The Birds on the Trees

by Nina Bawden

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Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Classics, Mental Illness, 20th Century, British Literature

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Nina Bawden was a popular British novelist and children's writer. Her mother was a teacher and her father a marine.

When World War II broke out she spent the school holidays at a farm in Shropshire along with her mother and her brothers, but lived in Aberdare, Wales, during term time.
Bawden attended Somerville College, Oxford, where she gained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Her novels include Carrie's War, Peppermint Pig, and The Witch's Daughter.

A number of her works have been dramatised by BBC Children's television, and many have been translated into various languages. In 2002 she was badly injured in the Potters Bar rail crash, and her husband Austen Kark was killed.

Bawden passed away at her home in London on 22 August 2012.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally associate Nina Bawden with children’s books and with the Potter’s Bar train crash, which she survived but her husband did not. However she also wrote some novels. This one was written in 1970; the year of the “lost Booker” and so several decades later this was nominated for the Booker of that year.
It is a surgical analysis of a middle class family under pressure as their eldest son Toby is expelled from school for drug taking, decides he does not want to go to Oxbridge after all and has a breakdown. As the blurb on the back of my penguin edition says Toby’s parents have emerged from the war into parenthood with Freud in one hand and Spock in the other. They mean well, but are pretty clueless.
The novel uses several narrative voices; both parents, Maggie and Charlie, Toby’s younger sister Lucy, Maggie’s mother Sara; this can make for a little confusion at times and the novel feels a little clumsy at times. Frustratingly we do not hear Toby and he is seen through the lens of others. Lucy’s voice is the most interesting (she is 12) as she struggles to understand what the adults are hiding and begins to feel left out and decides she must be adopted. Maggie and Charlie haven’t a clue what to do and stumble around, usually doing more harm than good. Maggie’s mother Sara appears the most sensible and Bawden charts the problems and physical decline of old age very perceptively. Maggie’s father is a wonderful comic and eccentrically monstrous creation and we see too little of him. Although it is a serious novel there are some lovely comic touches;
“Maggie: At least Iris always knows what she thinks! In my present state, I find that an enviable achievement.
Charlie: If her mind is ordered, it's only because it contains so little.”
There are flaws; the ending doesn’t really convince and the prologue is a little too disconnected from the main body of the novel. Toby’s character is also a little two-dimensional, but that may be part of the structure of the novel as everything is about reactions to Toby and his behaviour. It is now described as a “Hampstead” novel because of the setting. Bawden was writing about what she knew and the character of Maggie is also a novelist. There are some striking similarities to Bawden’s own tragic life.
I’m making an effort to read more female novelists this year and despite a few flaws I did enjoy this.

[Cecily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written and set in the early 1970s, this is ostensibly about Toby, who is expelled from his private school for taking pot, shortly before his 18th birthday and Oxford exams. However, all the most important relationships in the book are between mothers and daughters; the men are generally less astute and more passive.

The prologue has no immediately obvious relevance to the story outlined on the cover and above, and the rest of the book switches viewpoints and style quite often: a common technique nowadays, and one I'm familiar with, but I did find it slightly confusing at times in this book, partly because it wasn't always clear who was speaking or what their relationship with other characters was.

The family ticks along in a middle class way until Toby's expulsion exposes how troubled and dysfunctional they really are. The over-anxious Islington-type parents are desperate to understand, and their attempts at analysis give the story depth and complexity, but their relationships with their own parents and siblings impair their efforts. They (and all their friends) live vicariously through their children, project their own ambitions on them, then pathologise any discrepancies. Even a psychiatrist friend has demons of his own, makings his wife take tranquilizers "so HE can be bad-tempered with impunity."

Blame does not always lie where it first seems: there are secrets and skeletons, and those who know about them often pretend they don't. At times it feels as if almost everyone is trying to analyse everyone else, whilst hiding things about themselves - and getting it wrong. Which narrators can the reader trust?

A pivotal character is 12 year old Lucy, the middle child. Many sections are told by her, but she is inconsistently naive and knowing. She feels the pain and frustration of wanting to understand and help (whilst also being afraid of the truth), but being left out and ignored.

