Song of the Crow: Summary and book reviews of Song of the Crow by Layne Maheu, plus links to an excerpt from Song of the Crow and a biography of Layne Maheu.
Song of the Crow
by Layne Maheu
Hardcover: Jun 2006,
240 pages.
Paperback: May 2007,
244 pages.
From the moment that he looks down on the ancient gray head of Noah, who is swinging his stone axe, the narrating crow in this unique and remarkable epic knows that these creators called Man are trouble. He senses, too, that the natural order of things is about to change.
At a time when so many of us are searching for meaning, Layne Maheu’s debut novel lingers in a masterfully rendered ancient world just long enough to ponder our fears of disaster and to watch as humanity struggles to survive, to understand, and finally to prevail.
Recalling both the magical imagination of Richard Adams’s Watership Down and the spiritual richness of Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, Song of the Crow is a soaring debut.
A meditation on man's place in the universe; think Jonathan Livingston Seagull meets The Red Tent, with shades of Watership Down. (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
The Bloomsbury Review
Maheu's canny and skillful marshaling of folklore, scripture, myth and literary reference provides scaffolding for events before, during, and after The Flood as experienced by a creature who, frequently airborne, enjoys excellent points of vantage.
Seattle Times
[R]etells ancient Deluge legends in a crow's voice: raucous and Rabelaisian, yet lyrical, and at times sweetly tender.
January Magazine
[F]ascinating….Maheu’s novel breathes fresh life into a Biblical tale which has become so bland and sanitized that Noah and his ark are most commonly found these days as bedspreads and wallpaper designs in nurseries. Maheu saves Noah from a needlepoint-and-animal-cracker fate and forces us to see what is probably the world's most catastrophic event with a new understanding and appreciation…Nearly every anthropomorphic tale in the past 30 years owes more than a passing nod of debt to Richard Adams' Watership Down. Song of the Crow is no different; but Maheu's novel holds up to the comparison. The bird, who eventually becomes a stowaway on the ark, is as real and compelling to us as Adams' talking rabbits were to readers 30 years ago….Maheu brings global destruction down to a personal, tragic level with an admirable economy of words….crackle[s] with suspense….fresh and compelling.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
No need to spend a long time pondering which book is this summer’s most inventive; hands-down champ is this knockout debut by a Seattle carpenter. Maheu has crafted a remarkable retelling of the Noah saga from the perspective of, believe it or not, a crow who witnesses the unfolding drama. This is far more than a lit gimmick; this richly imagined novel delivers an important parable for today from a startlingly fresh perspective.
Publisher's Weekly
Maheu's fable works beautifully, probing the relationship between creatures of the heavens and those of the underworld.
Library Journal
Starred Review. After reading this remarkable book, you will marvel at every crow you see along the side of the road and maybe even begin to listen to their songs. Highly recommended for all collections.
Phil Bevis, Arundel Books
A cross between the Magical Realism of Garcia Marquez, Ted Hughes, and Roger Tory Petersen, Song of the Crow is an astounding first novel. I believe that this book marks the start of a great literary career. Although the concept of a novel about crows may seem odd, I think that this book will be one of the great handsells of 2006….Our #1 new literary pick for 2006.
Robert Hicks, author of The Widow of the South
Beautifully written and artfully imagined.
When asked why he wrote
Song of the Crow,
Layne Maheu replies, "One of my
imaginary selves has
always been a biologist.
Perhaps in a former
lifetime I was a
nineteenth century
naturalist. The closest
I’d ever come to
realizing that fantasy,
though, is by bird
watching. Quickly I
found that merely seeing
and identifying bird
species was only a part
of it. I was interested
in bird behavior. So, I
looked over the
bookstore shelves and
right away found two
excellent books on crows
and the crow family.
From the very beginning,
it seems, crows and
their kindred species
have inspired people to
fantastic legends and
insight, and...
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Rain Village casts a fabulous spell, pulling us into a world of mystery and possibility where love, friendship and loyalty might either destroy or set one free.
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(358 words).
January Magazine
Phil Bevis, Arundel Books
