Catherine, Called Birdy – Karen Cushman

Catherine feels trapped. Her father is determined to marry her off to a rich man — any rich man, no matter how awful.

But by wit, trickery, and luck, Catherine manages to send several would-be husbands packing. Then a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes to call — by far the oldest, ugliest, and most revolting suitor of them all.

Unfortunately, he is also the richest.

Can a sharp-tongued, high-spirited, clever young maiden with a mind of her own actually lose the battle against an ill-mannered, piglike lord and an unimaginative, greedy toad of a father?

Deus! Not if Catherine has anything to say about it.  

My Review:  Catherine, Called Birdy has been on my shelf for a while, but I wasn’t sufficiently motivated to pick it up until I saw the trailer for the Amazon movie by the same name. I really wanted to watch the show, but I’m psychologically incapable of doing so if I haven’t read the book first, so here we are….

Catherine, Called Birdy is set in medieval times and tells the story of a young girl whose piggish father is forcing her to wed to increase his lordly holdings. Catherine (called Birdy) will have none of it — certainly not the suitors her father deems acceptable, for they are all horrid — and begins sabotaging the interests of each and every one. Birdy’s story is written in journal format, as if by her own hand, that details her suitor-scaring shenanigans, daily activities, and the comings-and-goings of the manor.

Birdy is a clever and engaging narrator, thoughtful, curious, obstinate, and headstrong in all the ways that you hope a young woman being ‘sold’ into marriage would be.  I fell in love with her refreshing perspective and unique voice almost immediately. The reader will definitely feel just as indignant about Birdy’s situation as she does, and I loved the feminist themes that ran throughout the book.  I also loved all the historical detail that Birdy relays through her entries (e.g. social traditions, religious practices, medical treatments, politics, etc.) that really set the scene for the reader. 

Birdy is a feminist ahead of her time, and she makes quite a few interesting observations about the treatment of women throughout the book.  I was reading aloud most of the time so I didn’t get a chance to jot many of them down, but towards the end I caught this one (and loved it):

I loved her way of looking at the world…

Catherine, Called Birdy is rated for ages twelve and up, a fact I was unaware of when I decided to read it to my two youngest (ages ten and twelve).  In hindsight, I would probably have chosen a different book or waited until they were both a little older as there was definitely some subject matter that I was not expecting. In the diary format, each entry was headed by a note about a specific saint and, more often than not, how they died in a fairly gruesome way. We’re talking stoned, stabbed, starved, racked, and roasted (and that is just pages 88-89).  My kids were slack-jawed and filled with questions. There were also a ton of religious exclamations, some crass language, crude dialogue, and a lot more innuendo (e.g. ‘wedded and bedded,’ ‘breeding,’ ‘tumbling,’ and other allusions to sex) than I really felt comfortable reading aloud to my ten-year-old, which required some creative editing on my part.

Ordinarily, I can read a two-hundred page book aloud to my children in about a week, but it took over three weeks to make it through the first 150 pages and, although they listened attentively at first, they eventually lost interest. I kept having to drag them to the couch for stories, instead of the other way around, and read the last 50 pages quietly to myself. Personally, I enjoyed every ounce of Catherine’s tenacious, rebellious spirit and would still recommend the book (for ages 14 and up.) 

My Rating: 3.75 Stars

For the Sensitive Reader: Some innuendo, crass language, crude dialogue, and religious exclamations. Quite a few brief but violent descriptions of the deaths of saints. Some irreverent and/or heretical treatment of religion and deity. Discussion of the Jewish people (with inaccuracies that Catherine questions). TW: Violence, miscarriage.