Yet other types of awkwardness are well described: teenage party encounters; first fumblings; fear that anything one says to a psychiatrist may be misinterpreted; in a disco/dance, "the young swayed separately; shut off from each other like autistic children"; meeting old school friends who only talk about (and live through) their children when you don't want to talk about yours.

I have no experience of drug taking, drug takers or nervous breakdowns, so I have no idea how plausible that aspect is; it seems a little melodramatic in places, but that may be a feature of the era as much as the chemicals and condition. But who can not be moved by the pain of "It was rather as if we had had a photograph of our son and it had suddenly been replaced by the negative: thin and transparent. And slightly blurred."

If this story were retold in the twenty-teens, it would be a little different, but I think the essential message would remain. Toby's father, Charlie, sums it up well: "All generations face, on the surface, much the same problems; each knows its situation to be unique. Ours, for example. Children before the war, emerged through it into parenthood, Freud in one hand, Spock in the other, into a world where truth is relative, uncertainty a virtue, nothing known... Except guilt, possibly. That is our hall-mark. Out parents did their duty, knew what was right; our sins were original, no fault of theirs."

The final wish (curse?) is perhaps impossible: "Be well, be happy".

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Birds in the Trees is beautifully observed with great insight and honesty, it is a novel about parents and children and family life with all its complexities. In 2010 The Birds on the Trees was nominated for The Lost Booker – voted for by readers, Bawden lost out to Troubles by J G Farrell (another excellent novel). The Lost Booker was for books published in 1970 – as changing Booker rules that year meant many novels lost out on being considered.

Toby Flowers is the boy/young man at the centre of this novel – which is told in the varying voices of his family – his mother and father, younger sister and grandmother. These first-person narratives dropped into what is largely a third person narrative, works so well – giving the novel an added intimacy.

“Mummy and Daddy are dead,’ the child said, softly but distinctly, so that Mr Tilney could not pretend he hadn’t heard. Not that he wished to: after the first chill, the sad little statement opened doors in his mind that had been closed for a long time.”

The novel opens with a prologue – in which we meet Toby as a young boy. Toby arrives at a neighbour’s house – late on Christmas Eve saying no one is at home. The neighbours are naturally concerned, have had experience of a hungry Toby turning up in their kitchen before – of course none of it is true. Yet Toby is a lovable little chap – he doesn’t seem to know he’s lying and causing acute embarrassment for his young parents.

Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written, eventful, character based novel about children, parents and middle class family life. It can be a challenging read as the narrative swaps between a number of the characters. It is mostly a third person narrative with first person narratives dropped in giving the perspective of the mother, father, younger sister and grandmother.

Charlie, a journalist, and his wife, Maggie, have difficulty with their son Toby, who is expelled from school for drug taking. They have two younger children, Lucy and Greg. Charlie and Maggie have been loving, caring parents who have allowed Toby a degree of freedom. They have high expectations for him. Toby’s grandmother, Sara, is a no nonsense, practical type of woman.

A well crafted, very realistic novel. I will certainly try to read more books by this author. This book was shortlisted for the 1970 Booker Prize.

Here is an example of Bawden’s writing style. Charlie, the father says,
“All generations face, on the surface, much the same problems; each knows its situation to be unique. Ours, for example. Children before the war, emerged through it into parenthood, Freud in one hand, Spock in the other, into a world where truth is relative, uncertainty a virtue, nothing known....Except guilt, possibly. That is our hall-mark. Our parents did their duty, knew what was right; our sins were original, no fault of theirs.’

[Uthpala Dassanayake · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many books written about families with difficult, sick or catastrophic kids. Yet Nina Bawden has made “The Birds on the Trees” a unique creation.
The way it is written using first person narrations from time to time from different people in addition to third person story telling has enhanced the power of revealing feelings, emotions, views and relationships. Under trying circumstances, relationships work weirdly. Seeking comfort from close ones by sharing the problem causes passing judgments over each other rather than understanding. In edgy temperament, the love and concern offered getting wasted undetected or even misunderstood by receiving end. Bonds may get strengthen or shatter.
The center of all this menace, Toby is still gray area even though he finds the direction of his path. “Why Toby is Toby” is never clear but “Who Toby is” starting to form at the end.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too stodgy.

