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Reviewed: The Awakening, A Tale of Avian Evolution By
Mark Jones (Robert D. Reed Publishers, San Francisco, 2000, 536 pp, ISBN: 1-885003-60-9, U.S. $24.95, hardcover) If you never read any other book about birds, read this one. Author Mark Jones has produced an incredible story that delivers what it promises ... and more. The accolades on the book's dust jacket promise a roller coaster ride of emotion and the book does not disappoint. I cannot recall any book moving me as emotionally as does this one. The story is set in two different time frames, one in modern times, the other at the time-line transition between the Cretaceous and Tertiary Eras of pre-historic Earth. The story is fictional, but it is "real-life" fiction, in that the types of incidents and situations described do occur every day. It involves several characters and occurrences that begin as separate, apparently unrelated stories. By the end of the book Jones' has weaved them all together masterfully, integrating all the characters and storylines into one creation, producing an incredible story of love, courage, hope and joy. The two main characters are parrots: Yellow Streak, a pre-historic parrot whose descendants are the parrots with whom we share our planet today; and, Angel, a descendant (or perhaps an even closer relative?) of Yellow Streak. Both face daunting challenges, the former in a world turned upside by the collision of a comet with Earth, the latter in the form of abuse and neglect heaped upon her by some of the humans she encounters in her life. Although the characters are fictional, the incidents that take place in the modern era setting are not, and that is why it is so powerfully moving. Angel suffers treatment no different from that experienced by many real-life parrots. She is passed around from human to human, punished, ignored, abused, neglected and left to die. The book paints a very vivid picture of what can happen when people - some well-meaning, some not - decide to include birds in their lives without really understanding what that involves. In that sense, the book is as educational as many non-fiction books about parrots. If you have spent any time with companion parrots, this book will move you deeply. There were times I had to put it down and compose myself before continuing to read. These moments of great anguish were complimented by moments of great joy, mirroring the cycle of Universal Life. There is a twist to the ending (or not, depending on how well your intuition works), an ending that reminds us that there is always hope, always something better awaiting us. The Awakening is an inspiration, not just for bird lovers, not just for the human and avian races, but for Life everywhere. -
Reviewed by John Geary This review was published in the Calgary Psittascene, Vol. 7, Issue 4, 04/02.
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| "Some say they don't believe |
| That Angels can be seen or heard |
| What a shame such blindness |
| What a pity such deafness |
| When the Song of Songs abounds |
| And Heaven's flyers are all around |
| Only thinly disguised as ... birds." |
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- R.R. Holster, Jr. |
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General Information About African Greys Fiction
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