Ostrich Boys

A great road trip saga: 3 best friends set off with the ashes of the newly-deceased member of the foursome and trouble ensues. Author Gray has instinctive pacing and introduces enough twists and turns to make the trip both believable and suspenseful. He also packs a lot in between the adventures: musing on the difference between girls' and boys' friendships, how little we sometimes know our "best" friends and why, sometimes, friendships end. Selfishly, I wish the book and characters were set in the USA ... would make it a top contender for a classroom read. Can't blame me for wishin'... and it's a great book, regardless.

There were four friends living in a small English town, then one died in an accident. The three left behind decide to take their friend's ashes to visit a place in Scotland where he had always wanted to go. Stealing the ashes, they take off with little money and no real plan. On the way, they come to understand more about themselves, their friendship and their dead friend

Blake, Kenny and Sim have just lost their best mate, Ross, to a car accident. Having attended the funeral and coming out dissatisfied with the way Ross's life was celebrated, the three teenagers decide to make a pilgrimage to the town of Ross, in Scotland, a place Ross once tried to runaway to. Only one problem, they have to steal his ashes first. With that mission accomplished - messily - they embark on a 2 day train journey to Ross and thus begins an adventure and a journey of self-discovery for them all. After Kenny leaves his backpack (containing most of their money for the trip and Kenny's ticket) on a train during a frantic interchange things take a wild turn. Relying on each other, the boys talk about Ross and share recent memories of him that start to paint a picture they don't recognise as their friend who would "stand up to anyone". It is clear that Ross is still having a marked effect on their lives - even from his urn in Blake's backpack.Keith Gray writes young men very well - he speaks their language and I found these boys believable, sad, hilarious and likeable. I look forward to reading more books by Keith Gray very soon. Did they get Ross to Ross? That would be telling.....

There were four friends living in a small English town, then one died in an accident. The three left behind decide to take their friend's ashes to visit a place in Scotland where he had always wanted to go. Stealing the ashes, they take off with little money and no real plan. On the way, they come to understand more about themselves, their friendship and their dead friend

Blake, Kenny and Sim steal the urn with their friend Ross and take it on the trip to Scotland that Ross had wanted to take. A page-turner with humor, adventure, mishaps and some thinking about what really may have happened when Ross died. Great adventure British style; shortlisted for several awards.

Kenny, Sim, Blake and Ross are best friends, fifteen year old boys they live in Cleethorpes, or at least three of them do now, for Ross has just been killed in an accident. Disgusted with the lack of any genuine input at Ross' funeral and the hypocrisy shown by those who by all rights should not even have been there, they think on what they can do to put matters right. After wreaking havoc locally taking revenge on those who they consider deserve it, they ponder what Ross would really have wanted. Recalling that Ross always wanted to go to Ross, Dumfries and Galloway (simply for reasons of the name), they decide that that's what they will do, take him there - but first they must secure his ashes from his family.Blake, the somewhat overweight member of the group, narrates events as they steal away Ross' ashes and make their escape from Cleethorpes. We follow them on their incident filled quest, where the clumsiness of one causes a detour of route, and subsequent difficulties in reaching their ultimate destination. Along they way think about Ross, they ponder their friendships, and worry about the consequences they must face on returning home; the increasingly difficult journey testing the friendship of the three boys to the limits.Ostrich Boys is an appealing and touching story, Keith Gray has created four very different, likeable boys bound by their loyalties to each other. Blake's narrative is honest, full of insight and peppered with touches of humour, making for an entertaining yet moving read.

Ross is dead, and his three friends decide to give him the funeral he deserves by running to Ross, Scotland with the ashes. Along the way they have a crazy adventure and try to wrestle with what happened the day he died. Maybe I need to have XY chromosomes to understand the book, because I did not completely comprehend this book. I understand that they wanted to give their friend a more fitting send off than his funeral, but run away with the ashes? Crazy. Definitely a guy read.

Although this book was written well and had a genuine plotline, it was a bit difficult for me to enjoy. In my eyes, some of the events happened so quickly that it seemed unrealistic (like with Kat and Kenny, what was up with that? No one falls that fast!), and at some points the characters annoyed me to a point where I wanted to put the book down. In my opinion, Sim was far too quick to blame everone else, when all the while he was contributing to the events that led up to Ross's death also. I'd have to say he bothered me the most as a character. Kenny, lol, I loved his character, almost oblivious to all that could and did go wrong. Also I didn't very much enjoy the way the author protrayed the main character, Blake. Because really, it wasn't the first thing on my list to be reading about a chubby smelly high school guy. The ending was a surprise, though at the same time kind of predictable (or at least I predicted it correctly). Another thing- Ostrich Boys? The title was completely irrelevant to the story, unless, of course, you count the one occassion when Blake asks Sim what a group of Ostriches were called. I kept waiting for something exciting to happen to them, even only slightly relating to the title, but it dissappointed me. This book probably just didn't work for my kind of audience. 

A moving, heart breaking novel about a group of boys who learn how to deal with the death of one of their group. Set in England, Keith Gray's book is in some ways a coming of age novel. But mostly it's about how to let go and to move on. Though there's not a lot of resolution, which annoyed me a bit, the novel is strong and I recommend it often to people who are looking for books for boys.