[Susan Abraham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Birds on the Trees by Nina Bawden was one of six novels shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970. I hadn't known this as I picked out, what seemed like an enticing read from a seductive Waterstones bookstore shelf, a few days ago.

I remembered Nina Bawden as a favourite novelist I used to devour a lot of in the 1980s, together with Margaret Drabble, Rose Tremain, Margaret Forster, Dame Iris Murdoch etc. All of whom told stories with that similar crusty English flavour and highly-delightful passion.

In the same vein as Murdoch who also like Bawden read philosophy, The Birds on the Trees stands out in my mind today, as a novel that features a sophisticated brand of vivid characterisation, more than anything else.

A middle-class family has to deal with a recalcitrant son. Much to their dismay, old friends are curious and want to interfere. This would naturally turn up an erratic mix comprising the odd, peculiar annoyance, some reluctant secrets, exhausting rivalries, suspect jealousies etc. All of which of course, make for compelling reading.

Like Murdoch, Bawden appears to thrive on a surgeon-like role with characters, dissecting them from all angles and mutilating each lifestyle for a sharp, careful analysis. This, so as to feature a series of notable eccentricities and flaws, that do stand out in that fabulous larger-than-life way.

Bawden spots no sentiment and the reader gets the feeling that she isn't all that merciful towards her characters. If the author has to spot a drop of kindness with her pen at all, then it would appear that the novelist would rather fight for the underdog; the misunderstood father, the miserly husband with his secret kind heart and a bunch of teens who are struggling with their rightful place in life.

Bawden appears sympathetic, gentle and kindly towards her younger characters and has less patience with fictitious adults especially women...mothers and daughters, women friends and neighbours. There is a reason for every action she believes and neat, psychological studies focussed on the complexities of human behavior at every turn, are evident in the novel. Still, the sudden thoughtful gesture in the face of an everyday selfishness, is not to be easily dismissed. Poignant twists and turns also cleverly protect the plot, from settling into resignation.

I loved everything about this suburban tale but settled on four-stars as I found the different narrators' voices complicated in arrangement, not immediately obvious and ready to throw me off-guard. Otherwise, The Birds on the Trees, proved nothing short of excellent.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Toby ist ein besonderer Junge: er ist scheu und schweigsam, trägt lange Haare und einen Burnus. Als er von der Schule verwiesen wird, wissen sich seine Eltern nicht anders zu helfen als ihn in die Psychiatrie einweisen zu lassen. Aber auch das bringt den Jungen nicht dazu, den Weg einzuschlagen, den die Eltern für ihn vorgesehen haben.

Tobys Eltern haben hohe Erwartungen an ihn, die er weder erfüllen kann noch will. Aber das lassen die Eltern nicht gelten, sondern drängen ihn dazu, auf die Universität zu gehen. Seine scheuen Einwände lassen sie nicht gelten, mit seinen Problemen wollen sie sich nicht befassen. Die passen nicht in ihr perfektes Leben. Selbst als er das Haus verlässt, lassen sie ihn nicht gehen. Die Einzige, die hinter Toby steht, ist seine Großmutter. Sie erwartet nichts, sondern liebt ihn bedingungslos. Bei ihr fühlt er sich sicher.

Zu lesen, wie die Eltern sich immer wieder über die Wünsche ihres Sohnes hinweg gesetzt haben, war nicht einfach zu lesen. Sie kamen mir zu keinem Zeitpunkt liebevoll vor, sondern eher wie ein verärgerter Arbeitgeber, dessen Angestellter nicht so funktioniert, wie es der Chef erwartet. Ich konnte keine Gefühle entdecken, auch nicht bei Toby. Vielleicht war das der Grund, warum mich The birds on the trees nicht so richtig fesseln konnte.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good. Basic plot is a family's 18 year old son is expelled from school for smoking pot and experiences a subsequent nervous breakdown. The novel explores the impact this has on the family and close friends and the strains/cracks on these relationships. Interesting switch from the all seeing authorial voice to small sections written in first person from specific characters - the mother, the grandmother, the ten year old daughter etc(these are particularly well written and it did not surprise me to find out that Bawden also wrote childrens books) Was what shocking was that a fairly typical episode of teenage 'who am I? why am I here? whats the point of it all?' was treated with ECT and a spell in an institution. Book was written in 1970. Thank god we've progressed since then, or we'd all have burn marks on our foreheads.

