It showed Jess's life with Vivi and how happy they both were, and contrasted it to after Vivi and Jess learning to find her way without Vivi. Usually I'm not fond of books that constantly go between the past and the present, but I think it worked really well for this book. I really adored Jess and Vivi's relationship, though - they were incredibly cute, and I felt Jess's love for Vivi and how painful it was for her to lose Vivi. A lot of the side characters frustrated me, though it felt like they were pressuring Jess to just "move on" from Vivi's death, Levi especially. The Meaning of Birds doesn't skimp on how Jess struggles with everything after losing Vivi, and I could sympathize entirely with how hard it is to readjust to normal life and how Jess feels like she shouldn't be happy without Vivi. But I can understand her reactions and lashing out and isolating herself because I've been in such a similar place before. I related to Jess so much, honestly I don't struggle with anger management, and I've never lost a girlfriend or close friend. Jaye Robin Brown writes a really emotional, moving story about dealing with compounded grief - which is, like, really hard to deal with. Not because it was bad, but because it dealt with grief and the aftermath of loss.
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