Review and quotes from book: BIRD BOX

Title: Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Book Beginnings quote: 

Malorie stands in the kitchen, thinking. Her hands are damp. She is trembling. She taps her toe nervously on the cracked tile floor. It is early; the sun is probably only peeking above the horizon. She watches its meager light turn the heavy window drapes a softer color of black and thinks, That was a fog.

Friday56 quote (from Chapter 5):

Online they are calling it "the Problem". There exists the widespread communal belief that whatever "the Problem" is, it definitely begins when a person sees something. 

Summary: Something is out there. No one who has seen it has lived to tell what "it" is. But it is known that if a person "sees it" they will instantly go violently and suicidally insane. Only a few survivors remain, scattered and disjointed, including Malorie and her two four-year-old children. Now that they are old enough, she has decided to attempt a trip down the river to find other survivors. But can they do it blind-folded?

Review: My book club usually reads books selected by a librarian and placed into a book kit convenient for club use. The kits are usually literary fiction or narrative nonfiction. We've rarely selected fantasy or Sci-Fi, so this thriller was a shock to our sensibilities. Here is a bunch of old church ladies reading a book about an apocalypse and post-apocalypse time and all the horrors that are contained within. I worried that no one would like it, but everyone found it thrilling. And thrilling it was. The writing wasn't especially strong but the pulse and beat was undeniable. Even when writing about mundane things like inventorying the food, the background thrumped with menace. After reading the book, my husband and I found and viewed the movie with Sandra Bullock in the lead. As with most book to movie adaptations, the book was better and the movie more compressed. I liked them both.

Book club discussion questions include spoilers, so only look after you've finished the book: Grand Rapids Library. 

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.
The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. 
Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material.     

-Anne

SOTH book club, September 2020