After reading Brown's first novel and loving it, I couldn't wait to read this ARC of her next one.
The Meaning of Birds follows Jess as she grieves for her girlfriend after she dies from asthma complications. The novel switches from Then to Now, a sort of Before and After that reminded me a bit of I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson - mostly because they both follow the before and after of a tragedy. Just like her first novel, I think Brown did a fantastic job, but instead of following a girl and her first love of a girl, this follows a girl and her first lost of a girl.
I may have to flip through the final copy of the novel, as there were a few things that didn't entirely sit well with me. I felt the approach to trans girls was a tad uneducated. And a few things happen in the novel that aren't cool are never really pointed out.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed this!
4/5 stars.