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When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice Hardcover – April 10, 2012

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,015 ratings

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The beloved author of Refuge returns with a work that explodes and startles, illuminates and celebrates

Terry Tempest Williams’s mother told her: “I am leaving you all my journals, but you must promise me you won’t look at them until after I’m gone.”

Readers of Williams’s iconic and unconventional memoir,
Refuge, well remember that mother. She was one of a large Mormon clan in northern Utah who developed cancer as a result of the nuclear testing in nearby Nevada. It was a shock to Williams to discover that her mother had kept journals. But not as much of a shock as what she found when the time came to read them.  

“They were exactly where she said they would be: three shelves of beautiful cloth-bound books . . . I opened the first journal. It was empty. I opened the second journal. It was empty. I opened the third. It too was empty . . . Shelf after shelf after shelf, all of my mother’s journals were blank.” What did Williams’s mother mean by that? In fifty-four chapters that unfold like a series of yoga poses, each with its own logic and beauty, Williams creates a lyrical and caring meditation of the mystery of her mother's journals.
When Women Were Birds is a kaleidoscope that keeps turning around the question “What does it mean to have a voice?”

 

Note: blank pages are intentional.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“The writing of Terry Tempest Williams is brilliant, meditative, and full of surprises, wisdom, and wonder. She's one of those writers who changes peoples' lives by encouraging attention and a slow, patient awakening.” ―Anne Lamott, author of Imperfect Birds

“Much more than a brave and luminous memoir, When Women Were Birds is a set of blueprints for building one of America's most impassioned and audacious writers, as well as a transcript of the moment when she stepped determinedly into the full power of her own voice. In Terry's magical equation, rage + confusion + grief + accountability = love. At some point I realized I was reading every page twice trying to memorize each insight, each bit of hard-won wisdom. Then I realized I could keep it on my bedside table and read it every night.” ―Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted

“Somehow, miraculously, Terry Tempest Williams has done it again: written a book that no one else could have, that tells the truth about our lives. If you want to understand how a writer finds her voice, read this gorgeous book.” ―Sue Halpern, author of Can't Remember What I Forgot

When Women Were Birds is a wise and beautiful and intelligent book, written for the women, men, and children of our times. It vibrates with the earned honesty of a great soul. It is a gift, passed on to readers with the same spirit of love and generosity with which it was first given to the author by her mother. A remarkable journey, a remarkable story.” ―Rick Bass, author of The Wild Marsh

“Williams narrates stories that range wide and run deep . . . Here, readers get a Terry Tempest Williams who is at the top of her game, the master of her craft . . . a gift from a writer who knows how to split the world open.” ―Cheryl Strayed, Orion

About the Author

Terry Tempest Williams is the award-winning author of fourteen books, including Leap, An Unspoken Hunger, Refuge, and, most recently, Finding Beauty in a Broken World. She divides her time between Castle Valley, Utah, and Moose, Wyoming.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sarah Crichton Books; First Edition (April 10, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374288976
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374288976
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.46 x 0.85 x 7.71 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,015 ratings

About the author

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Terry Tempest Williams
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She is the award-winning author of Leap, An Unspoken Hunger, Refuge & most recently Red - A Desert Reader. She lives in Castle Valley, Utah.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,015 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the writing beautiful and poetic. They appreciate the thought-provoking insights and personal stories in the book. Readers find the narrative relatable and meaningful, touching on themes of women and mothers. The author's voice is praised as calming and insightful. Overall, customers describe the book as a quick, easy read that touches upon issues relevant to women.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

97 customers mention "Writing quality"89 positive8 negative

Customers enjoy the writing quality of the book. They find the narrative poetic and profound. The language is described as lovely and swimming in lovely words. Readers describe the book as like reading journal entries written by a wise person.

