I’m not really as into this book as I was with The Liars’ Club, but I think it’s better for me than Running in the Family. I’ve been talking a lot lately about the use of explicit detail, or unique writing structure in our readings, but today I’ll respond to a little quote by Williams that cought me up:
The starlings gorge themselves, bumping into each other like drunks. They are not discretionary. They’ll eat anything, just like us. Three starlings picked a turkey carcass clean. Afterward, they crawled inside and wore it as a helmet. A carcass with six legs walking around-you have to be sharp counting birds at the dump. (2001, p. 55)
I think I may have actually laughed out loud reading this… Her personification of the birds, and the way she said “wore it as a helmet” instead of something like “it looked like a helmet on them.” I just love that quote “…you have to be sharp counting birds at the dump.” It brought in humor and sarcasm that lifted the mood off her mom’s cancer and the descriptions of the nasty landfill.
hurricanecandice said,
April 13, 2007 @ 2:58 pm
She is great at personifying the birds which I think is important for keeping people interested. If you aren’t a bird person ( I am not) then you need a reason to care about what she is saying. Between the personification of the birds and the connections she makes between them and her story are the only reasons to keep reading.