Written on 19 November 2015
Edited on 27 June 2018
Rate: 7/10
Wtf?
I chose this book only because of its aesthetic cover. Do I regret it? Not sure.
The title Ostrich is clever. Alex explains earlier in the book that ostrich is odd like himself. They can't fly yet they are classified as birds. The author portrays Alex as a teen who feels misplaced and left out due to his illness; he calls it ostrichised (actually isn't this a play on words with ostracised - 2018). But later on in the book he actually has a normal teen life (more experienced than I ever was).
I had a few good laughs, mostly due to his inherent innocence juxtaposed to his premature maturity. He is only twelve yet I was impressed by his precocity and his choice of lexicon (both words I learnt from Alex). His pure intentions and curiosity got me cracked up (for instance, watching gloryhole confession (???!!!) solely for an educational purpose, but I think it went on tad too long). It would be a different story if he was a middle-aged man though.
Plot
The story starts off nicely. There are a few of wut moments due to a lot of sudden time transitions and events that the author leaves unexplained. Initially I carried on reading because I thought they will be explained later on. However this consistently dragged on which threw me off (maybe that is why I found myself procrastinating a lot while reading this particular novel).
Perhaps Greene was trying to evoke the readers' curiosity and tried to portray Alex's perspective as realistic as possible (he had a seizure and used anaesthesia so having random time lapses are understandable). But I would have preferred if he indicated the times more clearly.
I couldn't guess what the story was heading to, and of course at the end I was way off the track. I even had to read the Acknowledgement section to see if there was anything I missed. Seriously, what was the last chapter about? All the letters and the sudden change in voice (who I presume was the mum)?
So the mother is a psycho but Alex still lives with her????? Did I even read it right???
Possible Ending
Alright, I couldn't just be confused and have no ending to a novel so I did some research. And I'm glad to say that I'm not alone on this. The readers are all perplexed by the abrupt and ambiguous ending. The one (and only) reviewer's take on the ending seemed the most plausible:
Both parents already knew that Alex was soon to be dead after his brain surgery, which is why his dad went to the communion thinking that Alex already died in his mind
(And here I thought it was some sporting place for him to get rid of the stress, But then again if he truly thought that Alex already died why would he encourage him to drive and live YOLO life? Wouldn't he be just depressed?)
and his mother was writing the diary
(I couldn't understand her, and who is D and F? But I thought she was complaining about Alex's behaviour?).
And, that the flight scene on the last page is after his death.
(which is debatable but I can't think of anything better than that).
Okay, this suddenly got real dark and creepy. I need to sleep but I don't want to turn off the light. I wonder what Greene was trying to convey through this.
Questions
Actually, I still don't understand why
'Does your mum play piano' game on the bus was a joke (because Alex enjoys seeing year-5s frightened and crying? Does that mean David is close enough to prank kids together? How is David's mother passing away related to the joke?),
Why does Chloe have a voodoo doll of Alex (Isn't voodoo doll for harming the person? But she actually likes him? Also she tried to sabotage Alex's family?)
Why his mum froze Jaws2 (this is just plain effed)
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