Novel Review: Ostrich Eye by Beth Cooley

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Realistic

Publisher: Delacorte Press (Random House)

Release Date: 2004

Spoilers?: Not really.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Is the man Ginger meets in the park really her long-lost father . . . or is he her family’s worst nightmare?

The guy is everywhere. On the jogging path. At the video store. In the coffeehouse. He’s beginning to give Ginger the creeps. But maybe he’s not a weirdo. Maybe he’s just a man looking for the daughter he walked out on ten years ago.

Or maybe not.

Beth Cooley’s cautionary tale of family relationships, identity, and the disastrous results of miscommunication is a gripping novel with the unsettling premise that danger lives closer to us than anyone ever wants to think possible.

The Cover:

This cover is just blah. It's plain, not eye-catching, the colors are all weird. It kind of gives an idea of what the book is about, but otherwise I'm not a fan.

Review:

I was more impressed with the subject matter in this book than I thought I would be.

If Ginger’s mother had just been honest with her from the start, several things would have been different in her life. Sadly, Ginger didn’t know the whole story. And it turned very badly when Ginger thought she’d found her real father.

This is definitely a sad story, a creepy one, and I had a bad feeling from the beginning. It didn’t turn out quite like I expected, but I did like that there was more story after the fact, that we got to see the aftermath of it. Usually stories cut off at that point, and I was glad this one went beyond. It gives a more rounded picture of the event, and I liked that.

This was better than I expected, and while very creepy and upsetting, definitely worth reading.