Feathered (Audra Yelin)

Feathered, Laura Kasischke, Harper Collins Publishers, 261 pages

I found the book in our school library

Summary: Terri, Michelle, and Anne are in their senior year of High School. During spring break they have a trip planned, a trip to go to Mexico. In the beginning things are perfectly fine, they are enjoying themselves with swimming, alcohol, and new people. Life seems wonderful…until they go to a certain party. They expected everything to be okay, they had each other, they thought they were safe together… and then things went terribly wrong.

The audience is directed towards female teenagers and young adults, or anyone who has been sexually abused or degraded.

Kasischke’s writing style is intense and absorbing. It is easy to understand and it leaves the reading with a wanting for more.

“…They used to slash the throats of their sacrifices, then open up their chest and pull out their beating hearts, hold them up to their god-Quetzalcoatl, a hideous feathered serpent, who lived on human flesh-until the steps ran red with blood.” (19)

Passage 1) “The cool water of the shower feels terrible and wonderful on her burned back. The salt, sliding off her skin, seems to leave a fresh new layer of skin under it.” (51)

In this passage the author is describing a sunburn. I specifically chose this passage because when I was reading it, it reminded me of times when I have had sunburns that bad. It was almost as if I could feel the pain and the pleasure that the character was experiencing.

2) “Quetzl is a bird that lives here, in the mists, with beautiful green tail feathers. Coatl is a snake. As a god, Quetzlcoatl, he is ‘ the wind, the breath of life, the eyes that are unseen, like the stars by day.’” (105)

I found this passage very interesting because before I had read the novel, I knew very little of the Mexican culture or gods. When I read this passage it made sense as towards why the god was named Quetzlcoatl.

3) “She travels for centuries through a dark tunnel. Now and then, the shadow of a bird flashes across her face, and she startles, looks up, but it is never the bird-the one with the blue-green feathers, the one that was pulled from her chest and flew into the sky, the one she lost.” (258)

This passage really struck me because it was such a powerful quote, it held so much meaning behind it and it made me reflect on what had happened throughout the novel. Also, I really enjoyed the descriptiveness and passion that was portrayed in this specific passage.

This novel definitely struck more than a few emotional chords. It was very eerie and an ample eye-opener. While reading this, I reflected with a few of the circumstances, others not so much. It was a very heart felt book that teaches a valuable lesson. I would recommend it to females or anyone who has ever been taken advantage of or degraded. However, males may be interested in reading it too, it may also teach them a valuable lesson.