That Eye, the Sky - Supernormal Reads

Paperback, 180 pages

Published by Picador.

ISBN:: 978-0-330-41251-3

(1 review)

In this modern Australian classic, award-winning author Tim Winton tells the story of young Ort Flack and his struggle to come to grips with the forces pulling his family apart. An extraordinary snapshot of boyhood, That Eye, the Sky is also a powerful exploration of the nature of hope and faith. Ort doesn't have a bad life. He mucks around with his best pal, Fat Cherry; he wonders what his sister Tegwyn's so mad about and why his grandma's disappeared inside herself; he looks up at the sky and thinks it's like a big blue eye looking right back at him. But when Dad isn't back from work when he's supposed to be and a strange car pulls into the drive, Ort's life is thrown into turmoil. Suddenly, Mum doesn't seem as strong as she used to, Fat starts saying bad things, and the stranger knocking on the door seems …

In this modern Australian classic, award-winning author Tim Winton tells the story of young Ort Flack and his struggle to come to grips with the forces pulling his family apart. An extraordinary snapshot of boyhood, That Eye, the Sky is also a powerful exploration of the nature of hope and faith. Ort doesn't have a bad life. He mucks around with his best pal, Fat Cherry; he wonders what his sister Tegwyn's so mad about and why his grandma's disappeared inside herself; he looks up at the sky and thinks it's like a big blue eye looking right back at him. But when Dad isn't back from work when he's supposed to be and a strange car pulls into the drive, Ort's life is thrown into turmoil. Suddenly, Mum doesn't seem as strong as she used to, Fat starts saying bad things, and the stranger knocking on the door seems to know an awful lot about the Flacks.

7 editions

T.Elise@bookwyrm.social reviewed That Eye, the Sky

Not a lot happens

2 stars

Not a lot happens in this book despite lots actually happening. Characters don't seem to develop, they just continue to descend into despair. So much isn't fully explained, but that doesn't leave you intrigued or excited, just a bit confused. I didn't really get much out of reading this other that a sick feeling from lots of relatively normalised abuse and too many comments on family members breasts regardless of whether the point is to show the world from a 12 year old boy's perspective.

Subjects

Modern fiction
Fiction