The Yellow Birds - Softcover

Powers, Kevin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444756141 ISBN 13: 9781444756142

Publisher: Sceptre, 2013

Synopsis

WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD 2012

WINNER OF THE HEMINGWAY/PEN AWARD 2012

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST

AN AMAZON EDITOR'S PICK: BEST BOOKS OF 2012

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

AN INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR

A TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR

AN EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR

A SUNDAY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR

A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

A SCOTSMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR

A SUNDAY HERALD BOOK OF THE YEAR

AN IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

An unforgettable depiction of the psychological impact of war, by a young Iraq veteran and poet, THE YELLOW BIRDS is already being hailed as a modern classic.

Everywhere John looks, he sees Murph.

He flinches when cars drive past. His fingers clasp around the rifle he hasn't held for months. Wide-eyed strangers praise him as a hero, but he can feel himself disappearing.

Back home after a year in Iraq, memories swarm around him: bodies burning in the crisp morning air. Sunlight falling through branches; bullets kicking up dust; ripples on a pond wavering like plucked strings. The promise he made, to a young man's mother, that her son would be brought home safely.

With THE YELLOW BIRDS, poet and veteran Kevin Powers has composed an unforgettable account of friendship and loss. It vividly captures the desperation and brutality of war, and its terrible after-effects. But it is also a story of love, of great courage, and of extraordinary human survival.

Written with profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on families at home, THE YELLOW BIRDS is one of the most haunting, true and powerful novels of our time.

'THE YELLOW BIRDS is the All Quiet on the Western Front of America's Arab Wars.'

(Tom Wolfe, author of The Bonfire of the Vanities )

'Kevin Powers has conjured a poetic and devastating account of war's effect on the individual.'

(Damian Lewis, star of Homeland and Band of Brothers )

'Inexplicably beautiful'.

(Ann Patchett, Orange Prize-winning author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder)

About this title

Review:

Extraordinary . . . beautifully accomplished. The mark of an artist of the first order . . . a must-read book. (JOHN BURNSIDE, GUARDIAN)

A masterpiece ... a classic. (THE TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR)

A stunning achievement - visceral [and] poignant. (SUNDAY TIMES)

'Remarkable for its intensity of both feeling and expression. In this book about death, every line is a defiant assertion of the power of beauty to revivify, whether beauty shows itself in nature or (later) in art. (HILARY MANTEL, GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR)

'The best book I have read this year' (IRISH TIMES)

A wonderful, powerful novel that moves and terrifies. (INDEPENDENT)

'Harrowing, inexplicably beautiful, and utterly, urgently necessary.' (ANN PATCHETT, Orange Prizewinning author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder)

A stunning read . . . beautiful [and] devastating. (SIMON MAYO, BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB)

'Kevin Powers has conjured a poetic and devastating account of war's effect on the individual.' (DAMIAN LEWIS, star of Homeland and Band of Brothers)

Reaffirms the power of fiction to tell the truth about the unspeakable ... a superb literary achievement. I urge everyone to read it. (CHRIS CLEAVE, author of The Other Hand and Gold)

Book Description:

An unforgettable depiction of the psychological impact of war, by a young Iraq veteran and poet, THE YELLOW BIRDS is already being hailed as a modern classic.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1444756141
• ISBN 13: 9781444756142
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256