Like a Bird

by Fariha Róisín

Overview

A revolutionary story of empowerment and redemption, Like a Bird is the highly anticipated debut novel from Fariha Róisín, author of the poetry collection How to Cure A Ghost
One of Vogue and Refinery29's Most Anticipated Books of the Fall

Taylia Chatterjee has never known love, and certainly has never felt it for herself. Growing up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, with her older sister Alyssa, their parents were both overbearing and emotionally distant, and despite idyllic summers in the Catskills, and gatherings with glamorous family friends, there is a sadness that emanates from the Chatterjee residence, a deep well of sorrow stemming from the racism of American society.
After a violent sexual assault, Taylia is disowned by her parents and suddenly forced to move out. As Taylia looks to the city, the ghost of her Indian grandmother dadi-ma is always one step ahead, while another more troubling ghost chases after her. Determined to have the courage to confront the pain that her family can’t face, Taylia finds work at a neighborhood café owned by single mother and spiritualist, Kat. Taylia quickly builds a constellation of friends and lovers on her own, daring herself to be open to new experiences, even as they call into question what she thought she knew about the past.
Taylia's story is about survival, coming to terms with her past and looking forward to a future she never felt she was allowed to claim. Writing this for eighteen years, poet and activist Fariha Róisín’s debut novel is an intense, provocative, and emotionally profound portrait of an inner life in turmoil and the redemptive power of community and love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781951213442
Publisher:	The Unnamed Press
Publication date:	08/03/2021
Sales rank:	1,132,084
Product dimensions:	10.40(w) x 16.30(h) x 8.10(d)

About the Author

Fariha Róisín is an Australian-Canadian writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Vice, Fusion, Village Voice, and elsewhere. Her work often explores Muslim identity, race, pop culture, and film. It also examines the intersection of queerness and being a femme of color while navigating a white world. She is the author of the poetry collection, HOW TO CURE A GHOST, and the guided journal, BEING IN YOUR BODY.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"When I first encountered Fariha’s writing, I let out a sigh of relief. Was it refreshing? Yes. But there was something more. Her words allow us to feel visible. Fariha’s writing has the power to heal and transform. She pulls you into her stories until you’re at the edge of your seat, emphatically rooting for her subjects." —Rupi Kaur

"Like A Bird is such a generous text, teeming with layered and beautifully living characters. A flaw of so much book praise is the quest to make every book universal. This book sings, specifically, to a people, while leaving the door open wide enough for anyone else to walk through." –Hanif Abdurraqib, bestselling author of They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us and Go Ahead in the Rain

Editorial Reviews

"Well-paced and hopeful, this stirring work will resonate with those interested in stories of young women breaking free of oppression and trauma." —Publishers Weekly

"Taylia’s story is one of survival and the power of community, something Róisín captures with her beautiful prose and a piercing perspective that touches on today’s political and social climate." —Vogue

From the Publisher

07/27/2020

Róisín’s engrossing debut novel (after poetry collection How to Cure A Ghost) follows a mixed-race teenage girl’s experience of trauma and survival. Taylia Chatterjee, born into economic privilege on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to a Jewish mother and Bengali-Indian father, is viewed as a disappointment by her parents compared to her sister, Alyssa, the “white-passing majesty,” and both are expected and pressured to succeed. Eventually, the heaviness of their familial roles proves too much, leading Alyssa to commit suicide. Amid the family’s grief, Taylia is raped by a friend of her parents. They blame Taylia, still living at home while enrolled at Columbia, and throw her out, forcing her to cobble together a life from the generosity of new friends: Kat, Ky, and Tahsin. Bouncing from home to home, Taylia makes decisions refracted through both her naiveté and an overwhelming understanding of how cruel the world can be. As she gains a sense of purpose, she feels empowered knowing she can make decisions for herself. Róisín’s portrayal of Taylia’s surrogate family offers a life-giving chronicle of Taylia’s emergence from pain into a new life. Well-paced and hopeful, this stirring work will resonate with those interested in stories of young women breaking free of oppression and trauma. Agent: Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

07/24/2020

DEBUT In her extraordinary first novel, Róisín exposes the damaging effects of colorism through the Chatterjee family, who unconsciously pit their golden child, light-skinned, confident Alyssa, against Taylia, dark and brooding like her immigrant father and an unwelcome reminder of his roots in Calcutta. Crippled by low self-esteem and a poor body image, Taylia withdraws into her studies, hiding behind baggy, gender-neutral clothing, while her sister flaunts her sexuality and flouts her father's strict moral code. After Alyssa's shocking death, Taylia yearns finally to be seen by her grieving family, but rather than support her in the aftermath of a horrific rape at the hands of a trusted family friend, they exile her from their Upper West Side home. Róisín is masterly in her visceral representation of Taylia's despair and rage, her depression and self-loathing, and her inability to be open to even small acts of kindness. Yet as weeks of her wandering in the city unfold, readers sense Taylia's innate strength, a survival instinct at her core that enables her to find work in a bakery and a friend in Kat, its owner. VERDICT In lustrous, lyrical language, multifaceted artist Róisín has written an ode to the joy and healing power of self-love. This powerful novel is highly recommended.—Sally Bissell, formerly with Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL

Library Journal

2020-08-19
In her debut novel, poet Roísín takes aim at the model minority myth as 20-something narrator Taylia Chatterjee navigates racism, family problems, and sexual violence.

As the story begins, Taylia is home in Manhattan, having taken a break from college while mourning the death of her older sister, Alyssa, who died two years earlier. Taylia is suffering from depression and low self-esteem, believing Alyssa was more beloved by their parents. In addition, her Indian father and White Jewish mother couldn't address the microaggressions and cultural disconnect Taylia and Alyssa navigated while growing up. Despite her family's affluent lifestyle, Taylia has suffered various deprivations that money and education cannot overcome. Only her summer spent in India with her paternal grandmother, dadi-ma, was any balm. After Taylia is gang-raped by the son of family friends and his acquaintances at a party, the man takes her home and tells her parents she got drunk and threw herself at him; her parents disown her, and Taylia is expelled from her family's Upper West Side apartment. Fortunately, Taylia has a small inheritance from her beloved dadi-ma and is able to build a new life, step by step, after finding a job at a cafe. The queer feminist owner, Kat, takes Taylia under her care. The novel has many plot threads and characters, not all of whom are equally developed. In particular, Taylia's parents are seriously underwritten, especially given the important role they play. Long conversations and coincidences drive much of the action, especially in the last third of the novel.

A young woman's struggles will resonate with many readers despite the novel's pat resolution.

Kirkus Reviews