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amynd's review
4.0
4.5
Fun fact about me: I hate the ocean. Fun fact about this book: it is entirely about the ocean.
It's unfortunate that I was destined not to love this book as much as Summer Skin, but for a book about one of my least favorite things, I loved it way more than I should have.
Fun fact about me: I hate the ocean. Fun fact about this book: it is entirely about the ocean.
It's unfortunate that I was destined not to love this book as much as Summer Skin, but for a book about one of my least favorite things, I loved it way more than I should have.
onceuponabookcase's review
4.0
Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.
Having an idea of what Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar was going to be about, I was looking forward to reading what I thought be an awesome novel along the lines of Easy by Tammara Webber. Raw Blue is an amazing story, but not in the way I thought it would be.
When Carly is surfing, nothing else matters. It's her escape. When she's out in the ocean, she doesn't have to think about her issues with her parents, that she has no friends, that she's desperate to be alone. She doesn't have to think of the reasons for taking life one day at a time, living for surfing, and blocking everything else out. But then she meets Ryan, and Carly can't stay away. The more time she spends with him, the harder it is to hide her past. Some secrets won't stay buried, but blocking things out is the only way she can stay afloat.
Raw Blue is such a wonderful book, but it's a hard one. Carly has been shattered by what happened to her; her shame is limitless, and she feels if people knew, she would be shunned. I said already that I thought Raw Blue was going to be similar to Easy, but though there are Jacquelines who fight for control over their own life with their heads held high, there are also Carlys, who have had their self-worth dashed. Some people swim, but others sink, and those who sink deserve to have their stories told, too. And Eagar does a wonderful job giving those people a voice.
The rape happens before the book starts, but we have flashbacks. It's not very graphic, but it doesn't need to be. Inside Carly's head, her pain is enough to hurt you too. Carly is really struggling. She is drowning in her pain, and can't see the surface. Sometimes she doesn't see the point in trying to find the surface. Anger is her constant companion. But she leaves it at the beach when she paddles into the ocean to surf. Despite this, she is strong, and is trying to get on with her life. She dropped out of uni, moved to Manly, got herself a job as a cook at a cafe in the evenings so she can surf in the morning. Might not be the best of solutions, but she's trying to move forward in the only way she knows how. She's running, and that seems to be working for her, so far.
As I said, she's angry. So angry. She's angry at those who raped her, and she's angry at herself. Anger that leads to such overwhelming shame.
Her shame is so huge that she's not told a single soul. She has never had a great relationship with her parents. Her father expects her to do what he wants, his way, with no argument on the matter, and her mother goes along with her father. When Carly tries to live her own life, her father makes her feel less because of it. The following quote shows exactly her thinking on the good that telling her parents would bring.
And her friends at the time... well, they weren't the right people to tell.
I loved how Carly has this unique, or at least rarely mentioned, view of how others - strangers - see people who have been raped. I found it very thought-provoking, and made me feel quite sick.
Once Ryan becomes a solid presence in the book, there are a few sex scenes in Raw Blue. It's awesome to see Carly find her way to a healthy sexual relationship, enjoying being with another person. It's not overly graphic, but there's enough to show at first her nervousness, and then her enjoyment. And although there is romance in the book, it's not the main focus. A big deal, sure, but this is Carly's story. Ryan is important for Carly in how his presence in her life causes her to face her past, and for his support even when she doesn't want it.
Ryan and Carly's relationship with him are the catalysts that bring her to actually face what's happened, and where she has to choose how to live her life from then on. It's not pretty. In fact, it's incredibly sad. But with the two friends she makes over the course of the novel, Hannah, her Dutch neighbour, and Danny, a 15-year-old who she meets when surfing, who latches on to her like an older sister, in their own ways help her through. Her relationship with each of these three people is wonderful, and Carly allows herself some vulnerability with them. It's beautiful to see her fight what's been hurting her for so long, because of these three people in her life who care. The first people who seem to actually really care.
Raw Blue is a brilliantly moving book, ultimately uplifting, and really quite beautiful in it's poignancy. I highly recommend it!
Thank you to Catnip Books for the review copy.
Having an idea of what Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar was going to be about, I was looking forward to reading what I thought be an awesome novel along the lines of Easy by Tammara Webber. Raw Blue is an amazing story, but not in the way I thought it would be.
