The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly

I almost didn’t take this book out of the library. Then I read the first couple of pages and got hooked, as much by the writing style as the content. “The Lizard Cage” is about a Burmese political prisoner known as the Songbird, and the hope and horror that somehow co-exist in his world. It’s lyrical, whimsical and almost gentle, even when it describes the brutal realities of the Songbird’s life.
Several people form relationships with the Songbird, and the book tells how that relationship changes each of them. The Songbird becomes a catalyst for the stories of the other characters, rather than the main character himself.
