Raw and sensual, Anne Lamott’s Imperfect Birds is almost a novel-length poem. With language so descriptive of sound, texture, and scent, the listener is transported to the Northern California town where Elizabeth and James are struggling to raise their teenage daughter Rosie.

Susan Denaker’s narration balances a “hippie” vibe with typical baby boomer nostalgia for the traditional, sensible world they rebelled against. Her voice shifts from cool, impartial observation to embody the “cluttered and numb” Elizabeth; the bemused, solid James; and Rosie in all her high school drama and indignation.

Through words and sound, Lamott and Denaker knit together a family of characters who are aching through their everyday world, looking around every corner for some major catastrophe to relieve them at least of the tension among them. The slow-moving catastrophe of the novel is Rosie’s drug use and Elizabeth’s inability to take control of the situation.

This central conflict seeps into all the other relationships in the novel, putting stress on Elizabeth and James’ marriage and leading Rosie down a dangerous path with a guy from school. There are moments when Elizabeth and Rosie connect, but daughter is trying so hard to break free from mother, that deception and hurtfulness become routine.

At the beginning of the novel, Elizabeth’s friend Rae tells her, “You stop pretending life is such fun or makes sense. It’s often messy and cruel and dull, and we do the best we can. It’s unfair, and jerks seem to win. But you fall in love with a few people.” Imperfect Birds is the story of how one family holds onto that love through depression, addiction, and the sometimes painful experience of simply growing up. —Sarah Evans Hogeboom