Kurze Inhaltsangabe
Der alte Jim Kennoway hat seine Frau verloren und mit ihr den Willen zu leben, nun wohnt er zurückgezogen auf einer Insel vor der Küste Maines. Der einst anerkannte Ornithologe hat inzwischen nur noch drei Dinge im Sinn: trinken, rauchen und vergessen. Doch mitten im Sommer taucht ein ungewöhnliches Mädchen bei ihm auf. Cadillac Baketi, eine junge Salomonerin, hoch aufgeschossen, schlau und erfrischend unverblümt, ist die Tochter von Tosca - gemeinsam
mit ihm als Inselscout hatte Jim 1943 während des Pazifikkriegs japanische Schiffe ausgespäht. Jetzt, dreissig Jahre später, schickt ihm Tosca seine Tochter, denn sie soll sich an das Leben in Amerika gewöhnen, bevor sie im Herbst ihr Medizinstudium in Yale beginnt. Jim ist bedient, er kann keinen Besuch gebrauchen - und schon gar keinen, der Erinnerungen an den Krieg, seine Jugend und seine grosse Liebe heraufbeschwört. Möglicherweise aber ist Cadillac genau die Richtige, um ihm dabei zu helfen, seinen Frieden mit einem düsteren Kapitel seiner Vergangenheit zu machen.
In einer an Bildern reichen, intensiven Sprache erzählt Alice Greenway die Geschichte eines Mannes, den das Schicksal im Lauf seines Lebens immer aufs Neue herausgefordert hat. Die sommerliche Küstenlandschaft Maines und die Wildheit des Südpazifiks bilden die Kulisse für diesen bewegenden Roman, in dem Erinnerungen an eine dunkle Vergangenheit auf irritierend schöne Weise eingebettet sind in Beschreibungen einer Natur, die ein Versprechen von Glück und Verheissung in sich trägt - und weder Gewalt noch Krieg duldet.

The author bases this book on her grandfather, James Greenway, a noted ornithologist, WW2 fighter and eccentric. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Greenway
It's fictionalized and sees the elderly curmudgeonly 'Jim Kennoway', a recent amputee, struggling with life, in his summer cottage in 1973 offshore Maine. An unexpected letter brings a visitor- Kennoway's wartime exploits in the Solomon Islands, his ornithological finds, and the local he befriended now resurface when the daughter of this Pacific chum - a trainee doctor, Cadillac Baketi, comes to stay.
There are flashbacks to the past; his cohorts (and rivals) at the Natural History Museum; his well-meaning son; memories of his late wife...
Because Cadillac and the son are so utterly anodyne, you barely notice them. Cadillac may have unusual looks but she has no personality whatever. It was mildly interesting; I read it predominantly as part of my Global Reading Challenge (you don't find too many books set -in part- in Solomon Islands) ( )

On a bleak cold island Jim sits and is trying to forget how he used to live. When he had two legs, when he did something. Now he is hiding. His son does get him to write an article about Treasure Island so he does something at least instead of drinking gin all day. And I do get it, he loved his work, his birds and now he can't get around like he used to.

In comes Cadillac, the daughter of the scout who guided him through jungles during the war. Here we get flashbacks about his time in the Solomons, watching birds, hiding from the Japanese. Cadillac does not do a lot in a way, she misses the warm water and her home. But she is more the catalyst of him remembering more and more.

I also learned something about the Pacific war, and it was horrific.

It's a melancholic book, some move on, some do not.

An enjoyable book I spent an afternoon reading. ( )

Mildly interesting but predictable story of an embittered war vet who gets visited by the daughter of a man he met while fighting in the Solomon Islands during WWII. The idea of intertwining bits about birds and creating analogies was interested but not quite fully executed. Yet another book that tells us war is hell; I'd hoped for more. ( )

Cantankerous ornithologist Jim Kennoway whose leg was recently amputated retreats to an island off the coast of Maine and just wants to be left alone. Instinctively the reader knows there is much more to Jim’s orneriness than meets the eye as the elegiac language is often betrayed by restrained humanity. In this story, it is the arrival of Cadillac, the daughter of the Melanesian man who scouted with Jim during WWII, on her way to Yale to study medicine that allows the floodgates of Jim’s memories to encroach into ours.
The well-layered flashbacks provide the details, and the spellbinding poetic language provides the muted emotions, taut suspense, and pending release in a heartfelt manner. But the brilliance of this tale was the evocation of place and time whether is it was WWII ravaged Solomon Islands, sultry pristine Cumberland Island at the turning of the twentieth century, present day Fox Island off the Maine coast or the competitive academic world of Manhattan.
This hauntingly moving tale held my attention from the first page and dared me every time I thought to put it down before the final page. Needless to say I stayed up late into the night to finish. This was my first read by the author and look forward to reading more of her work. I recommend to readers who like stories regarding owning memories, life expectations, and acceptance. ( )