Lyrebird by Cecelia Ahern – A Review

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Lyrebird by Cecelia Ahern takes you to the world where nature and the man meet. Through the story of a girl who is like a Lyrebird – mimicking sounds that she hears – almost unconsciously, Cecelia makes you see the world through your ears.

From the hinterlands of Ireland, from its hills located inside the jungle a girl without identity steps out. She has no family left and she has no one she knows. A film crew from Dublin lands at her doorstep and they can sense a story in her life. This is where the adventure begins. She moved with them to the city – slowly revealing her story as the story moves on.

A romantic angle builds between her and the sound recordist of the team. Here you see again a relationship developing between two people whose sense of hearing is hyper, people who love sounds. What is interesting, as the story progresses is how they communicate with sounds. How the girl mimics the sounds to communicate what she wants to communicate and how it is only the sound engineer who gets those sounds. Everyone else thinks the sounds to be crazy.

The book introduced me to Ireland, especially its hinterlands. It introduced me to the lives of farmers who live in remote areas almost disconnected from the world. So disconnected that they can have a girl living among them whom no one ever notices. It then introduced me to Dublin – the happening city of the country – its nightlife, its media frenzy and its professional space that is so damn competitive. Then introduces you to the low points of the people with high lives. It showed the glimpse of a familiar world where relationships are a part of the professional growth, where professional success is the only parameter to live life by. Gives the glimpse of the reality shows and what drives them. It is set pretty much in current times when videos go viral and you have an instant fan following.

There is an ongoing urban story that gets interjected by the introduction of Laura or the Lyrebird in their lives. They, of course, want her. Who in the media world does not want an exclusive story – a story like none other. However, stories come with a life of their own and a life that can potentially impact your life. What happens when the story you wanted to show the world ends up showing you the reality of your own world. Laura through her unspoiled but clever mind not only survives and thrives in the world that she has just stepped into but also manipulates conditions to meet the end she wants.

A bit unrealistic at times as you expect her to fail a bit or take the time to adjust. I guess her reading prepared her for the world that she had never been a part of but a world that she keenly observed.

The back story of Laura is full of secrets and they keep tumbling out at regular intervals and patching up the story for the reader. You are curious about both the past and future of the Lyrebird – the protagonist, while you are enchanted by the sounds she is making in the present.

Every chapter opens with a snippet from The Lore of the Lyrebird by Ambrose Pratt. It draws a parallel between the bird and the girl who gets known by the same name. In fact, barring the element of sonic connections, this story may have been just another love story. The twist in the end revealed by Lyrebird makes you think what intelligence can be. Are we losing our thinking abilities in the chaotic noise that surrounds us? It is this communication through the sounds that adds and the element of surprise and curiosity. In fact, in her earlier book The Marble collector, she took me to the world of marble collectors. I was lost in the labyrinth of the secret society of marble collectors.

Buy Lyrebird by Cecelia Ahern at Amazon

I loved reading it. Go Read it.

Lyrebird by Cecelia Ahern

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