The Crane Husband

De: Kelly Barnhill

Narrado por: Laura Knight Keating

Beloved and bestselling author Kelly Barnhill brings her singular talents to a raw, powerful story of love, sacrifice, and family.

“Mothers fly away like migrating birds. This is why farmers have daughters.”

A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern family, budgeting the household finances and raising her younger brother while her mom, a talented artist, weaves beautiful tapestries. For six years, it’s been just the three of them—her mom has brought home guests at times, but none have ever stayed.

Yet when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a menacing air, the girl is powerless to prevent her mom letting the intruder into her heart, and her children’s lives. Utterly enchanted and numb to his sharp edges, her mom abandons the world around her to weave the masterpiece the crane demands.

In this stunning contemporary retelling of “The Crane Wife” by the Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, one fiercely pragmatic teen forced to grow up faster than was fair will do whatever it takes to protect her family—and change the story.

©2023 Kelly Barnhill (P)2023 Recorded Books

Not for kids

This was an interesting book. Dark and sad, but we didn’t want to stop listening. My kids and I have enjoyed Kelly Barnhill’s other audio books, unfortunately I didn’t realize that this one is much more adult oriented for the sexual content. I did appreciate the strength that the main character showed in many situations. It gave us the opportunity to talk about saying “no” and being treated kindly by others. We turned it into a learning opportunity.

Magical realism with meaning

At first it seemed almost absurdist, but as more and more layers unfolded the meanings began to emerge. Beautifully done. Not my favorite narrator; she had weird inflections sometimes and I had to increase the speed to stand listening to her, but she got the job done.

Weirdly Beautiful

4.25 stars for The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill. This short little book is weird in an utterly compulsive and fascinating way. I really enjoy magical realism when it is done right ~ the crazy bits folded gently into the normal batter. And this story of a girl around the age of 15 desperately trying to take care of her younger brother and mother after the death of her father from an illness (not specified) is weirdly beautiful and heartbreaking. I loved the way the author used art as a vehicle for transformation and transcendence. In this case, the mother is a weaver and sets out to create her own wings. I also thought the character of the interloper - the crane/human was so perfectly vile and scary and the author gets high praise for her creepy detailed descriptions. This is a very quick read, and I highly recommend you set aside your logic brain for an afternoon and read this tale of a family forced to evolve beyond the constraints of their shared tragedy. I also would mind triggers of child negligence, death related to cancer/illness, and domestic violence.

Casually dystopian fairytale

I like the casual way the dystopian future is presented, it just is. People aren’t fighting it-they are just living it. Makes more sense to just accept it. Then there are the people that turn into birds-or do they? In that sense this is a perfectly casual modern fairytale.