There’s nothing like senseless violence to prompt a search for meaning, as promised in the subtitle. Through most of the book, though, it doesn’t feel as if Flynn is up to anything so profound ... The writing is often witty, sometimes glorious, and his tales wry and charming. (Though at one point, it seems that Flynn just can’t stop reporting on human barbarity, devoting a chapter to the unsolved torture and murder of peacocks in a suburb of Los Angeles) ... But more is going on here. Something magical happens to this hard-bitten reporter as he gets to know his peacocks ... a fine starting point to finding meaning in a world both cruel and beautiful.
... we can’t help rooting for [Flynn] ... Mr. Flynn’s narrative is quicksilver, darting like a hooked fish from side to side, never losing the line. Beneath the surface flow dark intimations of the writer’s occupation. There are startling plunges into melancholy ... abundant mythology of peacocks, richly explored throughout the book ... could perhaps have only been born out of a global pandemic, a period when almost everything fell apart for everyone. It’s a sparkling confessional from a man who tries to protect the innocent and beautiful from a world that he knows all too well can be relentlessly awful.
Have you ever thought, What my household needs is a few peacocks? Me neither. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying Sean Flynn’s Why Peacocks? An Unlikely Search for Meaning in the World’s Most Magnificent Bird, which details what happened after his family took on some pet peacocks ... [Flynn] he approaches his subject with a science writer’s eye for detail ... The narrative of Why Peacocks? alternates between this family’s story and more journalistic accounts, as Flynn leads us through a natural and cultural history of peacocks, including the evolution of male peacocks’ shimmering feather trains and the roles peacocks have played in religious traditions, making entertaining digressions along the way ... Although this book is a quick read, it’s well researched with an extensive bibliography. Sweet and often funny, Why Peacocks? is an engaging mix of memoir, history and journalism.
Flynn recognizes the privilege inherent in keeping peacocks; throughout the ages, the birds were esteemed for their beauty, and owning peacocks was a way to display wealth and power. The author also notes the downsides of living alongside peacocks, who are quite noisy ... Blending memoir and natural history, this candid journey into the world of an unusual bird will spark the interest of fans of popular science.
... [a] mostly lighthearted memoir with segues—some quirky, some profound ... Perhaps the boys’ affable indifference (except during one veterinary emergency) helps prepare readers for Flynn’s look at the darker side of human-peafowl relationships. This writer is at his most assured when recounting violence, whether mafia hits or peacock whackings ... Unfortunately, fewer than three pages are allocated to peafowl in the wild, their distribution on two continents, and their population threats ... The decline in global sand resources seems to trouble the author more than the habitat destruction imperiling Southeast Asia’s endangered Pavo muticus, the green peafowl. Deployment of eight tons of silica sand for coop improvement inspires reflections from the author on consumer guilt and personal responsibility, while the ecological impacts of feral and farmed peacocks, and humans’ culpability in global wildfowl declines, remain unquestioned ... Flynn gives us an intimate and humor-laced ode to a glorious being, one 'wondrously improbable' enough to distract and uplift a father, husband, and reporter who has witnessed crime, war, cruelty, and disaster on six continents. Confined in a scrap-wood coop that Martha Stewart would never approve of, Flynn’s peacocks, through his well-crafted prose, set each of us free to seek out beauty and bring it closer to where we live.
Journalist Flynn (3000 Degrees) returns with a wry and moving account of his time keeping peacocks at his North Carolina home ... Flynn brings the birds to life as characters [...] and a conversation he has with his son about animal death is especially touching. Fans of Lauren Scheuer‘s Once Upon a Flock should give this a look.
Flynn shares the ups and downs of taking care of birds—including the chickens he already owned—and he interlaces his personal story with intriguing information about the history and science of the peacock and its representation in art and religion. The author also chronicles his travels, from a cathedral in New York to a castle in Scotland, to learn more about these spectacular birds ... As readers follow Flynn’s journey, his clever insights and pleasing prose style will leave them alternating between moments of shock and bursts of laughter. In the last few chapters, however, the tone shifts into a more somber mode. The author follows a linear path to the end of his story, but he never fully comes to terms with the question posed by the title. Though not the most profound meditation, the book makes for pleasant reading, especially for bird lovers. A unique journey punctuated with insight, humor, and lessons learned.
