January 2017 Book Club "Redbird Christmas" by Fannie Flagg

Hi Everyone,

Although Jodi is somewhere navigating a canoe through the jungles of the Amazon and Becky is sipping margaritas on a secluded tropical beach, our Women of Wisdom Book Club had a nice showing of members at January’s meeting. Along with myself, in attendance were Barb K., Cheryl, Ginnie, Lori, Sharon, and we welcomed back Barb Direnzo! Remember, once a book club member, always a book club member, we embrace all prodigal book clubbers! Come when you can and read the book, or not!

January’s book was Fannie Flagg’s Redbird Christmas. Although, our club didn’t really agree with the title - the book has very little to do with Christmas. Okay, maybe the story did involve a redbird named Jack, and a miracle with redbirds that happened to take place on the day “after” Christmas. Redbird Christmas is more about Oswald Campbell, a chronically ill alcoholic, who moves to a remote town called Lost River in Alabama. There the warm air and sunshine, his doctor recommends, might comfort Oswald’s fatal condition. Waiting to die, however, doesn’t go as Oswald expects. Instead, Oswald starts a new life when he is unwittingly thrown into the center of Lost River’s eclectic community of people. Francine and the single ladies of the Polka Dot Club; Roy, one of the few bachelors in town and the owner of the only local store; and Patsy, a neglected and crippled orphan girl become part of Oswald’s, formerly nonexistent, group of friends. Oswald is surprisingly inspired by life in Lost River. He learns a new hobby, bird watching, and rediscovers his lost talent for art. Naturally, he starts sketching the many birds he observes in Lost River including Roy’s redbird Jack. When Oswald paints young Patsy and her best bird friend Jack together, Oswald wins the heart of Lost River’s youngest member. Day by day as their relationship grows, Oswald’s death becomes less likely as his health becomes stronger. In contrast, however, day by day Patsy’s crippled condition becomes more life threatening. As the plot thickens, everyone in Lost River rallies around Patsy in the fight to protect her from her abusive “care-less” takers and get her the love and support she needs to survive. Oswald, Jack, Francine, Roy, and all the others in Lost River join forces to help Patsy.

Flagg’s book had some great comedic elements, as expected. We all enjoyed the passage in which Oswald, desperate to find an AA meeting before giving in to temptation, asks his new friend Butch the mailman where he might find one. Butch misinterprets AA as another organization and misinforms Oswald. Later that evening, Oswald finds himself sitting in a room at the Knights of Columbus hall with a half a dozen men all holding accordions. After listening to a few polkas, Oswald quietly steps out. “On the way back home, he thought about it, and wondered which was worse, being an accordion player or being an alcoholic. He figured it was a toss-up.”

Oswald realizes the wackiness of his strange new home. As he watches the birds, he notices that they, like everyone else in Lost River, are also watching him. He checks his bird guide to see how a bird might identify him, if indeed he was a bird. Looking under “LOCATION” he finds the term “ACCIDENTALS: Birds not expected in a particular region and, therefore, are surprise visitors.” According to the book, Oswald identified himself as a “medium sized, redheaded, nonbreeding accidental… he was a rare bird, after all.” This passage also entertained us. After all, aren’t we all rare birds?

Redbird Christmas, we discussed, is perfect fodder for a Hallmark Christmas movie. It has the PG 13 rating, the homeless child, the unattached bachelor, the self-proclaimed single lady, the small-town set, and a miracle! We all enjoy those movies and snuggling in from mid-October to early January sopping up weak plots and characters in the mindless Christmas movies made for Hallmark channel fans. We admit, our husbands are included in the Nielson ratings for those before bedtime at 8 PM dramas, that’s the real kicker! (Whatever happened to the after 9 late night sex flicks of lore? And who really misses them? Just sayin.) We are a target market for Hallmark movies, very much like the products advertised during their commercial breaks: cell phones with the big letter keys, fiber induced products, hearing aids, face-lifts, every manner of health care product, medication, and surgical procedure. Oh, and how about those assisted living communities. They are looking more and more enticing, and wouldn’t you just die to have one of those cool tubs where the door opens so you don’t have to lift your leg to step out?

All kidding aside, Redbird Christmas is a fun ride from beginning to end. I wouldn’t be afraid to recommend this book as a heartwarming easy read, no strain on the brain. It’s inspiring to discover how a redbird miracle ultimately saves Patsy.  

I am looking forward to this week’s book club on Wednesday night at 6 PM! We will be discussing The Walk by Richard Paul Evans. See you at Natilie’s Pizzeria! Also, on a personal note, I am looking forward to a much-needed long weekend after a wild past week at school! I’m just glad I’m not the clueless teacher who ate the sour patch gummies he accepted from tenth graders who rubbed them all over the floor and under their shoes first before making the generous offer. That’s the kind of week it was at old KCHS, and probably will be again as students are experiencing the inevitable mid-winter cabin fever. A full moon just waxed on Friday, so as it ebbs, adolescent tensions this week should, I hope, subside.

See you Wednesday,

Tammy