Ostrich Eye

Rating:
Summary: A powerful debut novel--deserving the Delacorte Prize
Review: Beth Cooley has an amazing voice. Ostrich Eye held me from the first page till the last. I'm eager to see Cooley's next work.

Rating:
Summary: Important Issue, Intriguing Read
Review: The copy I read of this book had no indication on either the inside flap or the back cover as to what the book was actually about. So when I first started reading "Ostrich Eye" I had no clue what I was in for. Here's the lowdown: Ginger lives at home with her mother, stepfather and half-sister Vivian. Having never met her real father and always having to witness the way her mother and stepfather dote on Vivian, Ginger begins to feel out of place, slightly overshadowed. So when a mysterious stranger appears in town, she begins making connections between him and her real father. Is this man the long lost father Ginger thinks he is? Or is Ginger blind to the stranger's true intentions?

The characters in "Ostrich Eye" are interesting and well-developed. Cooley manages to give her characters voices that seem honest, seem to ring true. While I found the plot to be slightly predictable, the story is fast-paced and flows smoothly. Overall, I find "Ostrich Eye" to be an enjoyable, quick read that gives its readers a heads up on an serious crisis that affects many families. I will definitely keep an eye out for more works by Beth Cooley in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Sort of....
Review: This book was your typical young adult girl's book, I thought. The kind of writing was okay, the character was sterotypical, and it seemed kind of cheesy.
But overal, it wasn't too bad.