people that DNF'd it. 3/5.

[Gabrielle Jarrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bird Woman is built around twos and opposing views, starting with Ellen's inner life, and Ireland and Northern Ireland; partners; mothers and daughters; friends and enemies; Catholics and Protestants. Ellen fights her gift of healing hands, her mother's influence, and anyone who wants to help her. As I watched her becoming her mother in acceptance vs. fighting it, I saw her as an anti-hero. Then I saw her as human. Her lovely husband, Liam, tells her "No one can help what they were born into. We should not judge." Hardie has the gift of story-telling with a very good balance of narrative and dialogue, bringing the reader deeper into the novel. I will read another of hers.

[MaryAlice · Rating 1 out of 5]

I marked this as "gave up on" sometime in the past.

I found saved quotes:

"~I'd been married to Robbie for near on four years for all I was only twenty-three. I was married and that was that. I'd no more thought of going off with anyone else than of dandering on down to the travel agent and booking myself a nice wee holiday on the moon."

Gnostic Bibles "If you do not bring forth that which is in you, that Which is in you will destroy you."

"And the worst part is that you didn't even know it's distorted because for you it is normal, and if you don't leave it behind and live somewhere truly normal, you'll never find out."

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Very well written and well-developed characters. Gave deep and interesting insights into the Irish Protestant / Catholic conflict within the context of an good story line. As an American, I found it interesting how the stereotypes and the ways each group described each other could easily have been substituted into black/white race dialogues here in America -- yet these people are all white. How can they identify who was who when it is so easy to 'pass.' Complex view points and situations arise in the book with no pat or easy resolutions -- just like in life. Highly recommended!

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book came very close to causing my death by boredom.
Very few things happened to hold this reader's interest so it felt like I was reading page after page of blah-blah-blah.
Not recommended.

[Trinity · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, not at all what I expected - the main focus is not her gift, but her relationships and view of herself, which made it feel more real.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

169. .. Luther beloved salvation was always through grace, never through works, and grace isn’t rational..

218. A virtuous woman, her price above rubies..

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellen McKinnon is a prickly woman. She holds a lot back and approaches life with suspicion. Born and raised in Northern Ireland, she marries Robbie and then leaves him for Liam, a southerner. She settles in with Liam in the South and experiences life without bombs, hatred and fear. Still she cannot relax. Finally she is called home to her mother's death bed. The author is a poet and it shows in the flow of prose painting word pictures and emotions. It took me a little bit to get into the story but the telling drew me in and I read faster and faster as Ellen questioned her life and beliefs more and more.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the language of the book. Written by an Irish poet, the word pictures evoked much feeling for me. I also liked the way she captured the sense of a person who wrestles with the choices she has made and what it feels like to love, be devastated, to heal. The sense of brooding over a personal quality that makes the protagonist "different" (in this case her clairvoyance) was spot on. The story with all it's plot and characters held me well enough, but most of all I loved individual sentences, paragraphs and pages that were like sweet bubbles rising to the top. I want to get some of this author's poetry.

[Linda Branham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an Irish book... the story of Ellen. Ellen is a healer. She marries an unpleasant husband. But then she meets an Irish sculptor and runs away with him to south Ireland .. a life far different than her former life in Northern Ireland. There she begins to use her gift of healing and finds herself. It is such a passionate and alluring book as Ellen struggles with all of the disparate parts of her life and herself

[Danielle McNamara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't even finish this book. It was horrible. But I cannot stomach trying to read this again at a later time.

I don't know. Maybe I missed something but this book isn't about anything. Ok, Ellen has this ability to heal that she doesn't want to have. Then there's a lot of stuff about Catholic & Presbyterian or whatever. But nothing happens. It's just Ellen's thoughts but there is no point to them.

Horrible.

[bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

I met Kerry Hardie and she seemed interesting so I read the book. She has some interesting things to say about the Protestant/Catholic divide in Ireland. The book was a quick read but it took a while to really build up steam. I was left wanting to know more about healers but she never really gets deep enough into it.

[Mary MacKintosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Evokes Ireland, and the tensions that are lessening there. The relationship between the main character and her mother form an undercurrent in the story that is not resolved until near the end. The main character is a healer, and finds her abilities a burden.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written book. The main character was a complete package; I sympathized with her even though I didn't totally like her. A little hard to get into but well worth it to keep going. The religious/class/gender struggle is interesting to explore.

[Lorrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another 50 cent book. I thought it had all the elements that I usually like in a book, so I picked it up. The story seemed a little dark to me, and the main character was taking herself way too seriously. I got tired of her angst and suspicions.

[Yvette Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is a poet and it her fiction style proves it. It was lyrical, reflective and descriptive. I felt and saw the weather as described by the author, it was almost an additional character. I will read her other books now too.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's just a wee touch of fantasy to this story set in Ireland about a woman who has the "healing touch", but spends most of her life in resistance to it and to her mother from whom she has become estranged. Intriguing.

[Carilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautifully written story. The main character realizations were a complete surprise to me in the end. The author painted very vivid pictures of her life.

[Sandra Shanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed and understood the main character. I was fascinated by her ability to heal people. The story dragged though and that keeps it from a higher rating.

[Phoenix211 · Rating 5 out of 5]

fabulous

[Bobbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Wonderful insights into the subjects or art, making art, psychic abilities and the history of the violent unrest in Ireland.

[Missy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this book. love it, love it, love it.

[Kit James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweeping Irish landscapes, crappy family dynamics and reluctant clairvoyance.

[Febbysue · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman with a gift of Clairvoyance who is way too afraid to be with the people around her because of religious beliefs ... A good reader knows whut and hows of the flow of this work.