Book Review: The Birdcage by Eve Chase
By Doreen Sheridan
July 29, 2022
Lauren Molloy is not looking forward to returning to the Cornwall estate where she was last together with her half-sisters and their father—her Finch family as her late mother used to call them—twenty years earlier. Staying at Rock Point had been the highlight of her young life, the only place she and her older sisters got to spend time being doted on by their father and grandparents for an entire glorious month before being whisked back to their everyday lives with their mothers. That all ended the summer Lauren was thirteen, when the total eclipse of the sun in 1999 heralded a disaster that her mind still can’t fully process.
Even back then, even before the eclipse, a strange energy had seemed to sizzle through all of the inhabitants of Rock Point:
“Don’t overthink it. It’s just the discombobulating eclipse energy, Lauren.” Grandpa walked to the window, his hands clasped behind his back. He folded back a shutter fully, revealing the sea and sky ablaze, as if from a distant fire. “Can’t you feel it? It’s in the air. Disturbance,” he added with relish. “Almost three minutes it’ll last,” he continued, absorbed by the view. “The temperature will drop and, if we’re lucky, we’ll see the moon’s shadow racing towards us from the west, nine hundred meters a second. Like an explosion in reverse.” He turned to me with intense lit-up eyes, looking just like Dad when a painting was going well. “Umbral velocity, Lauren. I’ve waited for this my entire life, you’ve no idea.”
Dad is Charlie Finch, a renowned artist who somehow managed to father three little girls with three different women in indecently quick succession. Though the mothers’ disdain for one another hasn’t stopped the girls from getting close, their attitudes still influence how the sisters view each other. It doesn’t help that Dixie, Lauren’s mom, refused to let Charlie introduce Lauren to her older sisters till she was nine, after Flora and Kat had already firmly bonded. But over the next few summers, the three girls would build their own tumultuous ties, till the day of the eclipse changed everything.
Twenty years on, Flora and Kat are equal parts eager and reluctant to rekindle their sisterly closeness. Flora, once an unapologetically devastating creature of both beauty and intellect, has settled into an uneasy domesticity with a man who doesn’t read and a four year-old who demands all her attention. The still prickly Kat has sacrificed any semblance of a personal life in favor of babying tech start-ups into existence. Both of them are apprehensive about returning to a place where they once did terrible things. Worse, they feel beholden to continue protecting their emotionally fragile younger sister from what exactly happened that last eclipse-haunted summer.
But there’s someone else in Cornwall who isn’t happy the sisters are back, someone whose memory is crystal clear and who’s been waiting a long time to confront them over what they’ve done. As a series of creepy incidents escalates, the three women and their father will have to finally face the truth of what happened two decades ago, and how they were each culpable in the tragedy that ensued.
It feels strange to describe a thriller about reconciling past sins as being heartwarming, but The Birdcage somehow manages to be suspenseful while at the same time remaining sensitive toward and generous to its troubled, flawed characters. Here’s Flora reflecting on the summer of 1999, and how it changed the trajectory of her once seemingly limitless life:
Despite her determination not to think about that summer, it must have simmered somewhere inside, she realizes now. Reducing, intensifying, like a salty sauce forgotten on a stove. Changing her consistency in unforeseen ways.
But if there was a precise instant that she’d turned into the sort of woman who’d marry a man like Scott, she’d been oblivious. All Flora knows is that <i>before</i> she’d been fearless, desperate to explore the world.
The psychology and family dynamics are spot on, with Eve Chase sidestepping obvious cliches in the design of her engrossing tale. In only the biggest example, Charlie could easily have been a Lear-type figure, but it’s clear he genuinely loves his kids and is quite a good dad despite his inability to stay faithful to their mothers. The twists and turns were above average, and the ending deeply satisfying. This is one of those thrillers that doesn’t rely on depravity to propel the plot, but turns its canny eye on how our all-too-human weaknesses can set off terrible consequences, and how love and compassion can heal and help us all become better people.
Comments
Comments are closed.
you have a such beautiful article, i wish my article can be like yours <3
Strong I’m going to bookmark your blog . You totally have amazing stories. Pulls for obliging us your blog.
The Birdcage by Eve Chase is a novel about a family secrets, love, and betrayal. The novel centers around the central character, Alice, and her search for the truth about her family. The book explores the relationships between Alice and her mother, father, and sister, and how those relationships change over time. The Birdcage is a story about family, love, and betrayal that will stay with readers long after they finish the last page.
You have a very nice layout for your blog” i want it to use on my site too.
These truly positive relationships form bonds of trust and friendship between the producers and the suppliers and also open up wonderfully diverse markets to us, on the other side of the world
It is particularly sensible, at any rate research the tips during this spot of home.
These truly positive relationships form bonds of trust and friendship between the producers and the suppliers and also open up wonderfully diverse markets to us, on the other side of the world
Once I thought about things like: why such information is for free here? Because when you write a book then at least on selling a book you get a percentage
You actually dealt with several engaging things in this article. I came across it by using Bing and I’ve got to admit that I am now subscribed to your website, it is very decent
Throughout the awesome design of things you actually secure a B+ with regard to effort and hard work. Where exactly you actually lost me personally was first on the details.
Most helpful human beings toasts should amuse and present give about the couple. Beginner audio systems previous to obnoxious throngs would be wise to remember often the valuable signal using grow to be, which is to be an individual’s home. best man speech examples
Very nice article, I enjoyed reading your post, very nice share, I want to twit this to my followers. Thanks!.
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing blog that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free.
I am always searching online for articles that can help me. There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Keep working, great job !
I am always searching online for articles that can help me. There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Keep working, great job !
I would like to say that this blog really convinced me to do it! Thanks, very good post
This is a fabulous post I seen because of offer it. It is really what I expected to see trust in future you will continue in sharing such a mind boggling post
Excellent to be visiting your blog again, it has been months for me. Rightly, this article that I’ve been served for therefore long. I want this article to finish my assignment within the faculty, and it has the same topic together with your article. Thanks for the ton of valuable help, nice share
With blazing speed, is Nexcess hosting the ultimate choice for reliable performance? Let’s take a closer look and find out. Check it out.
I am very happy to discover your post as it will become on top in my collection of favorite blogs to visit
I am always searching online for articles that can help me. There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Keep working, great job !
It’s really nice and meanful. it’s really cool blog. Linking is very useful thing.you have really helped lots of people who visit blog and provide them usefull information.
I am always searching online for articles that can help me. There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Keep working, great job !