At what point did you realize Birdie did not have any spoken dialogue? What was the effect?
I realized it early on and kept hoping she would find her voice
From the beginning…it added to the sadness of the story. A life lived from a distance instead of engaging in the present
Haha, I didn’t even notice until I read the question.
Oh, wow. I didn’t realize it at all until I read this question.
I think the author probably chose this to illustrate how a lot of Birdie’s life was about what happened to her instead of what she did herself.
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I’m ashamed to say..I never noticed it! Wow! Thinking about that makes her detachment from her life and lack of control even more inpactful!
Brilliant move by Amy Rossi to exclude Birdie’s “voice”. It made the story really wrenching and set the tone for the entire book. The “Silent Birdie” spoke volumes to us without words.
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I didn’t realize it right away but once I did, it added to my experience reading the book. I realized that I was seeing the story entirely through Birdie’s internal lens, and experiencing the world the way she does—through thoughts and memories. The choice also shows that in Birdie’s life she was objectified, controlled, and defined by others—the modeling industry, the rock star, Harriet—rather than allowed to become a full individual on her own.
Did not even realize it!
I didn’t realize this at all. I have to go back and see how I missed this.
I guess I really missed something – I viewed her as a first-person narrator so saw all of the book as presenting her voice.
Reading this is the first time I realized Birdie didn’t have any dialogue.
I didn’t realize it until this question. Looking back, that makes so much sense.
As the first person narrator in the book, we only see things from Birdie’s point of view. I don’t know if she is a completely reliable narrator. There were no opportunities to hear from the other people with whom she interacted. As I was reading I kept wondering if Birdie was “talking” about her teenage years in the present or as an adult looking back and analyzing the past. It felt like a very long series of therapy sessions.