Reviews

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar

carteremma's review against another edition

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5.0

Raw is the perfect word in this title. The whole book is raw like an open wound with emotion dripping from every page. If there is one book I could give a hug and a cup of sweet tea to then this would be it! Look at it, even the cover is beautiful!

This is the story of a girl who at the start of the book is just trying to survive day to day. Every day for Carly is surfing and working to make the money she needs to surf. The back story of Carly's trauma is slowly revealed through the book, but it does not feel like this is being kept a secret from us, more like Carly is telling when she can.

The other characters in the book are also amazing and only add to the story. While on the subject of the other characters - Ryan!! Why can't I have my own Ryan? It is easy to see why Ryan keeps Carly afloat, he is charming, supportive, patient and smoking hot!!

Right from the get go this is an extremely Australian book, using what can only be described as Australian sounds. I thought this was funny and my years of watching Neighbours and Home and Away when I was younger paid off. I also think that these years of viewing Home and Away made me think that surfing is super cool. I have no knowledge of surfing or any of the lingo but I never felt confused about the surfing talk.


I loved this book so much I think it will forever bin in my top 5 books. If you have not read it yet then out down whatever you are doing and get yourself a copy!

secretmagic's review

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3.0

I want to start this off by saying there is a lot of surfing in this book, surf talk and beach culture. It's true, Australians are seen as beach bums and we revel in this image. Our beaches are fantastic - even if you're not really a beach person, you have to admire the beauty of the Australian coast and the sound of the ocean. But that being said, the sum of my surfing knowledge comes from movies like Blue Crush and TV shows like Blue Water High. I'm basically a surfing noob. So I was really impressed with the detail in Kirsty Eagar's novel. Whenever Carly was discussing the swells and power of the ocean, I could picture the Australian coast....or maybe that's just because I live near the Aussie coast, so I could picture that instead.

When this was published, I'd guess it was aimed at a young adult audience. And while it definitely has a familiar young voice, I feel like the book world now would place it in the new adult genre. Carly is a young, nineteen year old girl living day to day as best she can after being raped during schoolies week a year before the events in the book. I felt so much for Carly. She believed because she didn't say no, because she was drunk and out of it, that she must have been partly to blame for her misfortunes, instead of blaming her rapists completely for violating her boundaries. Every time she made herself feel worthless and vulnerable, I wanted to reach through the pages and give her a big hug. She drilled the need for silence into every part of her life and it left her broken inside.

I like that the romance in this books wasn't over the top, but I would have liked a bit more of it towards the end. I know Carly was trying to work through her issues alone, and I'm glad she found the strength to do it, but the slightly open ending just made it feel incomplete. I wanted more. That being said, I enjoyed seeing Ryan and Carly ease into their relationship and I'm happy that the story was more about Carly being comfortable in her own skin, than just falling in love.

I think the only part that I didn't love for this book was some of the dialogue. It was very Aussie - all the Nahs and Mates thrown into every conversation. It did show off the Australian way of speaking, but I also felt like it was overdone, trying too hard to add an extra 'mate' to show off the way blokes talk to each other. Maybe it's my lack of surf knowledge. Maybe all surfies do throw around mate more often than anyone else. But I felt it broke up the dialogue a bit, trying to be a little too Aussie.

4/5 stars

saskiacb's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

5.0


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emleemay's review against another edition

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4.0



"[b:Raw Blue|6989576|Raw Blue|Kirsty Eagar|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266111020s/6989576.jpg|7231905]" really is an accurate title all round for this book. It is very raw and sad and depressing but not in a way that would make me cry like, say, [b:On the Jellicoe Road|1162022|On the Jellicoe Road|Melina Marchetta|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1212708945s/1162022.jpg|6479100]. I was worried that I wouldn't connect with the characters or the story because, well, it's not like us Brits are getting in some quality surfing time in the North Sea (just thinking about it makes me feel cold). And, I admit, for a while I was thinking "uh-oh, I'm not really getting this".

In the first 70-80 pages it's all surfing and horrible descriptions of hollandaise that made me even less inclined to try the stuff. Plus, after surfing, cooking's up there with the biggies on the list of stuff I cannot do. My culinary attempts have set things on fire, broken a toaster, a microwave and a kettle, and grilled cookies. I jest not one tiny bit.



At this point I was wondering how fast I could get away if I posted a negative review. And then, I got it. No, really, I got it. A book that was meandering somewhere between 2 and 3 stars became 4+ when the story began to unfold a bit more. Up until then, I admired the pretty words but couldn't get inside the head of this surfer/cook girl. But I suddenly realised why this book is so hyped: it's horrible. And disturbing. And brutally honest. I loved it.

