Prairie Ostrich
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Prairie Ostrich
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Narrated by:
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Tamai Kobayashi
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By:
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Tamai Kobayashi
About this listen
Not every story has a happy ending.
Since her brother's death, eight-year-old Egg Murakami has been living day-to-day on the family ostrich farm near Bittercreek, discovering life to be an ever-perplexing condition. Mama Murakami has curled up inside a bottle, and Papa has exiled himself to the barn with the birds. Big sister Kathy tells stories to Egg so that the world might not seem so awful.
The Murakami family is not happy. But in the hands of Tamai Kobayashi, their story becomes a drama of rare insight and virtuosity. Weighing physical, cultural, and emotional isolation against the backdrop of schoolyard battles and adult mysteries, Kobayashi paints a compelling portrait of a feisty and endearing outsider.
As Kathy's final year in high school counts down to an uncertain future, the indomitable Egg sits quiet witness to her unravelling family as she tries to find her place in a bewildering world.
Bespeak Audio Editions brings Canadian voices to the world with audiobook editions of some of the country’s greatest works of literature, performed by Canadian actors.
©2014 Tamai Kobayashi (P)2014 Bespeak Audio EditionsCritic Reviews
"Prairie Ostrich's unique and vulnerable characters pull the reader into their world...not an easy book to read, and the author's refusal to reassure us with pat, comfortable, happily-ever-after outcomes sets it apart, and commands respect...[its] evocative, poetic language, and resonant, dynamic characters make it an urgent and memorable, thought-provoking work." (National Post)
"As a harrowing account of a child's (and a family's) nine tumultuous and educational months, Prairie Ostrich ably introduces an inquisitive heroine simply trying to make order from daily chaos. If that child's ultimate actions ravage her home still more, they also suggest that hope can and change can sometimes be extracted from hopeless circumstances." (The Vancouver Sun)
"In Prairie Ostrich, Kobayashi has drawn a compelling young character, Egg Murakami, who guides us through the fault lines and intersections of family, loss, and otherness. This novel is for anyone who has spent time on the outside, looking in." (Writers' Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Emerging Writers jury)