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Jan 04, 2020STPL_JessH rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This is a book for people who love luscious descriptions and enjoy reading for the pure pleasure of experiencing an artist at work. The first sentence, “James Hunter falls through morning,” is a brief yet profound testament to the quality of writing this short novel contains. There is such a contrast between descriptions of joyful dogs running free and wild, and the reality of characters who feel caged like bound animals. Each character is contained within walls both physical and emotional. Like the study of birds and flora James and Enid undertake, Evening Chorus is a character study. Readers explore close up snap shots of three individuals that are unique and similar in compelling ways. Perhaps the most apt description of this book is contained within the narrator’s depiction of the birdsong that enchants James: “the song of the redstart begins as a melody and ends in dissonance, as though the song itself comes undone in the process of singing it, finishing up with all the right notes presented in completely the wrong order” (page 21). I highly recommend this book as well as Lost Garden also by Humphreys.