Statute of Frogs

More catching up, since I finished this a couple weeks ago, but here it is. My father sent this book as a birthday gift. I was very excited to read it because, although I haven’t seen the movie yet, I saw the previews and the movie looked like lots of fun. I was disappointed in the book, though. Although reading about the parrots was sometimes entertaining, Bittner’s style kept getting in my way.

For example, the book opens with 30 or 40 pages describing how Bittner comes to be living on Telegraph Hill. It is, in theory, an interesting story (and it is, I believe the subject of his next book), but it’s not why I’m reading. I want parrots. Also, he has a tendency to anthropomorphize the parrots more than I’m comfortable with. I’m sure he knows them really well, but he attributes to them relatively complex emotions and/or understanding that I found somewhat implausible. Perhaps it’s the nascent lawyer in me, but if he’s going to describe a parrot’s thought process in the face of its own imminent death, I want some evidence.
Though I almost always prefer books, I suspect that this subject matter works better as a movie. The best thing about the preview was, of course, watching the parrots. I find their movements fascinating and loved the shots of them all gathering around Bittner on the balcony. There’s a fair amount of description of the parrots’ behavior in the book, but the prose simply isn’t vibrant enough (I’m not sure anyone’s would be) to really help me see it. So I kept finding myself wishing for a picture. I’m still looking forward to the movie, but the book was disappointing.