"...Williams uses a unique lyrical essaying style to convey her thoughts--primarily on nature, environmentalism, women, culture, and faith--with almost-..." Read more

"...While the language is always clean and simple--and when at its best, pure-- the author's mind travels from the abstract and complex to the tactile..." Read more

"This is an absolutely beautiful read. I highly recommend for any woman in your family...." Read more

"...to the quiet places in my spirit, the places reserved for nature, and poetry, and insightful illumination?..." Read more

91 customers mention "Insight"91 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking and informative. They describe it as meaningful, poignant, and a quick read with many life lessons. The writing is poetic and soothing, taking in the personal, environmental, and interesting concepts. Readers appreciate the consistent voice that takes in the personal, the environmental, and the concept of trying to understand their mother's reasons.

"...Her prose style is at once both lulling and beautiful, provocative and intensely interesting...." Read more

"...Although the prose is in itself highly pleasurable as well as profound for the most part, I wouldn't recommend this to the confused person trying..." Read more

"...loves words and clearly has a lot of outstanding and important ideas to communicate...." Read more

"...in my spirit, the places reserved for nature, and poetry, and insightful illumination?..." Read more

19 customers mention "Narrative content"19 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the narrative content. They find the personal stories powerful and inspiring, describing the author's journey through her love of books, language, nature, and more. The story resonates with them as it goes deeper than narrative into the expression of a soul. Readers appreciate the perspective and how the author boils down disparate life experiences into a cohesive telling.

"...A story that links generations of women and the love between them. Poetic and poignant. Finished the book and mediately stated it again...." Read more

"...sometimes be disjointed and at other times beautifully related and relatable. Best read after Refuge...." Read more

"...I was caught up in her words, life story, and hidden thoughts and messages. I will reading more by Terry Tempest Williams. Say her name." Read more

"This is a unique memoir. A series of reflections related to the death of author's mother's...." Read more

18 customers mention "Relevance to women"18 positive0 negative

Customers find the book relevant to women. They say it touches on being a woman, a mother, and daughter. The author speaks to all women, regardless of faith. They enjoy reading Williams' take on women, the environment, ecology, and wisdom to be passed on to all women.

"...Williams describes the creative powers of women and the beauty of feminine capabilities, ultimately using feminist ideals not to compare women to..." Read more

"...Throughout there is reverence for womanhood, nature, ecology, human dignity, relationships, and responsibility, as well as judgment about when to..." Read more

".../mysterious, curious, nature-loving, interesting, beautiful, honest women you know." Read more

"...- thoughtful, insightful and full of gems of wisdom particularly relevant to women...." Read more

18 customers mention "Voice"18 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's voice. They find it calming and insightful, and enjoy each chapter or thought on voice. The audiobook is narrated by the author, who advocates for women's voices.

"...all, Terry Tempest Williams writes as a role model, advocating for women and their voices while attempting to decode her own mother's apparent lack..." Read more

"...I can say that this book is about a woman's voice, and ultimately, all women's voices...." Read more

"I first saw Terry in Ken Burns National Parks series. I love her voice and manner and what she has to say about things...." Read more

"...Voice is what gives our work meaning. All of these concepts are given a new meaning and depth in this little book...." Read more

7 customers mention "Readability"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and quick to read.

"Easy, quick read! Meaningful!" Read more

"...Presented as (often) tiny vignettes, this is a quick read exploring Terry Tempest Williams' personal history, our cultural memory of femininity in..." Read more

"...One that will be passed down from mother to daughter. This book should be read slowly and more than once...." Read more

"Each word is a master piece. Read Williams' book slowly; it feels as if you are leaving a friend when you read the final lines...." Read more

5 customers mention "Environmentalist"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's views on women, the environment, and ecology. They find her a gifted environmentalist who weaves care for creation with mysticism. The book explores the personal, political, and ecological aspects in an egalitarian manner.

"...She is a true egalitarian, activist, conservationist, passionate lover of people and nature and the world...." Read more

"...Throughout there is reverence for womanhood, nature, ecology, human dignity, relationships, and responsibility, as well as judgment about when to..." Read more

"...has a consistent voice that takes in the personal, the environmental and the political...." Read more

"I enjoy reading Williams' take on women, the environment, ecology. She's an important voice in our muddled world...." Read more

4 customers mention "Comfort"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book soft and gentle. They say it feels great and is inspiring.

