I enjoyed this book and liked the setting and the very original plot. I researched the ivory-billed woodpecker as well (The Lord God Bird). I thought it ended exactly the way it should have and I would have given the book 4 stars except I felt the characters were lacking in depth. ( )

I enjoyed this book and liked the setting and the very original plot. I researched the ivory-billed woodpecker as well (The Lord God Bird). I thought it ended exactly the way it should have and I would have given the book 4 stars except I felt the characters were lacking in depth. ( )

Jake Hamrick is age 19 and has a fascination with the Irory-billed woodpecker. He meets a girl named Robin and after showing her his copy of Audubon's "Birds in America," he tells her that he wants to travel to Lousiana to The Big Woods, the place where the woodpecker was last seen. Robin catches his enthusiasm and tells him that she wants to accompany him.

The couple find a bard home to rent and enter the bayou to begin their search for the bird. After no initial success, Robin decides to make herself look like the bird so it will be tempted to come to them. She covers herself with white mud, puts crow feathers on a cloak and wears that, then dyes her hair bright red. Jake is impressed and calls her "The Lord God Bird," the nickname for the woodpecker.

They are discovered by hunters and an incicent occurs. Not long after, the hunters return and prusue the couple. Jake and Robin travel deep into the bayou where they meet an elderly black man named Robert, who hides them and helps them.

The story is told with a picturesque style. It is obvious thatthe author is a conservationalist and has written poetry as the words flow beautifully, i.e. "The scent of the lilac bush permeated the air and it was a perfume that women wore and drew hummingbirds."
The author seems to be telling his readers that some people tend to destroy the beauty of nature but there are others, a rare group, who search out and attempt to preserve that beauty.

A timely book with the Gulf oil leak and the devestation that it is causing to the Louisiana shores. ( )