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Feb 20, 2010

jim rated it:

Most of the marketing quips for this book praise its dark comic aspect. It's dark comedy as Brett Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero was comic; vacuous, emotionally crippled twenty-somethings finding a place in a world where sex is devalued and true intimacy appears painfully out of reach. Imagine the angst ridden teens of any Green Day song coming of age.
To be sure, Killen is a skilled writer. His characters are well defined, even those representing grist for the protagonist's delusional mill More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2010

Djrmel rated it:

(Discosure: I received this book for free through the Goodreads First Reads Program)

What started out as a really good dark humor story devolved into a much less complex, although definetly darker, observational narrative. Killen has written some deeply flawed characters, and as much as I love flawed characters, that's not enough to make up for a plot that ends about 2/3 of the way through the book for one of the main characters and goes absolutely nowhere for the rest of the charact More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2010

Tara rated it:

You ever get those nasty porn pictures or videos on your cell phone of men or women doing disgusting things for all the world to pass phone to phone or video to video? Maybe someone sends them to you as a joke, for the shock value, most likely a co worker watching you from across the room eagerly awaiting to see the look on your face when you open you phone? If you have received those kind of pictures/videos, you have probably at some time wondered, "who are these people? why do they do thi More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 03, 2008

Socrates rated it:

I read the bird room in two hours and thirty two minutes on a national express coach on my way to a holiday. The book is better than the entire holiday so far, even though I have three days left. The book is a slim but thorough examination of helplessness, anxiety and self destruction. It is beautiful in its clarity and humour. The Bird Room is written in a style that is understated which gives it a poetic quality that can't be brought about with more elaborate prose. It is a love story.

More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 23, 2010

Amy rated it:

I had a momentary loss of self-control in a bookshop and had to have this after reading the first couple of jaw-droppingly good pages. And although the writing is still as tight and fast in the rest of the book, the feeling just wasn't the same.

I don't know how to begin explaining this plot but then again, I rarely do in these reviews. You can get the gist of the themes of broken people telling lies and having sex from Amazon, if you really need to. People are cruel and mess up. We k More...

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Mar 23, 2010

Audrey rated it:

NOTE: I actually gave this 3 1/2 stars

I thought that maybe putting a little time between the end of this book and my review would give me more clarification on how I felt, but nope. I still think that it was just weird. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes! Did I LIKE it? Maybe yes, maybe no. Because really, it was just plain weird.

My favorite thing about this book was that I absolutely adored the writing style. It was one of those books where you sort of feel like the main More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 02, 2011

Karrie rated it:

If you loved the film Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind then I highly recommend this book. Lovingly dark, and hilarious it puts you behind the eyes and hearts of Helen & Will, two separate people being pulled through their own flaws & finding comfort in others. The scenery, the language, the style, I loved it all. It IS graphic and frankly more believable that way. These people are not sheltered, they are real. And they are fully aware & accept total responsibility for getting themselves the More...

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Feb 20, 2010

Alisha rated it:

I received The Bird Room as part the First Reads giveaways and I found that it was sort of bizarre. At first look, you think you get a humorous love story. But then it delves into something depressing and a tad bit profound.

While reading this, I found myself amused at first, and then deeply confused as to where exactly this story was going. It has two separate plots: one of Will and the other of Helen/Clair and then you see how those two plots weave together (and when it did, I fo More...

0 comments like

Apr 21, 2010

the little reader rated it:

the synopsis of this book (and the cover) really drew me in. a smart and sexy debut book with the unexpected relationship, it promised to be a dark and modern love story. and although the writing was good and the raw and graphic portrayal of their relationship was quick and easy reading, the book just fell flat for me in the end. it’s not that it was bad, but it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth, like i’d just thrown up or eaten something that was rotten.

the story centers More...

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Feb 20, 2010

Paul rated it:

This is a quick book to read, most people will complete it in a day or two. I found it extremely engrossing and for me it was about how it can be difficult to maintain emotional relationships. The protagonist creates his own world of internal dialogue and rapidly loses touch with reality as his paranoia takes over. I found it very convincing. I was also amused by how different metaphors the author managed to use to describe things or people as cold!

Another 100 pages would have made More...

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Jan 05, 2009

GillyP rated it:

A book about nothing. Or rather, plenty happens, but it’s mostly in the head of Will #1, chief protagonist. Other characters have their say too, but mostly via Will’s perspective as he slowly breaks down under the weight of his girlfriend’s infidelity, his joblessness and general sense of worthlessness.

It’s not a happy story, and yet it made me laugh out loud several times. Essentially a series of brilliant one-liners running through the mind of an ordinary bloke in the midst of a se More...

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Aug 31, 2011

Kerry rated it:

I received the paperback edition of this novel as part of an Early Reviewers scheme, so it has extracts of reviews written for the earlier edition. I can only conclude that the wrong cover has been attached to the text. These reviews imply that the book is a comedy – ‘exuberant’ they call it ‘so fresh it practically pings with energy’. They mention the ‘deadpan wit and cutting one-liners’. The story I read has four characters, all suffering from various levels of anxiety, depression and general More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 18, 2010

Lori rated it:

Reviewer copy.

