Title: One Bird’s Choice
Author: Iain Reid
Publisher: House of Anansi Press
Publication Date: March 1, 2011
Hardcover: 264 pages
ISBN: 978-0887842436
Genre: Memoir

From the Publisher:

Meet Iain Reid: an overeducated, underemployed twenty-something, living in the big city in a bug-filled basement apartment and struggling to make ends meet. When Iain lands a job at a radio station near his childhood home, he decides to take it. But the work is only part time, so he is forced to move back in with his lovable but eccentric parents on their hobby farm. What starts out as a temporary arrangement turns into a year-long extended stay, in which Iain finds himself fighting with the farm fowl, taking fashion advice from the elderly, fattening up on a gluttonous fare of home-cooked food, and ultimately easing (perhaps a little too comfortably) into the semiretired lifestyle.

A hilarious and heartwarming comic memoir about food, family, and finally growing up, One Bird’s Choice marks the arrival of a funny, original, and fresh new voice.

My Review:

One Bird’s Choice: A Year in the Life of an Overeducated, Underemployed Twenty-Something Who Moves Back Home by Iain Reid is a memoir of the year Iain moves back to his parents hobby farm.  What I think makes this book stand out is the various perspectives readers will have on this book.  I read it through the perspective of a mother with an adult son, so I had visions of one of my sons coming home for awhile until they gained their footing, something I hope, for my sons’ futures will not be necessary.  Reid’s writing style is amusing, and I was most fascinated by his parents, known to the reader as Mom and Dad, who were very supportive, clearly loving and I enjoyed learning about their every day life.  Reid writes quite well and I am curious to see if he will choose to write more in the future.  As far as memoirs go, there was not a lot learned in this one.  Reid is everything the title claims, his parents are quite loving and appear to be people I would rather like knowing.  I could not relate to what Reid was going through, by his age I was a mum and any selfish/indulgent/crisis phase of my left was long over, yet I did enjoy reading about his year back home.  One Bird’s Choice is a relaxed memoir, filled with quaint moments, some funny anecdotes, and not a lot more.  Based on what I had read I expected the book to be hilarious, and it quite possibly is to another demographic. I am viewing it through my perspective where I also did not notice a lot of growth taking place, maybe I missed the subtlety of Reid’s growth, if it was apparent it definitely was not profound.  I am glad I read the memoir; it was the perfect book for a rainy afternoon.  I do believe One Bird’s Choice would make for an exceptional discussion group pick, as I believe each reader will have a slightly different perspective on the book based on where the reader is in their life.

About the Author:

IAIN REID has written for several CBC Radio shows, including Definitely Not the Opera, Metro Morning, Here and Now, and GO. His work has also appeared in the Globe and Mail, Iceland Review Online, and Atlantica. A graduate of Queen’s University, Iain Reid was born in Ottawa in 1981, and now lives in Kingston. One Bird’s Choice is his first book.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of One Bird’s Choice by Iain Reid from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.