Raw Blue
Kirsty Eagar
Published June 29th, 2009
by Penguin Books Australia
Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly café. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing … and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago at schoolies week.
And then Carly meets Ryan, a local at the break, fresh out of jail. When Ryan learns the truth, Carly has to decide. Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy?
Well apparently I'm the only one in the world who didn't absolutely love
this book. It's not bad by any means. I still genuinely enjoyed it, I
just didn't completely fall in love with it.
Raw Blue is a deep
and dark story about a girl who went through a traumatic ordeal and
she's taken up surfing as an outlet to take her mind off of it all and,
in a way, punishing herself for having been a victim. Like the title
says, this is a raw story. It's dark. It's deeply impassioned and very
fragile. Though it never becomes overwhelming; you can feel Carly's
anguish throughout the whole story, but it's more than pointless teenage
angst, it just feels true. You feel sympathetic and not just towards
her, but the side characters as well. They all give Carly reason and
esteem to help her move forward.
The protagonist, Carly, has a
very strong voice in this story. She hides behind surfing and cooking,
just trying to hold everything together. I loved how real she was. She
wasn't reckless or superficial, she just was. I loved her way
with people and her thought process throughout the story. She's
anti-social but she still cares very deeply for the few people she lets
in her life - even if she doesn't realize it.
Ryan, the love
interest, is also perfect because he's so imperfect. He's got flaws.
He's a human being. Not a perfect guy with a perfect life. How
refreshing! I also like the way he spoke. It was very Australian-ey (or
so I'm presuming anyways).
I did however have a hard time with
the surf speak and local slang. I know next to zero in the subject of
surfing. I live in Canada - says it all. So all the parts when she was
in the water pretty much all went over my head. The story was not
affected by it though. Surfing is a big part of the book, yes, but those
parts were still not relevant except for demonstrating how surfing is a
way of life for some people; An escape; A craving. There was some
non-surf jargon that was also new to me, though I found it more
endearing than troublesome. It gave it Australian charm.
When I
went into this I was expecting a lighter read. A romance of some sort.
Not really chick-lit but definitely not this deep. I think it's the main
reason I didn't love it. I wasn't prepared and I kept waiting for the
story to progress. But overall, this book definitely is a great work and
Kirsty is amazing with words. If you haven't, I suggest you give it a
try.
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| 3/5 hot espressos |