"...This book is small, and soft, and gentle. It will fit in your handbag, or your back pocket, and you will want to keep it there...." Read more

"...It both inspired and comforted." Read more

"The prose in this book is lovely, and the book itself feels and looks great." Read more

"soft cover book. n.g...." Read more

Meaningful Read
5 out of 5 stars
Meaningful Read
I enjoyed this book more than expected! T. Williams has words that hit you like the sun’s first ray. Must read!!
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2015
    This book is unlike any other I have read, and it's all the better for it. Williams uses a unique lyrical essaying style to convey her thoughts--primarily on nature, environmentalism, women, culture, and faith--with almost-poetic artistry and clarity. Her prose style is at once both lulling and beautiful, provocative and intensely interesting. I was repeatedly surprised at new directions she took in the (extremely loose) plot arc, and found myself experience poignant emotions throughout the memoir-esque volume. One section on her experience teaching biology in a Utah private school was particularly witty, and another section concerning her run-in with a deranged psychopath had me properly horrified. Other moments encouraged me to think more deeply, while at times I felt exceptionally depressed at the state of the world.

    Her feminist views come through clearly throughout the book, paying specific attention to women's voices and their roles in the goings-on of the world. As a young woman I take inspiration from her passages on female empowerment and individuality. The couple of sections featuring the female body felt especially important, and necessary given the problems so many women experience with self-confidence and body image. Rather than address these issues head-on, Williams describes the creative powers of women and the beauty of feminine capabilities, ultimately using feminist ideals not to compare women to men, but to define woman as a wholly-independent being full of potential.

    Anecdotes ranging from rural Africa to the wilderness of Utah take the reader across the world and Williams' fascinating experiences within it. Above all, Terry Tempest Williams writes as a role model, advocating for women and their voices while attempting to decode her own mother's apparent lack of voice, as evidenced through the chilling central question: why blank journals?
    32 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2024
    I enjoyed this book more than expected! T. Williams has words that hit you like the sun’s first ray. Must read!!
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    5.0 out of 5 stars Meaningful Read
    Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2024
    I enjoyed this book more than expected! T. Williams has words that hit you like the sun’s first ray. Must read!!
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2013
    Frankly, I don't know how to describe my feelings about this book. I knew how I felt at the beginning. I fell in love with the poetic and philosophical first steps, the empty pages reflecting the silence of the journals of the author's mother. How daring, how true, I thought. How whimsical. What an adventure this is going to be. And in a way, Williams does take me into some epopee. From one chapter to the next, I don't know where I am going to go or where I am going to land. While the language is always clean and simple--and when at its best, pure-- the author's mind travels from the abstract and complex to the tactile and familiar, and back. There are descriptions of nature, of difficult and/or colorful personalities as well as references to thinkers like Barthes and Cixous. It is a bit like a buffet of tastes and ideas. It reminds me somewhat of Rousseau and his mind wanderings, for When Women Were Birds is also impregnated with ecology. Unlike Rousseau, however, Williams puts her money where her mouth is.

    Although it is presented with numbered chapters, its eclectic content reads like a journal. And I wish it had been called so. When Women Were Birds, A Journal by Terry Tempest Williams. Or: When Women Were Birds, A Mind Voyage by Terry Tempest Williams. When Women Were Birds, Fifty-Four Variations on Voice leads to confusion. I'll tell you why in a moment.

    Here and there, Williams attempts to unify the book with two basic themes: giving women a voice; extracting the meaning of her mother's empty journals. In her attempts to give women a voice, she fails because that's not what the book is about. Furthermore, these returns, as in the recapitulations from the movements of a sonata (and she refers to music as well), are occasionally discordant. Her variations are not so much variations as they are separations.