Taking dead Ross to Ross by Blake, Kenny and Sam - teen discovery novel. Excellent

Didn't do it for me. Though I did read it in a desultory manner in Bragazzi's.

‘It’s not really kidnapping, is it? He’d have to be alive for it to be proper kidnapping.’The cover of ‘Ostrich Boys’ encourages readers to anticipate a slightly surreal and humorous journey. This is certainly what Gray delivers, but he also produces something much more nuanced and ultimately meaningful than simply an unusual outing.The basic plotKenny, Sim and Blake feel that their friend Ross’ funeral was a sea of hypocrisy and the opposite of a fitting tribute to him. In a flash of inspiration, they decide to take Ross’ ashes to Ross, a barely-village in Scotland. Nothing is allowed to be an obstacle: not the distance to Ross from Cleethorpes (261 miles); not the fact that Ross’ grieving sister is watching the urn; nor the growing tensions between the boys themselves. The fact that this seemingly impulsive, almost jolly trip is centred on the ashes of a dead friend is the first hint towards the underlying pathos in the story. Gradually, despite the humour, you are drawn into a more complex and subtle evaluation of friendships, loyalty and responsibility. By the end, although there are many humorous aspects still present, a much darker story has been laced together under the apparent froth.Opening/styleThe story opens on the three remaining friends hiding in their history teacher’s garden. It doesn’t take many pages to realise that Sim is out to avenge those he holds responsible for making Ross’ last days on earth miserable. Kenny and Blake are reluctant but Sim’s anger and determination are implacable as he almost drags the other two in his wake. The opening made me quite uncomfortable as I began to wonder what kinds of characters these were, and who they might hurt, but it soon becomes clear that they are mixed up young boys rather than dangerous teens, and I found myself hoping they would be able to find some solace.Gray presents the action in a very physical way. As they shuffle awkwardly in front of this house, Blake finds that ‘the problem was Kenny, who kept squirming, shoving bits of me and Sim out into the glare of the streetlights.’ I enjoyed this kind of style which meant that the action was easy to follow, understand and imagine without a great deal of effort. Dialogue is also convincing in its simplicity, helping to create a believable set of characters and, again, creating an easy to understand and follow plot.The only elements of Gray’s style that I personally did not appreciate were some occasional awkward expositions from Blake, the first person narrator, such as when he explains about his weight. To me, a few small sections like this came across as awkward and contrived and took me out of the flow of the story, but this didn’t happen very often. Usually, Gray has a very deft touch, even when speaking as Blake. Without melodrama, Blake’s response to Ross’ ‘accident’ is perfectly encapsulated.‘At the funeral the vicar had called it an ‘accident’. But somehow the word wasn’t enough. It wasn’t big enough, powerful enough – didn’t mean enough. He hadn’t spilled a cup of tea, he hadn’t tripped over his own feet. He’d had his life smashed out of him. It felt like there should be a whole new word invented just to describe it.’Characters/atmosphereThe boys are well drawn, each developing a distinct personality. Sim is angry and impatient; Kenny insecure and nervy; Blake introspective and a planner. As the storyline develops, the cracks in their relationship begin to emerge and their journey becomes increasingly difficult to fulfil. The distractions along the route seemed naturally slotted into the story, and the characters reacted to events in a way that was appropriate to their nature. Sometimes, the mood is elegiac, sometimes hopeful and sometimes it positively crackles with anger.I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I might have done because I did feel that I had no interest in the other characters the boys met along the route. Instead, I wanted to find out about what was happening to those people left at home, worrying about the boys and the ashes. Interestingly, what felt to me like irritating diversions is described by Blake at the end as central to the message of the novel. I could see this once I reached the end, but obviously it didn’t prevent me from being rather frustrated in the middle section of the story!Summary and final thoughtsInitially the boys are adamant that they knew Ross better than anyone else and they are not simply proud of their friendship, but startling dismissive of anyone else’s claims to Ross. They are horrified by the suggestion that Ross’ death might not have been an accident and are convinced that this proves they are the only people who really knew Ross at all. Gradually, a more complex picture emerges in which it seems that guilt may be a key factor in their trip. Are they simply hiding their heads in the sand?The most interesting character for me was Blake, who hides his most recent role in Ross’ life for most of the novel. I felt that he should have been more affected by his own involvement, but this could simply have been part of the novel’s overall theme: boys do not share, boys do not talk, boys do not really look out for each other. Sim and Kenny are clearly affected, although they deny this as far as possible, but I expected something more from Blake as our storyteller. However, I think that if he had experienced a crisis of conscience it would have ruined the light flow of the story, and not really added anything to our understanding.I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as I’d hoped, but that is quite possibly because I am not a young boy! It is consistently entertaining, albeit in quite a mild way, and successfully explores the mesh of relationships in teenagers’ lives. The central message is clear by the end of the story but was so subtly integrated that I never felt I was being preached at.Finally, it is worth mentioning the controversial age banding. The book was labelled a ‘teen’ read by the publishers, but the author has objected strenuously and this will apparently not appear on subsequent editions. I feel that although there are some serious topics involved – primarily death, suicide and bullying – they are handled with such a light touch that it is would potentially be a suitable read for pre-teens too. So, unusually for me, I would disagree with the advice given that it is ‘unsuitable for younger readers’.