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Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
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Starling Days: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 93 ratings
See all formats and editions
The moving new novel by the author of Harmless Like You, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and NPR Great Read
 
On their first date, Mina told Oscar that she was bisexual, vegetarian, and on meds. He married her anyhow. A challenge to be met. She had low days, sure, but manageable. But now, maybe not so much . . . Mina is standing on the George Washington Bridge late at night, staring over the edge, when a patrol car drives up. She tries to convince the policeman she’s not about to jump, but he doesn’t believe her. Oscar is called to pick her up.
 
With the idea of leaving New York for London—a place for Mina “to learn the floorplan of this sadness”—Oscar arranges a move. In London, Mina, a classicist, tries grappling with her mental health issues by making lists. Of WOMEN WHO SURVIVED—Penelope, Psyche, Leda. Iphigenia, but only in one of the tellings. Of things that make her HAPPY—enamel coffee cups. But what else? She at last finds a beam of light in Phoebe, and friendship and attraction blossom until Oscar and Mina’s complicated love is tested.
 
A gorgeously wrought novel, variously about love, mythology, mental illness, Japanese beer, and the times we need to seek out milder psychological climates, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s Starling Days—written in exquisite prose rich with lightly ironic empathy—is a complex and compelling work of fiction by a singularly gifted young writer.
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  1. Print length
    301 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    The Overlook Press
  5. Publication date
    April 7, 2020
  6. File size
    1635 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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From the Publisher

Praise for Starling Days

T Kira Madden

Kirkus Reviews

Spencer Quong

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Readers willing to brave the darkness will find a worthy, nuanced portrait of a woman’s struggle for self-determination amid mental illness.”―Publisher's Weekly

“A gripping, tender, and unsettling look at mental illness... Poetic and understated, this nuanced work by Buchanan also addresses adult-child relationships, the legacy of family trauma, and the challenge of offering unconditional love...Complex and resonant.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Starling Days is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Both quiet and scorching, this is a story about mental health, desire, and the myriad mythologies we both build and destroy. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan has offered us another supreme gift of a novel, a rare opportunity to love and forgive our darkest and most shimmering selves.”―T. Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

“Starling Days a beautiful and profoundly moving “floor plan” of what it means to live with depression and dailiness, love and death, solitude and connection.”―Elaine Castillo, author of America Is Not the Heart

“A singular novel from the poetic and painterly mind of Rowan Hisayo Buchanan.”―Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti

“A quiet triumph—tenderly and disarmingly exploring the responsibility of love, loneliness, what it is to feel lost.”―Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure

“The gifted Rowan Hisayo Buchanan follows her marvelous debut with Starling Days... portraying complex character and tangled interpersonal relations with striking maturity.”―Financial Times

“An exquisite rendering of love, sadness, and misunderstanding...I want to share this book with everyone I know.”―Spencer Quong, Paris Review, most anticipated titles of 2020

“Everyone could use a change of scenery — and nobody more than Oscar and Mina, a married couple who leave New York for London after Mina's second suicide attempt. But a trek across the pond can't keep some old baggage away.”―Entertainment Weekly

“Buchanan’s second novel tenderly explores mental illness, bisexuality, connection, love and loss. This is an original, poetic and striking literary triumph."―Ms. Magazine

“In this heartfelt book about a struggling young couple, Buchanan surfaces the many ways in which love can be complicated.”―Buzzfeed

About the Author

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is an American and British writer. She received her BA from Columbia and her MFA from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her first novel, Harmless Like You, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and NPR Great Read. She is the editor of the Go Home! anthology, and her work has appeared in Granta, Guernica, the Guardian, and the Paris Review.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07WK7BKS6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Overlook Press (April 7, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 7, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1635 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 301 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1419751654
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 93 ratings

About the author

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Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

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Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is a Japanese-British-Chinese-American writer. Her debut novel, Harmless Like You was published in 2016 by Sceptre and won the Author’s Club First Novel Award and a Betty Trask award. It was also shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, the Books Are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award and longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan was the recipient of a Margins fellowship for the Asian American Writers Workshop, has a BA from Columbia University, an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is currently working on a PhD at the University of East Anglia. Her writing has appeared in the short story anthology How Much the Heart Can Hold (Sceptre), the Guardian, New York Times, Granta, The Paris Review and The Atlantic among other places. She has lived in London, New York, Tokyo, Madison and Norwich.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
93 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Terry M
4.0 out of 5 stars Intricately Complex
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2020
Verified Purchase
When Mina first met Oscar, she told him she was bisexual, a vegetarian and on meds. He chose to marry her anyhow. Six months later he is called by the NYPD to come pick her up from the George Washington Bridge. The officers thought she intended to jump. As an attempt to help her heal, they decide to live temporarily in London. The idea is that Mina will focus on her research for a paper on the 'Women Who Survived' (mythological women who survived in the tales they were in). What actually happens is the stress of all that has happened in his short marriage to Mina hits Oscar hard, and he needs a break, and she grows attracted to his childhood friend, Phoebe, all while trying to come to terms with her sadness.

The main characters in this novel are tangible. Note that I didn't say likable. There were times I really thought Oscar was a jerk and Mina was the biggest fool. If anything, in my opinion, that's an argument for how real they felt. I wanted to shake them!

The book is more of a study on mental health and how it can complicate already complicated enough relationships. It wasn't an exciting plot, but I never wanted to put the book down either. It was very well written. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan uses language beautifully, definitely going above and beyond what was called for in the story. In fact, I highlighted in my Kindle app before I even -started- the story, in the dedication. I loved it. It perfectly sums it up. Let me share:

--Dedicated--
To everyone who struggles with black dogs or inner demons or any shape of sadness.

The settings of New York, Washington State, and London were all appropriate enough. Most of the real action occurred in our characters' minds, however, so the physical settings were neither here nor there.

This is a tough book to recommend. It won't be everyone's cup of tea. If you enjoy books that probe mental health and/or the complexities of relationships, it's for you.
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Trevor A. Groce
5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous language in service to a compelling story
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2020
Each of the major characters in this novel are depicted with precision and compassion in a way that still makes me think of them weeks after reading, as though they were acquaintances whose fates still concern me. I wonder how they’re doing now, and what paths they have taken since I last checked in on them. The plot surprises beyond the compelling premise, and I was left confounded by the book’s ability to narrate scenes with immersive imagery and fascinating interactions between characters I could hear and feel deep curiosity about. The decisions they make lead to some very interesting places and elicit real empathy. And even as the complexities of their individual conflicts branch out, nothing is distraction as it builds to a searing conclusion.
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Cathie L. Desjean
4.0 out of 5 stars interesting
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2020
Verified Purchase
I read a variety of book and this was a good choice. Held my interest.
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Long Vo
5.0 out of 5 stars complex, a bit messy, yet tender
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2020
great book that sits in the intimate moments of a couples' dilemma with mental illness. The tension of not knowing how to communicate, nor hear your partner is what makes it gripping
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Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Highly-Strung
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 11, 2022
Verified Purchase
Such a beautiful and poetic work (although also entirely readable). Stunning account of a couple relocating to London amidst a mental health crisis.
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itagaki_unlucky
4.0 out of 5 stars 面白いですよ
Reviewed in Japan on October 16, 2022
Verified Purchase
全編が好きだったharmless like youと違い、この本は途中で「大丈夫？ちょっと陳腐じゃない？」と思う箇所があります。だけど全編読み通すと、極上の読書体験だったと感心しました。
なんというか、お洒落なインディー映画の原作のような、「自分だけの宝箱感」があります。
ハリウッド映画ではなく、インディー映画。ここがポイントです！
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