    This is a book not so much about giving a voice to others as it is about re-defining one's own. Her own. In her attempt to fill out her mother's blank pages, to give these pages a reason to be, she has spent time in the desert, somewhat lost. This is a book about seeking, not finding. We all face empty pages, existential pain. And Birds is ultimately a treaty about existential pain--albeit accompanied with a very real, brain related angst, as the author explains. Even the title reflects a wound, a damaged --or broken?--wing.

    Although the prose is in itself highly pleasurable as well as profound for the most part, I wouldn't recommend this to the confused person trying to find her way and her voice, for this might confuse her further. Like the bird who skips here and there, flies from one tree to the next, sings now and stays quiet a minute later, the writing is graceful, beautiful scattering. But it is still scattering.
    98 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2024
    This is an absolutely beautiful read. I highly recommend for any woman in your family. I've purchased this book for female friends, myself, and women in my family.
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2013
    I really wanted to love this book, but I found it over-wrought. Ms. Williams clearly loves words and clearly has a lot of outstanding and important ideas to communicate. However, sometimes it felt like toiling through molasses - too much richness, too many words, too self-indulgent (although that last fault was rare and may not be felt at all by other readers.) I will try some of her other writings, though, as she is indeed a voice.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2016
    “Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” What can I say about a book that spoke to the quiet places in my spirit, the places reserved for nature, and poetry, and insightful illumination? I can say that this book is about a woman's voice, and ultimately, all women's voices. It is about the way that culture and society and family shape and define and silence that voice, and the ways we must purposefully craft it anew. Have you lost your voice? Have you forgotten what it is to sing with joy at sunrise? This book will remind you. Not with bullet-lists full of self-help jargon, but with the oldest teacher we have; story. This book is small, and soft, and gentle. It will fit in your handbag, or your back pocket, and you will want to keep it there. You will want to underline and highlight, and write in the margins. When you are feeling at a loss for words, you will open the book and you will find bits of story that you underlined, and will remember, When Women Were Birds.
    71 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • nancy vandenbrink
    5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary writer
    Reviewed in Canada on May 28, 2024
    the book resonated with my soul... with great wisdom. Her love of nature , unique and touching relationships and beautiful eloquence made this a must read.
  • Ruth Allen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic memoir in fragments asking a key question for women
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2024
    What does it mean to find and have a voice? This is a central exploration of this wonderful memoir in prose-fragments. Tempest's writing is at once detailed and expansive, concrete and abstract. A book for women interested in women's lives. A poets precision with a prose writers storytelling eye. I loved it. And I use it to teach a writing workshop as I find it an exemplary book on the vignette form. Wonderful.
  • Chikuru Angela
    1.0 out of 5 stars Leere Seiten in 2 gleichen Bücher (MEIN FRHLER!!)
    Reviewed in Germany on May 6, 2019
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    Es tut mir leid, es ist mein Fehler! Das Buch When Women Were Birds von Terry Tempest Williams hat fehlende Druckseiten und das gehört zu den Buch!!! 😀 Also KEINE Beschwerden von meine Seite !!! LG Angela
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    Chikuru Angela
    1.0 out of 5 stars Leere Seiten in 2 gleichen Bücher (MEIN FRHLER!!)
    Reviewed in Germany on May 6, 2019
    Es tut mir leid, es ist mein Fehler! Das Buch When Women Were Birds von Terry Tempest Williams hat fehlende Druckseiten und das gehört zu den Buch!!! 😀 Also KEINE Beschwerden von meine Seite !!! LG Angela
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  • Michelle
    5.0 out of 5 stars loved & adored this book
    Reviewed in Australia on September 26, 2016
    Spoke to me ... loved & adored this book. Was a little slow to begin but I had soon been caught up in the threads ... just beautiful.
  • Ms. F. Barratt
    5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic, authentic wisdom.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 29, 2020
    This book is a pleasure to read. Each chapter stands on it's own as a beautifully crafted women's wisdom, weaving together the ordinary and the surprising. One woman's story yet deeply universal. I felt that in her journey I learned about myself.