GUS

The story of a parakeet and his remarkable interactions with humans.

In their nonfiction debut, Bellows and Held relate the story of a tiny (1.4 ounce) parakeet named Gus who still fills their memories despite having been dead for two decades. “We still talk about him,” they write, “his assertiveness, his empathy, his intelligence.” With 30 years of experience as a psychotherapist, Bellows writes he was amazed at the health effects Gus bestowed through his affectionate and very interactive nature. Sensing whenever Bellows or Held was upset about something, Gus would fly over to them and inquire as to why they were (in his presumed conception) “scared”—and Bellows was always impressed. “As a psychotherapist,” he writes, “I can say with complete confidence that Gus was an excellent therapist [in such moments]; ‘empathetic listening’ is a core feature of good therapy.” In the stories related here, Gus shows not only an increasing verbal ability but a steadily deepening understanding of the words he was saying. Held is always skeptical in the narrative, but even she was sometimes deeply affected when Gus’ speech seemed to go far beyond mere mimicry. The authors have a good sense of pacing, which shows itself most strongly in the handful of funny scenes in which Gus’ sometimes frank and off-color language raised eyebrows at veterinary offices. But while the book’s humor is uniformly winning, its most memorable element is the underlying pathos of genuine interspecies communication; long before the halfway point, Gus no longer seems like any kind of pet but rather a smart, mischievous person in the mix. When Bellows declares, “I was fascinated by what was in his little birdy mind and wanted to learn more–much more,” there’s hardly a reader who won’t agree.

A touching and fascinating memoir of a little bird with a big personality.