[Eleanor Sturdy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and ahead of its time

This is a light read but touches on plenty of serious aspects of family life, sibling rivalry, over ambitious parents and the wisdom of grandmothers. The voice shifts rather unexpectedly but keep reading and all becomes clear.

[kp · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 and 1/2 stars. This novel, published in 1970, is dated in some ways but is an uncompromising dissection of middle-class complacency nevertheless, and Bawden enriches that dissection by revealing the vast gaps between what we think, what we feel, how we act, and what we know about each other.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Birds on the trees Nina Bawden Disliked this immensely. Trivialised at worst, skated over at best, several social problems.

[Madeleine O'Dea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book as a teenager, too scared to read it again now just in case, but I still think it is one of the most perceptive books I've ever read about what it feels like to be a child

[Colin Davison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think Iris Murdoch, think Hampstead smart set, think of all those characters who think about what they are thinking, and what others think, and what others think they think.
I was somewhat down on this book at first, and too ready to put it down (metaphorically only) after reading lines like: "His intent, dark eyes looked .. straight through her pretensions into the shallow waters of her soul."
But that, I should admit was an adolescent girl talking (, thinking rather). One character says of another, "I must say, you have a riveting inner life," but it might be applied to any of the varied and sometimes complex female personalities, as well as to Toby, the possibly drug-induced schizophrenic whose troubled life impacts on all the others.
At regular interludes, the narrative is interrupted by their memories or reflections, some semi-comic, all beautifully drawn. My god, I thought, I never have such introspection. Am I an unfeeling, unreflective sod?
Gradually the reservations were overcome. The interplay of the characters was so tautly constructed, the clash of generations and sometimes class depicted with such sensitivity.
It was a clue, of course, that Toby's mother Maggie, the most interesting and developed personality in the book, should be a novelist, so it wasn't a surprise to read later that the story should be so autobiographical, something that helps explain why the happy ending should seem so hollow and contrived.
No, I didn't care much for this 50-year-old tale of middle class life at the beginning: by the end, and having read all the short-listed nominees for the overlooked 1970 Booker Prize, I found this the most commendable, just narrowly beating the actual winner, J.G. Farrell's The Troubles.
What do others think?

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

SUMMARY - Another chilly-hearted glimpse into middle-class life that deals with counterculture and antipsychiatry. It's more clinical than empathetic, though, and it's the class hangups that feel most real.

A book written in a similar vein to some other Booker Prize-shortlisted novels of the early 1970s. Like others by Bernice Reubens and Dorris Lessing, Bawden explores mental illness through the filter of anti-psychiatric questioning on how far family life and social conformity are themselves the sickness, rather than the 'free' subjects they seek to label.

I especially enjoyed Lessing's more experimental 'Briefing for a Decent into Hell', but Bowden here gives us a much more conventional domestic and neighbourly tale of a dysfunctional family. The character who is diagnosed in the novel (without giving too much away) seeks to escape the expectations of others. In contrast those who do the labelling are often shown to be hypocrites, cold, or self-serving.

There is cuttingly cold middle-class dialogue, which seems to be another feature of several early 1970s Booker nominees. The Sunday dinner scene where the aunt is savaged but they still sit and eat felt more overdone than the vegetables they were no doubt eating at the time. Why didn't she leave? It made a point about the unhealthiness of 'respectable' middle class modes of behaviour within the plot, but I found it harder to believe. By the end none of the characters are endearing, which makes it harder to care about the action. Occasionally (cf Iris Murdoch) I have read books where we are meant to dislike the character, but I've still enjoyed the book. That's hard to pull off, and Bowden for me only got part of the way there. I was diverted but not fully won-over.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across this "lost" novel by Nina Bawden quite by chance: I know her only as a children's author.