It was a quickly paced, bizarre story about an unemployed self conscious young man named Will, who finally finds love with Alice, only to have his heart broken because he can't leave well enough alone.

Told from Will's point of view, we are plunged head first into his dark and twisted mind. We are cringing at the unchecked jealousy over his best friend - also named Will. We are watching as he pushes Alice away from him and straight into the other Will's arms. More...

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Apr 12, 2010

Katya rated it:

Eh, I don't know. I feel like I've become a very discerning reader, or maybe I'm just hyper-critical. I didn't really enjoy this book. It promised a lot of things and didn't deliver on most of them. Most of the characters are under-developed. We don't know anything about Will, other than he is painfully shy and awkward - but why? We don't know anything about Alice other than she lied about her family and loves Will - but why? We don't know anything about the other Will, the artist, other than he More...

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Apr 18, 2010

Tara rated it:

This book was confusing, but in an intended way. It was one of those books that when I finished it I was not sure if I knew what truly happened, but that was okay and I almost felt that was what the author wanted. He wanted to blur the lines between the characters so that you were unsure how things really turned out. This included jumping from the middle of the story to the beginning and then ending with the end, where you were left with 4 characters that may have been 2 or 3.

If More...

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Apr 13, 2010

Marjanne rated it:

Bleh. This seems like one of those books that is considered daring or noteworthy just because of the topic and not necessarily because of any other writing merit. I did not identify with any of the characters. I don't especially see the point of what the author is trying to 'say' (if anything). It is highly unlikely I would read anything by this author again. On the plus side, it was short and quick and only wasted a little bit of my time.

0 comments like

Mar 05, 2011

Laura rated it:

When describing this book, I would have to say 'intriguingly bizarre.' It's a quirky plot and the characters are interesting enough. It takes a strange look at relationships and the behaviour of the characters is sometimes surprising. Overall, I don't think I completely got it. However, I couldn't stop reading. There was something about it that made me want to read until the end; even though I found the ending slightly confusing. An interesting read. If you like off the wall plots then you'll li More...

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Jul 29, 2010

Brian rated it:

I saw early drafts of this novel. It was interesting to read the published version and see all the changes etc. Chris did a really good job pushing comforts levels I didn't even know I had - and if you knew me, you know that's saying something. I can't wait for the follow up. Chris is one to watch.

0 comments like

Dec 21, 2009

Jessilynn rated it:

I really wanted to like it. The reviews called it sexy and said there was dark humor. All I really saw was a take -off of Fight Club. There was a lot of sex, but that doesn't make it sexy. There was a clever idea behind it all, but it just didn't do anything for me.

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 12, 2011

Kez_70 rated it:

It started off quite funny, but I lost track of what was happening and who it was happening to, when the timeline shifted. I could go back and read it again, but I'm not sure I can be bothered. I ended up feeling as depressed and purposeless as the characters in it.

5 comments like

Sep 06, 2010

Anna rated it:

I liked this book. A bit strange. I wasn't sure quite what was happening. At the end I wasn't sure if I'd gone back to the beginning. I wasn't even sure how many characters there were. Were there 4 people/2 couples, or were they the same 2 people in different phases/guises? Who knows.

All the same, an enjoyable read. Dark and thought-provoking.

1 comment like

Mar 06, 2010

Cheli rated it:

This book was muffed up big time!! I really wouldn't recommend this book at all. It jumped from place to place I really couldn't follow it all that well. oh well at least it only had 202 pages in it!!

0 comments like

Jul 05, 2009

Catherine rated it:

The Bird Room is hysterical and charming, but underneath the humor and charm it smuggles in profound observations on the origin of loneliness, love and identity. Highly recommended.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 14, 2010

Lisa rated it:

The language in the book is a bit difficult to understand since it is based in Europe. Also, the book really didn't fit my lifestyle and was VERY sexual -- in a weird type of way.

0 comments like

Jun 01, 2009

Sam rated it:

printed it at library by abusing the print privileges allowed each patron. read it on my couch lying down. it was dark out when i was done.

0 comments like

Oct 22, 2008

Gina rated it:

How happy I was to read this, and it didn't disappoint which makes me more happy.

I wonder if it's possible for a character to some how drown from his own neurosis? I imagine it'd be a slow and painful demise as Will's suffering from a terminal case of self-annihilation, the method of death is the steady drip of anxiety.
Despite Will's case of the Unbearable (Un)Likeness of Will, I found myself strangely content when following his strange plight. What does that say about me? More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 12, 2012

Caro rated it:

good grace. this sucked. i was so bored and unaffected by it that i didn't read the last three pages.

0 comments like

Feb 12, 2012

Ally rated it:

Not my usual read but this book had me from the first page.
A strange but captivating read

0 comments like

Jan 23, 2010

Chris rated it:

‘The Bird Room’ is disturbingly awful or awfully disturbing…. How such a book gets published I don’t understand…..

0 comments like

Jan 23, 2012

J.A. rated it:

Probably more like 3 and 1/2, but I'll go 4 since there are all of these sneaky poetic phrases that blush in, and I dug that about Killen's approach here.

0 comments like