Rachel has grown up in the city, but after a crisis, she moves in with her grandmother in rural area. Through this story, and following others within her story: Laronne (a neighbor friend), Roger (a friend in the rural town), Jamie/Brick (who saw them fly), and Nella (her mother), we see that Rachel's move through her grief and trauma correlates with her accepting both wholes of her cultures.

Durrow has incredible character development. I enjoyed the way she built this story through the voices of multiple characters, all who changed over time. I constantly wanted to know more, and I really loved the way that she incorporated Nella's diary in order to tell the full story. The bird metaphors she chose as many of the characters were moving towards adulthood was apt. I also loved the open-ended nature of this book in that we really don't know what happened fully, and I think that's the appropriate ending for such a story. There's no way for us (and Rachel) to fully know what was happening and what had happened both in her mother's mind and where her Dad was. While we as readers may hope for everything to be tied up neatly, not all things can. This is executed by Durrow fabulously.

Durrow also captures the tension in Rachel's bi-racial experience in a way that I, as a privileged white person can catch a glimpse of, but can acknowledge the dual nature of "Wow, I can't understand," and "Wow, this must be such a difficult experience to be not fully accepted in both of these worlds." Eye opening.

Recommended.

Pairings: The Bluest Eye, Black like Me, I know why the caged bird sings