Fionnáin reviewed Mozart's Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
Starlings meeting through time
4 stars
I discovered Lyanda Lynn Haupt through an essay that she wrote in the 5-volume book series 'Kinship'. Her chapter was a highlight and I loved it so much I decided to read this book, which presents a wonderful concept: a biography of two starlings. One is her own, Carmen, who sits on her head or poops on her hands as she types the book. She makes kin with Carmen while researching what she can about another pet starling that belonged to the composer Mozart in the late 1700s.
Haupt is an ornithologist by training and also a keen writer, with a gift for humour and narrative. She adopts her starling much to the chagrin of birders in the US, where the bird is an invasive and widely despised (news to me!). She weaves the two bird stories together brilliantly, seamlessly also creating a part-biography of Mozart, and part autobiography. …
I discovered Lyanda Lynn Haupt through an essay that she wrote in the 5-volume book series 'Kinship'. Her chapter was a highlight and I loved it so much I decided to read this book, which presents a wonderful concept: a biography of two starlings. One is her own, Carmen, who sits on her head or poops on her hands as she types the book. She makes kin with Carmen while researching what she can about another pet starling that belonged to the composer Mozart in the late 1700s.
Haupt is an ornithologist by training and also a keen writer, with a gift for humour and narrative. She adopts her starling much to the chagrin of birders in the US, where the bird is an invasive and widely despised (news to me!). She weaves the two bird stories together brilliantly, seamlessly also creating a part-biography of Mozart, and part autobiography. The result is an unexpectedly wonderful book that is full of surprises, personal reflections and light humour.