This month’s meeting was held in Emma’s fab flat with an accompanying bagel feast and cocktails!! What more could we ask for? Great company, good food and a good read to chew over.
And “Ostrich” by Matt Greene did get our digestive juices going, although some did find the book difficult to swallow.
I loved it, as did Jeanette, Joanne, Anne Marie, Pauline and Emma. Sheila and Joan thought Alex precocious and unlikeable. All agreed he was a clever fellow for 12 yrs old, as he portrayed his view of his world and the people in it, but we didn’t all feel dedicated to following his immature ramblings.
Emma, Jeanette and Joanne felt that Alex’s understanding, (blurred and disjointed at times due to his convulsions,) his age and his fixation with the idiosyncrasies of English usage (chances of passing a scholastic entrance exam … like he’s got nothing else to be bothered about!!))) is remarkably sensitive and philosophical. He also uses plenty of words he can’t understand or can’t spell, and this lends very much to the chuckle element in the book.
We are led like detectives, clue by clue until we uncover the truth of Alex’s world. In particular, his obsession with tautology, which is often hilarious and heart wrenching. We agreed you can miss gems on first reading, and I for one felt the need to read it again at a later date.The book is about brain surgery (sort of) and about a hamster named Jaws 2 (but not really!!) It’s about parenting, courage, love, friendship and growing up... and quantum mechanics!
Pauline was touched by his inability to spot how others are intent on belittling him as, for example, his English teacher's patronising and obtuse conversation with him after class. His precocious conversation with his French oral examiner, on the other hand, is extremely funny and makes up for it somewhat.
Like most teenagers Alex feels “ostrichized”, outside the place he finds himself in, and typically, he is influenced by his peers, like girlfriend Chloe (she being a product of a broken family). She is instrumental in fuelling his belief that his Dad’s having an affair and his Mum is going through a nervous breakdown of some sort. He makes no link with their behaviour and their worries and concerns about his wellbeing .
His Dad's bad jokes have the "tumbleweed effect", for example, when discussing the currency whilst on holiday in France, Dad is asked by him:
“Are they francs?”
and he answers
“No they’re mine”
Some of us laughed at this, but Alex did not.
But, if you don’t get anything else from this book , you will get that his parents are the best parents a boy could have. They are heroic and magnificent in their treatment of him. He just doesn’t get them or where they’re at. But then, his mind is often otherwise occupied with his brain malfunction!! And that’s a lot for a young 12 year old boy to deal with….
Writing about people suffering from serious illnesses is difficult to tackle, but we felt that Matt Greene does a brilliant job. It is a well written and well paced book and possibly comparable to “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” by Marc Haddon, although we weren’t all agreed on that one.
Matt Greene does a brilliant job in getting into Alex’s head and many of us loved being in his mind with him. The book is loaded with wit and wisdom and it can make you laugh and cry.
Awarded 4.5 stars
Thank you Emma for your 5 star hospitality
The next meeting will be on March 2nd although the venue is yet to be decided.
The chosen read for next month's meeting is “Sweet Caress” by William Boyd.
