{"id":6406,"date":"2025-05-09T04:43:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T11:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=6406"},"modified":"2025-05-09T06:14:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T13:14:34","slug":"k-a-merson-the-language-of-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/k-a-merson-the-language-of-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"K.A. Merson: The Language of the Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Debut<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This novel really lets the author\u2019s freak flag fly, in the best way.\u00a0 It definitely is not a book for every reader \u2013 it will help if you enjoy puzzles, cryptology and maps, but even in you don\u2019t, the story and the characters make the read worthwhile.\u00a0 The main character, Arizona, is a neurodivergent 17 year old who has just lost her father.\u00a0 As the book opens, she and her mother are headed to the ghost town of Bodie, California, to scatter her father\u2019s ashes.<\/p>\n

She and her mother and Arizona\u2019s dog, Mojo, have arrived in the family Airstream, and when they get there, Arizona tells her mother she\u2019d like some time to herself.\u00a0 When she goes to meet up with her mother at the appointed time, however, her mother is nowhere to be found.\u00a0 Hours later, Arizona at last reports her mother\u2019s disappearance to a park ranger who tells her to wait at her campsite.<\/p>\n

It soon becomes clear that her mother has been kidnapped, for reasons unknown, and Arizona must solve a series of extremely difficult puzzles to free her.\u00a0 This is a pretty simple set up but it\u2019s far from a simple novel.\u00a0 The emotional underpinning of the novel is profound.\u00a0 As readers we begin to see the world through Arizona\u2019s slightly different lens.\u00a0 We feel her pain at the loss of her beloved father, and her worry for her mother.\u00a0 She meets another young woman at her campsite, Lily, who becomes a friend despite the many walls Arizona throws up along the way.\u00a0 Arizona is terrified of friendship. She has a problem with trust.<\/p>\n

We are also with Arizona\u2019s mom as she attempts escape in any way she can.\u00a0 She is far less developed as a character, but as a narrative driver, she\u2019s essential.\u00a0 The sweetness of Arizona\u2019s relationship with Mojo as well as her growing friendship with Lily define this novel as much as the puzzles do.<\/p>\n

Along the way, as I (a non puzzle person) skimmed through the puzzles, I did glean some interesting facts.\u00a0 Many of the puzzles are based on poems by Poe and Lewis Carroll, and the familiar lines are somewhat altered.\u00a0 Arizona\u2019s quest ultimately leads her to Herbert Hoover and to the Hoover dam.\u00a0 I was newly impressed by Hoover, a president I never had thought much about, as well as the amazing engineering achievement that is the Hoover dam.<\/p>\n

I also got a virtual tour of the southwest which is so vividly and lovingly described that I did indeed feel as though I had been there.\u00a0 It\u2019s a different landscape than the one I live in and I appreciated the care and detail the author provides for the setting, especially in the ghost town of Bodie.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I want to visit, but after reading this book, I\u2019m not sure that I need to.<\/p>\n

The believable development of Arizona\u2019s character \u2013 she does not turn into a \u201cnormal\u201d person, but she does find her strength \u2013 was for me, the highlight of this oddly moving novel.\u00a0 Even if you don\u2019t like or understand or enjoy puzzles, I think this book remains an entreatingly worthy read.\u00a0 More neurodivergent characters are appearing on the pages of books, and I think that\u2019s a wonderful development.\u00a0 We all have a place in this world and like Arizona, it may just take a little work to find it.\u00a0 \u00a0— Robin Agnew<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debut This novel really lets the author\u2019s freak flag fly, in the best way.\u00a0 It definitely is not a book for every reader \u2013 it will help if you enjoy puzzles, cryptology and maps, but even in you don\u2019t, the story and the characters make the read worthwhile.\u00a0 The main character, Arizona, is a neurodivergent … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[520,2100,2101,320,2097,2102,2099,1276,2098],"class_list":["post-6406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-ballantine-books","tag-cryptology","tag-herbert-hoover","tag-identity-quest","tag-k-a-merson","tag-maps","tag-puzzles","tag-robin-agnew","tag-the-language-of-birds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6406"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6409,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6406\/revisions\/6409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}