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The Bird Artist: A Novel
 
 
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The Bird Artist: A Novel (Paperback)

by Howard Norman (Author) "My name is Fabian Vas ..." (more)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 17.00
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Product Description

From Amazon.com

Though judging a book by its cover is ill-advised, assessing The Bird Artist by its first paragraph is a safe bet. Howard Norman's second novel lives up to all expectations promised by the kind of beginning that makes a reader beg for more and then panic that the rest will not be as good: "My name is Fabian Vas. I live in Witless Bay, Newfoundland. You would not have heard of me." "Obscurity is not necessarily failure, though; I am a bird artist, and have more or less made a living at it. Yet I murdered the lighthouse keeper, Botho August, and that is an equal part of how I think of myself."

There are echoes of Vladimir Nabokov's infamous narrator, Humbert Humbert, in Fabian's confessional tone, witty humor, and emotional detachment from the series of bizarre events he describes. Set at the turn of the century in a remote cod-fishing community, The Bird Artist is a love story of sorts, filled with curious characters and a chowder restaurant. The men wear "knitted underwear all year round lined with fleece calico" and periodically escape the island to pursue their livelihoods on the sea. But the women are land bound. Helen Twombly suspects fellow villagers of stealing her milk bottles. Alaric Vas suffers from arthritis that no liniment relieves and plots her son's arranged marriage with a fourth cousin in Richibucto, New Brunswick. Meanwhile, Fabian's childhood love, Margaret Handle, propels herself and the plot forward with unwieldy energy. How did things for a mild-mannered man who just likes "to wake up early, wash my face, and get out and draw birds" go so wrong?

Norman, a folklorist and naturalist, presents us with the possible explanations in the form of fine details from an island life he researched while living in a remote Inuit whale-hunting community. He carefully examines the inner isolation of his characters. The severe landscape and the weather serve as the perfect metaphor. If you're looking for linguistic pyrotechnics, Norman's economy won't suit you. In The Bird Artist--a finalist for the 1994 National Book Award--there is as much to admire on the page as what's not. --Cristina Del Sesto



From Publishers Weekly

Set in Newfoundland, Norman's novel about a young man who confesses to the murder of the village lighthouse keeper, and whose gift for drawing birds becomes both his physical and his emotional release, was a 1994 National Book Award finalist.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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First Sentence
My name is Fabian Vas. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

32 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (32 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
1.0 out of 5 stars Waste-of-Space-Thriller-with-the-trappings-of-Intelligence, Jun 22 2003
I do not advise anyone to read this.
The characters are crude and sordid people:
Mother, son, girlfriend, other b.s., other
inconsequential b.s., this is not the type
of book that smacks of originality,
nor is it something you want to study
in college.
I like Loser characters in Pynchon's V.
But I do not allow that anyone and his or her mother
can create a Benny Profane or a Stencil...
Norman's Fabian is one of those unremarkable
characters it feels like a chore and a pain

to read the development of.
(If there was a shortage of toilet paper, I may just
heartily recommend this novel.)
And I don't like the gimmick of knowing the murder
so matter-of-fact on the first page.
And I don't like the forced, symbolic art of the end.
This is simply, in sum, a Bad Steven King/Dean Koontz dressed
in the regalia of pretence and Academy-readymade,
BANKER and money-grubber, hasbeen, Forcefield, literacy.
This stuff should stop oppressing the presses.
Instead, I advise you read Middlemarch. Amen.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Bemused, but not bewildered, Mar 10 2003
By Shirley A. Phillips "ocee" (Lawrence, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Bird Artist (Hardcover)
I had to sit for several days after finishing this novel before sitting down to write a review. It went in such a different direction than I anticipated. The plot seems to be given away in the opening sentences but is not. The characters seem doomed, but mostly are not. Poor Helen Twombly, yes; the protagonist's mother, Alaric (the name of a Gothic king!), yes; but generally not the ones you would expect. Surely Fabian's drinking thirty cups of coffee a day should have killed him, but it did not, as Margaret's swilling of whiskey should have done her in, but it did not. The doing in of the lighhouse keeper Botho August was richly deserved and psychologically satisfying (you will pardon me). The strange, edgy narrative keeps the reader just slightly annoyed but more strongly intrigued. The author plays a game with the names he gives his characters. I can envision a dissertation somewhere: "Onomastic Skullduggery in Howard Norman's 'The Bird Artist.'"
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1.0 out of 5 stars A Bird Dive, Jan 20 2003
By C. Hiatt "king of fools" (Minneapolis, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This book was horid. It had as much suppense as that Al Pacino movie "Insomnia" (which is none). After reading it I honestly was bummed that I wouldn't be able to get that valuable time in my life back.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A (perhaps too-) unusual story of love, lust and murder.
The idea behind this book is to take one of literature's most-proven plotlines and give it a dark, minimalist twist. Read more
Published on Sep 29 2002 by erica

5.0 out of 5 stars Norman is the master of the "anti-mystery".
Howard Norman writes what I think of as anti-mysteries. It is his trademark to announce the "crime' that forms the basis for his story right up front. Read more
Published on May 11 2002 by David J. Gannon

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT YARN WITH MEMORABLE CHARACTERS
The events depicted in Howard Norman's novel THE BIRD ARTIST are cemented by his finely-honed style into their time and place -- and at the same time they are as universal as they... Read more
Published on Mar 11 2002 by Larry L. Looney

2.0 out of 5 stars Even fiction should be historically accurate.
As a Newfoundlander and novelist (now living in the US) I was disappointed by Norman's portrayal of Nfld in 1911. The names of the locals are ridiculous... Read more
Published on Jan 7 2002 by Fara Spence

5.0 out of 5 stars a marvelous book
If you want a book to take with you to the beach that you won't be embarassed to have been caught reading, look no further. Read more
Published on Jul 4 2001 by John Anderson

3.0 out of 5 stars Quirky, Lean Prose
It is difficult to categorize the writing of Howard Norman, whose lean, understated prose will either appeal to you immediately or scare you away in the first few chapters. Read more
Published on Aug 1 2000 by J. Mullin

3.0 out of 5 stars Quirky, Lean Prose
It is difficult to categorize the writing of Howard Norman, whose lean, understated prose will either appeal to you immediately or scare you away in the first few chapters. Read more
Published on Aug 1 2000 by J. Mullin

4.0 out of 5 stars Turn of century thriller in Newfoundland
Howard Norman's second novel, "The Bird Artist", is a turn-of-century tale of murder, betrayal and redemption set in a fishing town in freezing Newfoundland. Read more
Published on Mar 26 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars A cool tale with a warm, sad heart
Another novel set in the frigid fringes of continental America (standby for the backlash trend in bestsellers from the deep south! Read more
Published on Mar 15 2000 by hugh riminton

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites!
"I am a bird artist, and have more or less made a living at it. Yet I murdered the lighthouse keeper, Botho August, and that is an equal part of how I think of myself. Read more
Published on Sep 25 1999

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