Birds of a Feather

“The veterans have been wounded, physically and mentally, but here they have resumed their roles of being of service by helping the birds.” ~Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather by Lorin Lindner: 4/5 Stars

Synopsis:

Animal lover though she was, Lorin Lindner was definitely not looking for a pet. She was busy training to be a psychologist. Then came Sammy – a mischievous and extremely loud bright pink Moluccan cockatoo who had been abandoned. It was love at first sight. But Sammy needed a companion. Enter Mango, lover of humans (“Hewwo”), inveterate thief of precious objects. Realizing that there were many parrots in need of new homes, Dr. Lindner eventually founded a sanctuary for them.

Meanwhile, she began to meet homeless veterans on the streets of Los Angeles. Before long she was a full-time advocate for these former service members, who were often suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and finding it hard to navigate the large VA Healthcare System Ultimately, Dr. Lindner created a program for them, too.

Eventually the two parts of her life came together when she founded Serenity Park, a unique sanctuary on the grounds of the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Administration Healthcare Center. She had noticed that the veterans she treated as a clinical psychologist and the parrots she had taken in as a rescuer quickly formed bonds. Men and women who had been silent in therapy would share their stories and their feelings more easily with animals. Now wounded warriors and wounded parrots find a path of healing together. Birds of a Feather is ultimately a love story between veterans and the birds they nurse back to health and between Dr. Lindner and her husband, a veteran with PTSD, who healed at Serenity Park. Full of remarkable people and colorful birds, this book reminds us that we all have the power to make a difference.

My Review:

I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 🙂

I honestly really enjoyed this book. I found it to be very interesting! Animals and soldiers haha what could be better?

Anyway, let’s get into this more. I really liked the writing I found that Lorin did a good job at explaining things and she knew a lot about all the things she was passionate about. It’s not like you were getting information from someone who just found bird interesting. You could feel how she felt just by the way she explained things and by the way she wrote about these animals. She just did such an amazing job portraying her emotion and feelings through her words. She definitely made me connect with what she was telling just based on how she wrote.

I loved seeing both her passions come together. Her passion for animals, mainly birds, and people, mainly war veterans, was such a beautiful thing to see evolve. Like I said before she does a great job at laying it all out as well. It was so amazing to see that despite her struggles she didn’t give up. You can see how hardworking and caring she is and I just love it.

This book is also very inspirational and helpful even to me. This book makes me want to go out and make the best of my life. It made me realize that we need to live each day and just be present instead of focusing on things that we can’t change or control. I really loved seeing how the birds taught this to the veterans. It shows just how important animals are and how healing they can be. Not only is it healing for us as people, it’s healing for the animals too. It’s just so sweet to know this happens and it’s not just fictional.

“The birds were calm, in the moment, living day-to-day.

I really enjoyed learning so much about birds and mental health. There are so many things I never knew. I never knew how birds could be so similar to humans and how they could use one another to heal. It’s really amazing to read about.

This book hooked me in from the beginning. I know that non-fiction can be slow and sometimes even boring, but I never found myself thinking such things when reading this book. I just fell in love with it immediately.

I recommend this book to anyone who is an animal lover! If you love animals then this book is for you. 🙂 It’s amazing what Lorin has done for so many animals and it’s very inspiring.

Oh, I almost forgot! Lorin also tells some stories about the veterans and how the birds helped heal them. It was very cool to hear about their past and to see that these birds in her sanctuary helped them heal. These veterans needed the birds just as much as the birds needed them. I never thought that a bird would be so beneficial to mental health/healing for some people. It’s truly incredible to see how some of the veterans responded and how they reacted to the birds.

“Thomas and Rainbow would take fake jabs at each other, but Thomas would be smiling and Rainbow’s eyes would glitter. There was trust between man and bird, and trust was healing for both.”

Overall I really enjoyed this book. There were a few things I had a problem with such as I felt there could have been a little more, but overall I was happy with this read. I definitely recommend this book to everyone. 🙂

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I hope y’all enjoyed this short review. 🙂 Comment below if you think you would pick up this book!! ❤

Also, a quick reminder: this book comes out on May 15, of this year. 🙂

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