The book was interesting, essentially it is a claustrophobic study of family life. Charlie and Maggie have married young, they have done the best they can, but their oldest son Toby is strange. He has just been expelled from school and life becomes increasingly bleak for those closest to him as eventually he is discovered to be mentally ill.

But is he, really, mentally ill, or is it just that he wont conform to the parents plans for him? His mother, in particular has a fear, a darkness inside her that stems from the death of her brother in childhood. Her husband Charlie is weak, a clown. Toby failing at school, taking drugs and refusing to cut is hair has led to him being labelled "schizioid", but is he really?

A fascinating insight into the terrors and the wonders of being a parent, of blame, of failure.

Perhaps too much of the talky talky!!!

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I was unsure whether to go with 3 or 4 stars for my official rating, as I felt it was a well written and thoughtful book, but I also felt like it was missing something.

I think the point of the book is to examine what happens around someone who's unwell, rather than focusing on the illness or person themselves, which is an interesting angle, but a little hollow feeling. I didn't really know, for example, whether the worries were justified, how long the problems had been going on, or how they'd been manifesting. I got a little tired of the laughing while crying and mood swings of the parents. While perfectly valid reactions to shock or worry, they do feel a little repetitive within the book , which gets stuck on these reactions for too long. Where there is more of an examination of the inner thoughts of the characters, they are interesting and sympathetic, especially Sara, who I found to be particularly well developed and relatable.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much as I love Nina Bawden's children's books (Carrie's War and The Peppermint Pig are absolute classics as far as I'm concerned), I struggle to get as much enjoyment out of her adult books. I find them somewhat dry, painfully middle-class and dialogue-driven. There's no denying the sharpness of her emotional perception, or the subtlety of her writing, but I've yet to find an adult novel of hers that I have been able fully to engage with. The Birds on the Trees is about a family in crisis as a consequence of their oldest son's increasingly erratic behaviour, drug-taking and probable schizophrenia. Told in the third person and through multiple first person viewpoints, there's a lot of talking and self-reflection, but little to really involve the reader. I can see why The Birds on the Trees was shortlisted for the 'lost' 1970 Booker Prize, but it's not my sort of book.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this but am curious how it got on my "to read" list. Not like things I usually read.
Things I liked: interesting multiple perspectives; fascinating view of the inner workings of a family, including what's awkward and frustrating and frightening.
Things I didn't like: sometimes seemed disjointed; sometimes frustrating that not much happened over the course of many pages at a time.
I'm guessing this book would have been easier to read in real book form. I don't know but I'm guessing the Kindle version is missing some black lines to indicate pauses and changes in speakers.

[Pamela Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been good to be reminded what a brilliant writer Nina Bawden was, turning her hands to adult relationships as well as children's. I really enjoyed this book with its interesting narrative style of interspersing the storytelling with first person thoughts from many of the characters. A really delicate story that made me pause before picking up another novel to read. Well done Virago for keeping these Nina Bawden novels available.

[Sharon McGuinness · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wasn't sure about this at first. All the characters seemed insufferably middle class and a bit stereotyped but I found myself warming to them unexpectedly. The fraught relationship between mother and daughter & their inability to translate inner feelings and meanings into outward display was beautifully written. I ended up very invested in all of them.

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story revolves around Toby, a drug addict, and in it we see his family and friends of the family coming to terms with his habit. Although the characters may leave you feeling slightly downhearted, the novel does end on a note of hope.

[Sarah Thornton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a peculiar book, even by Bawden standards. Oddly juxtaposed chapters with several generations, the supposed junkie skizophrenic taking responsibility, the infidelities rife in Bawden... A coherent tale with not enough reason for being.

[Wendy T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book.

[Amy]

I tried but couldn't get into this book.

[Tracy Mcconville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nina Bawden knows people so well. She draws characters that are complicated and believable. A tender, honest, thoughtful telling of what it means to be in a family touched by mental illness.

[Smitha Murthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dysfunctional family saga that was oddly disconcerting, Bawden packs a punch.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

great characterisation but unrealistic ending

[Marion Roux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family life with troublesome teenage boy (schizophrenia?).
Realistic portrayal of personalities - warts and all

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engrossing and not dated.