Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country

Product Information

Roza decides her only option is to hide in the woods, Henryk has explained what mushrooms, roots and berries are safe for her to eat. He also shows her how to hide her foot prints; soon she’s cold, filthy, hungry, gaunt and lonely and misses Shira. The one thing that keeps Roza going is her plan to be reunited with Shira as soon as she can and the knowledge her daughter is safe and she knows where she is. Inspired by the true stories of Jewish children hidden during World War II, The Yellow Bird Sings is [a story of longing and] a testament to the triumph of hope– a whispered story, a bird's song – in even the darkest of times." WINNER OF THE OREGON BOOK AWARD • NOMINATED FOR THE EDGAR® AWARD •NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • NPR • Publishers Weekly This novel is well written and flows well. I found the use of expressive imagery in the form of the little yellow bird both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. I think any readers of WWII historical fiction will want to read this book, the characters are very well described and I felt very connected to them.

Lissa’s story rippled in me an awareness of what I was not seeing onscreen. Where are the indigenous stories and indigenous female stories? The book inspired me to take a deeper look into the indigenous female filmmaker community who are telling these stories. Read my profile with these filmmakers, and coming soon is my interview with indigenous filmmaker Erica Tremblay. The fragmented, non-linear structure and sometimes broken, redundant syntax are clearly meant to reflect a narrator whose sense of self has been shattered and, in sifting through the pieces, he is exploring his culpability and who he is meant to be after the war is over. There are some poetic lines and descriptions that are emotionally piercing in their perfection. Inspired by the true stories of Jewish children being hidden during WWII. Could you bear to part with your child? What if that meant the only way for your child to survive war?The first lines of Kevin Powers The Yellow Birds announces that it intends to be a classic war novel, to be placed on the shelf somewhere between All Quiet on the Western Front and The Things They Carried:

I think of The Iliad, 1 and 2 Samuel, War and Peace, All Quiet on the Western Front, Blood Meridian, Catch 22, Slaughterhouse Five, and The Naked and the Dead. I add to the list, Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds. Probabilmente di trovare il capolavoro così tanto reclamizzato, dai connazionali di Powers, e da recensori e commentatori nostrani. Poland, 1941. Roza and her five year old daughter Shira hide in a neighbor’s barn. Shira, a musical prodigy, is told to keep quiet, but struggles with it as any child would. Her mother invents elaborate stories to keep Shira engaged with her mind and not words. One of those stories is an imaginary bird who sings the songs she composes in her head. The war tried to kill us in the spring," begins this breathtaking account of friendship and loss. In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side: the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from constant danger. The Yellow Birds ends with a note of muted hope, and I also hope for Mr Powers, that he and his brothers and sisters find healing in the arts and literature. Some, perhaps, will find healing in religion.

We walked her past a copse of alder and willow that bowed in the heat of the small fires burning nearby, their old branches lamenting her, laid out as she was on that makeshift litter. Our hands began to cramp with each passing step, each taken with whatever reverence we could muster, clutching at the edges of the boards. Thin splinters roughed the flats of our palms as we walked. Listing in concert with our deliberate footsteps, the gentle curves of her body swayed beneath her torn clothes. The boards creaked. A small number of boys out on a head count stopped and turned toward us. A pale review as her body ascended the gently sloping hill, fringed by the bleached and spotted patterns of their uniforms. We conducted her pall in earnest up the remainder of the hill. At the top, we lowered her to the ground and set her under a tree on the tied-together boards, her body now translucent and blue-tinted. One of the soldiers alerted the medics and we watched them as they came to her. Her friends grabbed her and enveloped her in hugs and kisses. She rolled absently in their loving arms and they cried out beneath the setting sun…The sun set like a clot of blood on the horizon. A small fire had spread from the crumbling chapel, igniting the copse of tamarisk trees. And all the little embers burned like lamps to light my way. Staying in the barn loft required silence. Roz and Shira must "...mute the sound of every movement.... Shira practiced being invisible and staying silent." Roz and Shira were not asked to leave. Henryk, repeatedly, had his way with Roz while Shira, yellow bird in hand, quietly faced the wall. The price exacted for safe haven.

I honestly appreciate this novel….inspired by true stories of children, but I had to deal with my own inner voice (feeling a little bored)….Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal. CRANE MURDOCH: At this point in our relationship we still talk, all of the time. It’s not so much a journalist relationship as I’m the person with whom she’s willing to share almost anything. And she also knows quite a bit about my life. I think it’s her deep well of empathy and her ability to feel empathy for literally anyone in the world. That has been the most important lesson for me. Much of the novel draws upon Powers's experience serving a year as a machine gunner in Mosul and Tal Afar, Iraq, from February 2004 to March 2005 after enlisting in the Army at the age of 17. After his honorable discharge, Powers enrolled in Virginia Commonwealth University, where he graduated in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in English. He holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry. [4] [5] This is a moving Holocaust story. A portrayal of a mothers love and just how far she would go to keep her daughter safe. A story of tragedy, grief, hope and survival. Th3 book alternates between Roza and Shira's point of view. It tells us about their experiences whilst being separated. Th3 story is beautifully written. The plotline is gripping. This is a story that will stay with you long after you've finished reading. I do recommend this book. REPOST FROM YESTERDAY (Nov 23rd). For some reason, after posting this review it DISAPPEARED. How does that happen?

The gripping true story of a murder on an Indian reservation, and the unforgettable Arikara woman who becomes obsessed with solving it—an urgent work of literary journalism. A beautiful story of survival of a Jewish girl and her mother during the Nazi madness. Imagination required in the lengthy hours spent in hiding for months and facing the brutality of what has been done to their family; their people. Any book that takes place during WWII will undeniably break my heart and keep me emotional long time after finishing it. The Yellow Bird Sings is no different. This is a historical fiction at its best! Captivating, heart wrenching but at the same time hopeful. A story of love, loss, courage, and unbreakable bond between mother and daughter. Written in a beautiful prose with wonderfully developed characters, The Yellow Bird Sings is a must read for all historical fiction lovers. Sergeant Sterling is the veteran of the group an ancient 24 year old that is trying his best to survive, but maybe not sure why he is trying so hard anymore. He is a volatile man, brutal and unpredictable. One of those guys that make you wonder if he can ever adjust to regular society again. “I hated the way he excelled in death and brutality and domination. But more than that, I hated the way he was necessary, how I needed him to jar me into action even when they were trying to kill me, how I felt like a coward until he screamed into my ear ‘Shoot these hajji f****s!’.” A] story that expertly blends true crime, environmental drama, and family saga. For a first nonfiction work, Murdoch has outdone herself by telling the story in a beautifully narrative way...Required reading for all fans of true crime.

This is a beautifully written debut novel that moved me in so many ways. It a story of the Holocaust, of hidden children, of the courage and determination of the resistance, of the horrific things Jews endured - cold and starvation and fear and loss and death. Yet, there are moments of joy and beauty, lovely stories and music and so much love between a mother and daughter that helps sustain them through these times, and an imagined yellow bird that brings solace to a little girl. Much of the novel focuses on Bartle's promise to the mother of Murph, a fellow private, to not let him die in the war. Bartle and Murph also make a pact not to be the 1,000th casualty in the war. The reader learns in the beginning of the novel, however, that Murph dies in the war.