Book Review

Citation:

Bach, Richard. Jonathan Livingston Seagull. New York, NY, 1970. Pages, 127. Front pages, tribute page, three parts/chapters.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a delightful fable written in prose narrative, telling the journey of a seagull named Jonathan who is determined to find more to the meaning of life. Though fiction, this easy-to-read novella is simple yet profound, and can be applied to the life of almost any audience in the present. To many, the quest of Jonathan Livingston Seagull is not just another story, but a three-part spiritual guide or homily for self-perfection.

This book lives up to the high recommendations and excellent ratings it has been given across the United States. From one flight’s lesson to the next, the author brings his readers to the sky for practice in areas of speed, technique, and thought (psychology), while visions of hope, eternal progression, freedom, belief, and service are instilled in each student.

In Part I, Jonathan is made a very likeable character of persistence, determination, and perseverance. While Jonathan lives to fly (most gulls fly only to eat), and he flies very well, the author speaks openly of his falls as well as his world records in flight, so that each reader may relate his/her own experiences with Jonathan’s failures and successes. Although Jonathan wants to fly more than anything, there are moments of upset wherein he almost lets himself give up. Upon one instance after a particularly challenging day of high-speed crashing, Jonathan tells himself, “there would be no more challenge and no more failure,” in his decision to stop his radical flight pursuits. The author inspires readers endowing Jonathan with an ability to think through and discover ways to overcome the thoughts of failure that are certainly not unique to just, Jonathan, but a part of everyday life to those reading.

The reader is taught along with Jonathan in an active style, that revolutionary ideas are often unkindly received by those uncomfortable with change. Upon discovering the beginnings of his abilities in flight, Jonathan proclaims his excitement to share his new-found knowledge with the Flock he belongs to: “When they hear of it, he thought…they’ll be wild with joy. How much more there is now to living!...We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!” And yet, he is outcast from the Flock, from his own family, friends, and leaders, “forever.”

In Part II the reader is taught that when “one school is finished…the time has come for another to begin.” We journey with Jonathan from his isolated, banished state to a new place. “So this is heaven, he thought....It felt like a seagull body, but already it flew far better than his old one….His feathers glowed brilliant white now, and his wings were smooth and perfect as sheets of polished silver.” From a writer’s perspective, Brilliant imagery is used to paint the picture of heaven, where “…the most important thing in living was to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most loved to do…” Bach uses simple words and phrases that sink deep into the heart when pondered. A reader may wonder, ‘how do I reach out and touch perfection…?’ as he/she is inspired to do so in taking their own flight, and a writer may be inspired to write his/her response to such questions.

Jonathan’s question in heaven is thought-provoking: “Why aren’t there more of us here? Where I came from there were…thousands and thousands of gulls….” The answer is even more profound: “We went from one world into another….we choose our next world through what we learned in this one.” If Jonathan “learned so much at one time that [he] didn’t have to go through a thousand lives to reach this one,” can I do the same? Bach leaves several unasked, unanswered questions for readers and writers to mull over while learning how to fly.

While Jonathan is on a physical quest to fly, his moral quest is also evident. “Is there no such place as heaven?” he asks. Jonathan is taught (along with the readers of his story), how to find heaven on earth: “Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.” A gull must know his “true nature” to become perfect, to overcome limitations, and to obtain freedom. The reader is intrigued, and the writer is taught how to use narrative in a simplistic but profound, and even symbolic manner.

Through his process of learning, young, overzealous Jonathan becomes wise Fletcher Lynd Seagull who acknowledges that flying the speed of thought is nothing without love, forgiveness, and serving others. To be a student is not enough to Fletcher, who willingly accepts the call of one higher to return to those who still knew him as an outcast, to help them learn all that he has. How does one fly or teach others to fly when they don’t want to see you as anything but an outcast? “Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you’ll see the way to fly.” Bach provides uplifting tidbits of advice for the quest of the reader and writer alike, in sharing his own flight, leaving both with the challenge of overcoming limitations, through an eternity of progressive learning.

Here is one more recommendation to add to the list of many for Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Young children, youth, early adults/students or well-experienced adults who want to feel young again, will all be edified in reading this book. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is not just another fable, but a quest for anyone ready to enjoy the journey, learning and teaching along the way.