Carly is such a sad and tragic character and her story was handled very well. This is always a difficult subject to tackle and [a:Kirsty Eagar|3119823|Kirsty Eagar|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1303625570p2/3119823.jpg] really captured that sense of despair, hurt and anger. I'm normally so quick to wonder why people like Carly don't always speak up and this book answered some of my questions for me in a very powerful way:

Spoiler"If you've been raped, you become a Rape Victim. When people talk to you, they'll have a picture of you in their mind - you lying on the ground, men moving over you. But they won't be empathetic; they won't put themselves on the ground. They taste power, that little hint of vinegar that puts a twist in their lips and saliva in their mouths."
(It's not difficult to guess what this book's about but just in case)

Everything about this novel was well-written, despite the fact that I wasn't quite with it to start with. The romance between Carly and Ryan was told with a perfect understanding of all the emotions and insecurities that comes with your first 'real' relationship, never cheesy, and the scene where they first sleep together is simultaneously beautiful, awkward and painful (mentally, not S&M or anything like that!), and wonderfully far from being the rose-tinted version of sex that you often find in young adult novels.

I will say, though I'm no prude, there are a lot of things about this book that really won't suit the younger end of the targeted young adult readership. The sex scenes are graphic, and there are quite a few descriptions that will probably make you feel uncomfortable regardless of your age. Just be warned.

misskoko's review against another edition

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4.0

Edit (2/9/2013): Saw this quiz and this book came to mind:

http://www.lifecolorscity.com/en/questionnaire/lifecolors.html
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Edit (4/2/2012): The fact I've gone back and skimmed through this on multiple occasions, I have to increase the rating. Also, I don't know if it's because I'm in a different place or I'm not getting the rawness of it all by skimming but I see how truly special Danny is. And he shines brightest to me in this book.

I know it's the basis of it all but the raw deal Carly experiences is just sooo sickening that it's hard for me to truly love this book. But it lingers...
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Ryan, Danny, and Hannah were magnificent. Great people to surround Carly with. Seeing/feeling her raw times and her growth was captured splendidly by K. Eager.

amandito_3's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

stephxsu's review against another edition

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4.0

I’ve heard of and wanted to read RAW BLUE, an Australian debut novel, for two years before I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy, thanks to the amazing generosity of a blogger friend who is a staunch RAW BLUE evangelist. The verdict? Oh boy, was it worth the years of quiet and patient waiting. I wish more people know about this powerful, heartbreaking, and full novel.

RAW BLUE is not an easy read. Carly is an emotionally damaged young woman who pushes people away as much as possible. Eagar does not shy from using the language of a hardcore Australian surfer. And the plot is quiet, with over half the book passing by the time I realized that what I had read was not merely exposition, but the meat of the story. Despite what it sounds, however, it is far from being a slow and frustrating book.

A rape survivor, Carly tries to drown her memories away with the routine of cooking and surfing. It was heartwarming to read about Carly’s slow and painful healing, because it’s such an internal process that we can all relate to it at some level. RAW BLUE is, above all, subtle. It does not use any drastic events or scenarios to move the plot along. It is really just Carly going about her daily routine, not realizing that she is changing even as she is. And that’s arguably the best kind of realistic fiction, because it’s most like the almost unnoticeable process of growth that we undergo in real life.

When Eagar’s talent for stunning prose meets a protagonist whom we love despite her best attempts to dissuade us, the result is a beautiful and lingering story that reinfuses life into us. I finished RAW BLUE with an optimistic sense of the immensity of the world, of all the little things that we don’t stop to think about that can impact our lives forever.

janina_reads's review against another edition

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3.0

Objectively, this novel is worth much more than the three stars I decided to give it. But on a did-I-deeply-care-for-the-characters and were-my-expectations-met level, I just can’t give it any more. This book has received raving reviews from so many of my friends here, it has been described as life-changing and utterly captivating, it has been compared to Melina Marchetta’s novels (which I love with abandon) … but it just wasn’t any of those things for me (which makes me sad). I expected this to be my book of the year, and I was craving it so … I was blissful the day our Aussie book fairy Nic offered to share it with us ;).

And my biggest problem is … I can’t even tell you why I did not love this book. It is exactly the type of book I normally love oh so much: Often dark and painful, but with just the right shimmer of hope in between. Fleshed-out secondary characters with lovable quirks and “special abilities” (how cool is the synaesthesia thing??) and a main character whose voice is raw with pain and desperation, but also so distinctly her. The Australian vibe is in every sentence, the writing beautiful – forming an unforgettable setting.

Yet, for some reason, the story did not resonate with me. I did feel with Carly, but not as deeply as I had expected. It wasn’t hard for me to put the book down at all, and sometimes very hard to pick it up again. I was tempted to skim some passages that I felt we had gone through so many times before. I did have problems understanding the surfer lingo and getting into those scenes. And … I couldn't really relate to Ryan. He was wonderfully flawed and I just loved his way around Carly, how he tried to get her to come out of her shell, but he didn't stand out for me as a character ...

All in all, certainly not a book I regret reading, but a book I expected so much more from. I recommend you give it a try as well. It is definitely unique.

Nic, thank you so much for touring this! I really appreciated the possibility to experience all the Aussie-ness it offers ;).

#5 Aussie YA Challenge 2011

imys's review

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3.0

this book was really amazing, but the main thing about reading for me is feeling or the characters. for some reason, i just didn't connect with the main character's feeling at all.

aneeqah's review

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4.0

Uh, wow.

Full review to come.