Book Review: Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

This book is about Koly, who is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives in India, and her parents have arranged a marriage for her because they can no longer afford to feed her. She is married off to a sickly boy named Hari, and he only married her for her dowry, which would allow his family to take him to the Holy Ganges river, which Hari’s parents hoped would heal Hari. Hari dies after going to the Ganges, and Koly is stuck with her Sass (mother-in-law) who is always criticizing her and her kindly but submissive Sassur (father-in-law). She can’t go back to her family because it would bring dishonor to them. Later, her Sassur dies and her Sass abandons her, so she is left homeless. She has to go to a home for widows until she is saved from her plight.

I don’t usually read multicultural YA literature, but I should, so reading this was good for me as it allowed me to deviate from what I normally read. I also happened to really enjoy this book. I especially liked the character of Koly, who was an intelligent, strong, curious, and resilient young woman. Her perspective on her world was interesting and believable for me.

Koly and most of the characters in this book practice the Hindu religion, and I don’t know a lot about the Hindu religion, so reading about it was interesting. However, Homeless Bird differs from The Chosen because the terminology isn’t that heavy, and there’s not too much focus on religious themes. The book focused more on how Koly deals with oppression and death in her life.

The religious themes popped up when Koly described the different traditions of the Hindu religion and how religion plays a role in her oppression. The Hindu religion is very much connected to Indian culture in this book, so the religious and cultural themes were hard to separate from each other. One could even argue that they’re impossible to separate because culture and religion are always interconnected.

This book would be great for teachers to use in the classroom. Children would learn about Indian culture and what it’s like for women in different parts of the world. Girls can probably really identify and like Koly’s personality. It’s also a National Book Award-winning novel and has lots of symbolism. The only thing that bugged me about the book was how a handsome male saved the day, but I accepted it because Koly thought it through and decided that she wanted to be with the man.

Here's a link to buy the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Homeless-Bird-Gloria-Whelan-ebook/dp/B001NRNITY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399229744&sr=8-1&keywords=homeless+bird