Imperfect Birds

A Novel

By: Anne Lamott

Narrated by: Susan Denaker

From the New York Times bestselling author of Hallelujah Anyway, Almost Everything, and Bird by Bird, a powerful and redemptive novel of love and family

Rosie Ferguson is seventeen and ready to enjoy the summer before her senior year of high school. She's intelligent-she aced AP physics; athletic-a former state-ranked tennis doubles champion; and beautiful. She is, in short, everything her mother, Elizabeth, hoped she could be. The family's move to Landsdale, with stepfather James in tow, hadn't been as bumpy as Elizabeth feared.

But as the school year draws to a close, there are disturbing signs that the life Rosie claims to be leading is a sham, and that Elizabeth's hopes for her daughter to remain immune from the pull of the darker impulses of drugs and alcohol are dashed. Slowly and against their will, Elizabeth and James are forced to confront the fact that Rosie has been lying to them-and that her deceptions will have profound consequences.

This is Anne Lamott's most honest and heartrending novel yet, exploring our human quest for connection and salvation as it reveals the traps that can befall all of us.

Critic reviews

"Heartbreaking and delightful, moving and hopeful, Imperfect Birds reminds us how our children are connected to and independent of us, and that no matter how difficult our struggle is with them, love underlies it all and saves us. This novel captures the deepest, purest, most terrifying experience of parents fearing for their children. With great insight and humor, Anne Lamott shows us what it means these dangerous days to be a parent, what it means to be a child, and what it means to be a family."
-David Sheff, author of Beautiful Boy

"This is a hell of a book, tough and wonderful. A heartbreak and a heart- mender."
-Martin Cruz Smith, author of Gorky Park and The Golden Mile

Teen Substance Abuse

This is a realistic depiction of substance abuse in teens. It is well written and humorous.

Very slow

Did not enjoy this at all - had to stop 3/4 of the way as it was dragging on.

Nothing happens

I’m halfway through this book and nothing has happened. I love Anne Lamott so I do give her some leeway but this book is terrible.

Imperfect birds not quite perfect but good.

If they had had 3.5 stars I would have given the book that rating.

Imperfect birds came along right at the same time I was dealing with the same issue w/ my 26 year-old step-daughter so I was very well able to relate to it.

At the beginning of the book I felt lost. The story didn't seem to move forward - just focus on past events every two minutes. I literally felt like the book took one step forward, 2 steps back for the first couple of chapters. Additionally, and maybe I'm naive, but they already knew some of the drugs she was taking and the promiscuity and excused it! At the beginning I thought, "Well what is the story about - they already know exactly what she's doing." But it does actually get worse.


When the story did finally start moving, I found that James is the only character I liked. The girl's sense of entitlement infuriated me as did the mother's total denial of the situation. As the pattern of behavior I've experienced is the same, it is probably true to life.

It is an interesting book and a scary commentary on parents and teens today. Although I felt like it dragged in places, overall, i enjoyed it.

Drag on, Drag On

The only reason I finished this "read" is that I had spent credits for it. The story drags on with too much detail and then ends abruptly.