Other Birds

Discuss Sweet Mallow, the novel-within-the-novel. What themes does it share with Other Birds?

Consider inheritance in the novel. What kinds of things do children inherit from their parents? How do these legacies shape them?

How does Pigeon compare to the novel’s other ghosts? Is there anything different in the way Paloma’s thoughts manifest after death from the way Camille and Lizbeth’s thoughts do? Explain.

Why does the novel include first-person ghost narratives?

Discuss romantic love in the novel. How do Charlotte and Zoey experience romance? How do these modern love stories compare to those of the novel’s previous generations?

Frasier would “rather be an other bird than just the same old thing” (123)—a declaration that gives the novel its title. What does the title mean and how does it apply to the rest of the novel?

Consider the highlighted passages in Sweet Mallow on Page 99. Why are Lizbeth and Duncan attracted to these particular phrases?

Analyze Mallow Island as a setting. How does it fit the novel’s magical realism? How does Sarah Addison Allen fuse real-world details with a supernatural atmosphere?