The Yellow Birds: A Novel by Kevin Powers
Last Saturday, I won the 2013 Library of Virginia Award for Fiction. I was thrilled, of course. And I feel especially honored after reading this fine novel, which was one of the two other finalists for the award.
The Yellow Birds is about a young soldier from Virginia who goes to Iraq. A comrade is killed and the protagonist’s reaction is the story of the novel. Kevin Powers–a very nice guy whom I spent some time with on the day of the awards ceremony–is also a poet, and it absolutely shows. The language is often lyrical and fine, in a way that a novel about war can’t usually get away with.
War is hell, this book says, but it says a lot more about the characters. Powers’s next book is a collection of poetry due out next year. Can’t wait to see it!
