Kathleen Rooney's "Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey: A Novel by Kathleen Rooney.

The entry begins:

As its title suggests, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey has two protagonists. Both based on real-life heroes of World War I, the former, Cher Ami, is a messenger pigeon, and the latter, Major Whittlesey, is an army officer. Their lives intersect unexpectedly during a harrowing friendly fire incident in the Meuse-Argonne Forest when Cher Ami successfully delivers Whit’s message requesting that the barrage cease.

I could see the book being adapted either into a fully animated film—an adult cartoon mixing darkness and humor in the vein of the fabulous BoJack Horseman—or into a live action picture in which the pigeons and other animals were done using special effects. Either way, my ideal casting of the protagonists remains the same.

Back in November of 2019, the writer-actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge did the New York Times Book Review’s “By the Book” interview and in response to the question, “Which subjects do you wish more authors would write about?” she replied, “I wish more people would write from the point of view of tiny, witty animals.” Cher Ami is tiny and witty! I adored Fleabag more than almost any other TV show I’ve ever seen because of the way Waller-Bridge knows how to use comedy to make inherently sad things even sadder. Also, Cher Ami is a British bird and Waller-Bridge has precisely the right accent. Thus, Waller-Bridge would be...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Kathleen Rooney's website.

The Page 99 Test: Live Nude Girl.

The Page 99 Test: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs.

My Book, The Movie: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs.

My Book, The Movie: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk.

The Page 69 Test: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.

My Book, The Movie: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.

--Marshal Zeringue