Description: A moving graphic tragi-comedy about a single mother's quest to save 42 endangered parrots, regain custody of her son, placate a vindictive landlady, survive a super-sized bag of mite powder, save her boyfriend from his own woeful misfortunes--and somehow find a way to triumph in world where idealists and misfits rarely win.
Brief description: Deb Olin Unferth is the author of four books, including Wait Till You See Me Dance and Revolution, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her fiction has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The Paris Review, Granta, and Tin House. She lives in Austin, Texas.
Review Quotes: Praise for I, Parrot by Deb Olin Unferth and Elizabeth Haidle
"[Unferth's] language is sly and bitterly funny, matched in mood by Haidle's monochromatic, inkwash-style artwork, which plays up the story's whimsy as well as its sadness."" --The New York Times Book Review "I don't know anything about birds, but I do know good comics, and this is one."" --Vulture "Unferth dexterously juggles pathos and humor in her debut graphic novel, an intimate and contemplative reflection on the slow revelatory dawning of what it means to care for something--or someone. . . . Unexpectedly funny, sad, scary, affirming and totally engrossing."" --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[A] winningly surreal collaboration. . . . Unferth impresses with strong characterizations and a tightrope tragicomic tone. Haidle's spare, cartoony, Mary Blair-ish illustrations, impressively rendered in grayscale--especially the 20 different species of parrots and the characters' permanent, 'rosy' blush--and her retro-futuristic, all-caps style perfectly complement the colorful, off-kilter tale of a woman redirecting the sails of her story."" --Booklist "Haidle brings more than just design expertise. Her simple, crisp grayscale images set the tone for the story: a dreamlike softness evoked by the mid-20th century modernist cartoon figures, overlaid with the textural complexity of watercolor, but stripped of color."" --Multiversity Comics "A deftly observed, sad, and ultimately hopeful fable about civilization, wildness, and love." --Molly Crabapple, author of Drawing Blood "I, Parrot beautifully renders the weird in-betweenness of life. It illuminates the messy: custody battles, insecticide hazards, the hairpin paths of love." --Leanne Shapton, author of Swimming Studies "A lovingly crafted world of gray, at once complex and weightless." --Roman Muradov, author of Lost and Found