Amazon Five Star Review by S. Frome
“In Jana Zinser’s remarkable novel the past is never past for young Ivy, ensconced in Coffey, a tiny farming town in Iowa, haunted by a car crash that took her parents’ life. At the same time, she also lives in the moment, the seasons come and go, her grandmother is in tune with the birds who talk to her, she crosses paths with a parade of characters, some of them nasty, some of them becoming boon companions including a black girl (which was unheard of at the time).
As her escapades continue, during her high school days, once amid the shouting she comes upon a five-year-old boy buried in a grain silo. While others claim “he’s a goner,” Ivy risks everything during a harrowing search to dig him out and saves his life. After somehow getting him to a doctor just to check him out, she comes across a file at the office which begins to shed some light on what really happened to one of her parents. And, once more, the past and the present continue to evolve.
As she grows older, the dynamic is heightened as Ivy is caught between the pull of distant horizons and–despite a hard confrontation with the realities–the ties that bind. And it’s these continual reverberations between yesterday, today and the possibilities of tomorrow that make Fly Like a Bird such a classic.”