The Warbler by Sarah Beth Durst - Book Review

Publication Date: 11th Feb 2025

Genre: Magic Realism, Drama 

3.7 Stars 

One Liner: An engaging read despite the flaws 

Elisa cannot stay in one place for longer than ten months. If she does, she’ll turn into a tree. It’s a curse that made her mother and her travel all over the US, taking new identities and leaving without a backward glance. 

After yet another move, Elisa is tired. She has been trying to break the curse but the first step is to find out more about her family. When she makes an impulsive decision to stay in Greensborough for the next ten months, Elisa is hopeful yet hesitant. After all, this small town in Massachusetts is a place where people cannot leave! 

As Elisa stays back and might be turning into a tree, she desperately needs to uncover the secrets of the past and break free of the curse. 

The story comes in Elisa’s first-person POV and third-person POVs of Rose and Lori. 

My Thoughts: 

Did you think I could resist a premise like that? No chance! 

Well, the beginning is strong but then we get into a sort of uncertainty where the FMC seems to be repetitive. The chapters from the past helped a lot by providing backstories and preventing the current track from dragging (it still did). 

The writing is pretty good even if the narration tends to go on and on at times. I didn’t need it to be that lyrical but okay. I was interested to know more, so it’s not too bad. Another round of editing would have sorted the issue and removed the repetition (especially about those kohl-rimmed eyes). 

I think the issue is that the reader knows a few things before the FMC and has to wait for her to catch up. This works in some plotlines. Here, I don’t think it fully helped. When the reader wants Elisa to catch up fast and it doesn’t happen, we are bound to be a bit irritated. 

Magic realism is an integral part of the storyline but I admit to being disappointed in this aspect. There’s a good atmosphere but the surreal part could have been stronger and a bit more prominent. Another scene with the three blue-haired ladies would have also helped. 

The side characters, though not fully developed, are interesting and add their share of intrigue and drama to the plot. I do wish the men were a little more developed to match the women, but this is quite common in this genre (women’s fiction). 

Since there is no romance as such, we have only one main lead, the FMC. This keeps the story within the required frame instead of adding unwanted tangents. That said, there are love and relationships and some of them play important roles. The focus is not on ‘lovey-dovey romance’. 

The book deals with many themes but the central one is choice. It shows various facets of choice and how giving someone a choice should not result in disregarding their choice. The book also deals with mother-daughter relationships, female friendships, expectations and acceptance. 

I guessed a good portion of the mystery at 45%. However, the author managed to give it a few twists in the last quarter. These align with the plotline and fit neatly, even if we don’t get detailed explanations for every question. 

There’s an epilogue of sorts, and I’d have liked it to be longer. Still, I can see why it ended at that point. It works for the book’s vibe. 

To summarize, The Warbler is a thoughtful read about choices, freedom, and mother-daughter relationships with a touch of magical realism. It has its flaws but it is still an engaging book. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing, for eARC. 

#NetGalley #TheWarbler