A Funeral for an Owl - Jane Davis

Author: Jane Davis

Genre: Contemporary Literary Fiction.

Rating: 4.5 stars.

This was a tough one to review. I’m still at a loss about where to begin. My usual “Nutshell” summation escapes me. So I’ll just start by saying: I LOVED this book, but it is not for everyone. Read on to see if this book will work for you.

Story:

The story comes to us from multiple perspectives and over multiple timelines.

Ayisha, July 2010 onwards – A high school teacher, the story begins with her discovering that one of her colleagues, Jim Stevens, has been stabbed in broad daylight in the school grounds. There’s a big group of stunned students surrounding him, but no one wants to confess what happened. Ayisha chooses Shamayal, one of the students, to assist her in providing first aid to Jim until medical assistance arrives. But when she later discovers that Shamayal and Jim are friends, she wonders if she should report her colleague to the educational authorities. Why does she hesitate? What makes her, a strict rule-abider, go against her fundamental nature in order to help Jim and Shamayal?

Shamayal, April 2010 onwards – At fourteen, Shamayal is living his life on his own. His mother has long abandoned him, and his father, with whom he resides, has more interest in alcohol and women than in his son. When his history teacher Jim spots him wandering the streets in the bleak hours of the night, Jim realises that he may have many things in common with this lad who wears a brave mask to cover his struggles. But will Shamayal accept his teacher’s support when he wants to be seen as independent?

Jim, 1990 and 2010 – Jim has had a difficult childhood, with only his mother as a constant, loving presence. His father and his brother are criminals and walk in and out of his life. When he discovers Aimee, he feels a kinship with her as she too seems to have family struggles. While they indulge together in Jim’s favourite hobby of bird-watching, their friendship becomes stronger. But soon something happens that casts a shadow over their lives. Will their friendship recover? Can a boy and a girl have a perfectly platonic friendship without anyone spoiling it for them? In 2010, Jim is struggling to recover from the stabbing. But he realises that the problem is far from over as the culprit is still out there. How will his life be upturned by this unexpected incident?

The book starts with Jim’s stabbing. But if you think that takes precedence over everything else in the narrative, you have it wrong. The stabbing is incidental to the main plot. This book isn’t a crime investigation; it is to know how the horrifying incident affected the lives of the people mentioned above. This is a book you read not for thrills or action or adventure. This is a book to be read for its characters.

What a well-rounded effort by the author in bringing those characters to life! The individual character voices are written so distinctly that you are left in no doubt of their personality and the reasons behind their actions at any point during the story. Each character is as real as you can get, with imperfections and internal conflicts. Each is trying to figure out the others beyond the façade that they put on for the world. All three main characters are survivors in their own way. Their past environment moulded them into who they are in the present, and each of them is a testimony to how nature and nurture work in shaping personalities. I must mention two secondary characters who don’t appear much in the story but who will still make their presence felt: Ayisha’s mother and the vagrant Bins. In fact, Bins will probably enter my list of all-time favourite secondary characters in a book.

If you are the kind of reader who wants action on every page, this book won’t work for you. It is a literary fiction, so it’s obviously not for everyone, and it must be picked up in the right mood. It proceeds at its pace, it focusses more on the people than the plot progression, and yet, the narrative moves forward steadily. I was mesmerised by the story, the writing and most of all, the three main characters. I was initially confused about why Ayisha viewed Jim’s closeness with Shamayal as a problem, but the story suggests that personal connections between teachers and students are strictly barred in the UK. Once you get your head around that, her reactions are justifiable.

The title has a significant role to play in the plot, but I don’t want to reveal the connection here. Just know that it refers to a key turning point in the story.

The sudden and unexpected ending left me feeling deprived. I wanted more, I wanted to know what happened next! It was like being taken to a high point and left there to survive on your own. That’s the reason I didn’t review the book immediately. I wanted to process my feelings for it. Now, almost a day later, I realise that the book ended at just the right point. Events in life don’t always tie themselves in neat, resolved packages; why must books? The characters are still in my mind a day later; isn’t that the mark of a great story? At the same time, I can see how the ending can disgruntle many readers. So if you do pick it up, consider yourself warned.

To sum up, this is not your typical run-of-the-mill novel, it's a well-written character study that includes a commentary on society and its prejudices. If you ever want to read a book to know how characters ought to be sketched, please give this a try. Much recommended for literary fiction readers.

I heard the audiobook with the three main characters narrated by Alix Dunmore, Alix Dunmore and Alix Dunmore and the secondary characters voiced by Alix Dunmore. Does that give you a clue of how impressed I was with her narration? What a performance! Every accent, spot on. Every individual character, distinct. Every dialogue delivery, perfect. I would have loved the book even if I were reading it. (I’m absolutely sure of this; I love well-written and realistic characters.) But she took the book even further with her narration. Not once did I have to rewind in the 10 hrs 18 min long audiobook. (And this hardly ever happens! The “loop back 30 seconds” is the second most used button on my app, after the Play/Pause button.) Of course, if you get confused with multiple timelines and multiple character perspectives, it might make more sense to read the book than to hear it. As far as I’m concerned, either method would work just fine for this story.

Thank you, Saga Egmont Audio and NetGalley, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.