The Hummingbird

September 1, 2015

Hospice nurse Deborah Birch has been assigned a new patient, retired history professor and World War II expert Barclay Reed, known for his impatience with caregivers. Confident in her abilities, Deborah enters Reed's Lake Oswego, OR, home with the goal of winning him over and easing his final days while also finding escape herself--from her husband, Michael, a sniper back from his third tour of duty in the Middle East and fighting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As Deborah begins to study Reed's unpublished manuscript about a little-known 1942 Japanese mission to drop incendiary bombs into Oregon's forests, she learns more about warfare's effects on soldiers as she struggles to help her husband and save their fractured marriage. VERDICT In this ambitious second novel (after The Curiosity), award-winning journalist Kiernan's talents are spread a bit thin. Deborah's struggle with Michael's PTSD feels surprisingly trite when set against the compelling excerpts of Reed's manuscript about Japanese pilot Ichiro Soga's mission over Oregon and his subsequent peacetime visits. Readers with an interest in World War II would find this content thought provoking, but fans of general contemporary fiction or tales of returning veterans may be less well served. [See Prepub Alert, 6/21/15.]--Jennifer B. Stidham, Houston Community Coll. Northeast

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2015
Kiernan (The Curiosity, 2013) expertly mixes a look at the Japanese role in WWII and a modern-day tale of troubled Iraq War veteran sniper Michael; his hospice-care-nurse wife, Deborah; and her ornery, secret-harboring patient, Barclay. Deborah gets great satisfaction from her work with dying patients, who make her appreciate life while expressing their gratitude to her in touching ways. One former patient carved her a hummingbird. I receive something meaningful from every person, says Deborah. I gain much more than I give. A person who is dying, she says, savors everything and takes nothing for granted, which makes her appreciate being young and healthy. Reed, a wise-but-disgraced former history professor, helps Deborah understand her husband's problems. If you kill a man, he says, whatever the circumstances, he is on your conscience for life. In turn, she asks Reed to think about his answers to four questions: Is there anyone he needs to say I'm sorry, to? Or I forgive you, thank you, or I love you ? This many-faceted, thought-provoking story prompts soul-searching about life, war, and death.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)