The Anatomy of Wings

Foxlee, K. (2009). The anatomy of wings. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0375847618

Plot Summary

                       It all started with a miracle, a vision on Beth’s part, after which she was never the same, drifting from the safety of her family and her predictable life to a darker place.  Despite the beseeching, the anger, and the earnest attempts to bring her back, there was simply no recovering her.  Soon after, her younger sister Jennifer’s singing voice vanishes without a trace, and the key to where it has gone lies somewhere in the tangled circumstances of Beth’s emotional unraveling and tragic death.  Jennifer and her best friend set out to solve the mystery in hopes of regaining Jennifer’s lost voice and discovering the meaning of Beth’s undoing.  Around them the family is breaking apart – the father absent, the mother silent, the grandmother exiled for speaking her mind, and the siblings left in Beth’s wake scattered and struggling to understand.  Through Jennifer’s bewildered perspective we move back and forth between the aftermath of Beth's death and the story of her descent from good girl to bad girl.  This story is tenderly and expertly told, hilarious in parts, painful in others, infused with a glow of magic, but achingly true to life in a way that resonates long after the story is over.

Critical Analysis

                          The beauty and fluidity of the prose, dialog, and imagery in this story cannot be overstated.  Foxlee is a masterful storyteller and a brilliantly talented writer.  Every moment is clearly seen with just enough detail to bring the scene to life but never heavy-handed or overstated.  The characters are set adrift after a tragedy that has no resolution, no closure, and she achieves their helplessness and grief with an accuracy that will make the reader hurt.  She handles moving back and forth through time with ease so that the reader is never lost, and the decisions she makes about when to do this and what to reveal are purposeful, never gimmicky.  Jennifer is a wonderful character, funny, bright, innocent and well-meaning, and through her perspective we feel the pain of the entire family.  The stories of the other families on their street might seem at odds with the plot line at first, but over time they provide context for the community and round out the book so that it is not simply an account of a family grieving, but rather a story about humanity and survival.  The place, a small town in Australia, plays an important but not overbearing role.  The unique characteristics of their landscape and the people who live in it provide a vibrant backdrop for these characters.  Finally there is the use of objects to spur this story forward and to provide signposts in the unraveling of Beth’s mysterious downfall.  The braid wrapped in cellophane, the ballet shoes wrapped in their laces, the half heart pendant, the application for secretarial school – Jennifer and Angela use these objects as clues in understanding why Beth went bad, what was done to try to keep her still, and why all of their efforts failed, resulting in a death that may or may not have been accidental – and this is a question that will likely never be answered, setting the haunting tone for this luminous novel.

Reader’s Annotation

                                  Beth, the beautiful eldest, the star of the family, is dead of questionable circumstances after a bewildering spiral down into darkness.  Her younger sister Jennifer lost her lovely singing voice sometime during Beth’s undoing and she and her best friend Angela set out to solve the mystery of where her voice has gone and why Beth left them so jarringly.

About the Author

                          Karen Foxlee was born and raised in Mount Isa, Queensland.  She worked as a registered nurse for most of her career but always wanted to be a writer.  After attending school to earn her degree in creative writing, she achieved this dream by writing her debut novel, The Anatomy of Wings.

                          Foxlee has earned several awards, such as the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize Best First Book for the Asia Pacific region and the Dobbie Award for a first published Australian female writer.  In college she also earned an Emerging Author Manuscript Award.  The Anatomy of Wings has been published in the United Kingdom and the United States as well as Australia.  It is her only book to date.

Genre

         Multicultural - teens around the world  

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include underage sex, drinking, and drugs, death, suicide, truancy, questionable morals, and magic or miracles.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                         English and Writing: prose, place, dialog, point of view, story arc, and objects/symbolism.

Booktalk

              What motivates people to do what they do?  What motivates them to behave like they should?  Why would a perfectly good girl who had everything suddenly veer off course and begin living her life on the edge?  These are the questions that Jennifer is left with after the death of her older sister Beth.  What she discovers and remembers about Beth's downfall, and what she discovers about herself and her family, will keep you turning the pages of this book and make you reluctant to put it down once you're done.

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                   Grades 9-12, although interest level could go much higher.

                                                  

Why I Included This Book

                                          I have rarely been so impressed by a book that I just picked from a shelf based on the title and the cover.  This book reads like a novel written for any age, not just young adults.  Foxlee's examination of a family in crisis is impactful and important.  This is a story about hope, grief, and survival, and any one at any age could benefit from reading it. 

References

Karen Foxlee. (2011). SpeakersInk.com. Retrieved from http://speakers-ink.com.au/index.php/karen-foxlee.html