Love and Ordinary Creatures

Packed with florid prose and a conspicuous attempt to illuminate the nature of love and the human condition, this novel by Hyman Rubio (Icy Sparks) falls flat. The protagonist,, a cockatoo named Caruso, is taken from Australia and ends up on the North Carolina coast, where he falls in love with Clarissa, his human caretaker. Conflicts include a rivalry with Clarissa's human love interest and a climactic hurricane. The story is often told second-hand to Caruso in the form of long, formal monologues, not just by one loquacious character but by every person the parrot meets. Although Rubio deserves credit for inventiveness, ultimately Caruso is unsympathetic, his view of love and of his owner as a female to be won and claimed having been shaped by a man who spent his entire life obsessing over unrequited love. As a reflection of humanity, Caruso is unconvincing, and, given the failure of the novel's blatant message there is not enough plot to hold the book together. (Oct.)