When Carly is surfing, nothing else matters. It's her escape. When she's out in the ocean, she doesn't have to think about her issues with her parents, that she has no friends, that she's desperate to be alone. She doesn't have to think of the reasons for taking life one day at a time, living for surfing, and blocking everything else out. But then she meets Ryan, and Carly can't stay away. The more time she spends with him, the harder it is to hide her past. Some secrets won't stay buried, but blocking things out is the only way she can stay afloat.
'When I was eighteen three men broke me in, and they left marks on my body, too.'
(p172)
Raw Blue is such a wonderful book, but it's a hard one. Carly has been shattered by what happened to her; her shame is limitless, and she feels if people knew, she would be shunned. I said already that I thought Raw Blue was going to be similar to Easy, but though there are Jacquelines who fight for control over their own life with their heads held high, there are also Carlys, who have had their self-worth dashed. Some people swim, but others sink, and those who sink deserve to have their stories told, too. And Eagar does a wonderful job giving those people a voice.
The rape happens before the book starts, but we have flashbacks. It's not very graphic, but it doesn't need to be. Inside Carly's head, her pain is enough to hurt you too. Carly is really struggling. She is drowning in her pain, and can't see the surface. Sometimes she doesn't see the point in trying to find the surface. Anger is her constant companion. But she leaves it at the beach when she paddles into the ocean to surf. Despite this, she is strong, and is trying to get on with her life. She dropped out of uni, moved to Manly, got herself a job as a cook at a cafe in the evenings so she can surf in the morning. Might not be the best of solutions, but she's trying to move forward in the only way she knows how. She's running, and that seems to be working for her, so far.
As I said, she's angry. So angry. She's angry at those who raped her, and she's angry at herself. Anger that leads to such overwhelming shame.
'Rape is the perfect crime because the victim is the guilty one. I did not fight back; I did not say "no"; I did not make a sound.' (p44)
Her shame is so huge that she's not told a single soul. She has never had a great relationship with her parents. Her father expects her to do what he wants, his way, with no argument on the matter, and her mother goes along with her father. When Carly tries to live her own life, her father makes her feel less because of it. The following quote shows exactly her thinking on the good that telling her parents would bring.
'He'd won. I was exactly what he thought of me. All this time and he was right. I was disgusting. The shame I felt. The shame I feel. But I could not have borne the shame he'd make me carry. I could not have borne my mother's disappointment. I never told them.'
(p173)
And her friends at the time... well, they weren't the right people to tell.
'I was worried that they'd smell it on me. Afraid they'd see the stain of it on my face. Because I couldn't trust them with it I realised. If I told them, I'd hear the thrill of it in their voices. The drama. The bigness of it all. They would pick me me apart like birds feeding.'
(p174)
I loved how Carly has this unique, or at least rarely mentioned, view of how others - strangers - see people who have been raped. I found it very thought-provoking, and made me feel quite sick.
'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 to their lips and saliva in their mouths.
Look at the media. They concentrate on what was done to the Rape Victims. First by the rapists and then by the courts. They're feeding something there. People are greedy for the details, fascinated sick by them. I think it should be illegal to tell. I think that the person who was raped should own the copyright on what happened to them. They never give details on what happens to the rapist, later, when they go to jail. Nobody cares.'
(p176)
Once Ryan becomes a solid presence in the book, there are a few sex scenes in Raw Blue. It's awesome to see Carly find her way to a healthy sexual relationship, enjoying being with another person. It's not overly graphic, but there's enough to show at first her nervousness, and then her enjoyment. And although there is romance in the book, it's not the main focus. A big deal, sure, but this is Carly's story. Ryan is important for Carly in how his presence in her life causes her to face her past, and for his support even when she doesn't want it.
Ryan and Carly's relationship with him are the catalysts that bring her to actually face what's happened, and where she has to choose how to live her life from then on. It's not pretty. In fact, it's incredibly sad. But with the two friends she makes over the course of the novel, Hannah, her Dutch neighbour, and Danny, a 15-year-old who she meets when surfing, who latches on to her like an older sister, in their own ways help her through. Her relationship with each of these three people is wonderful, and Carly allows herself some vulnerability with them. It's beautiful to see her fight what's been hurting her for so long, because of these three people in her life who care. The first people who seem to actually really care.
Raw Blue is a brilliantly moving book, ultimately uplifting, and really quite beautiful in it's poignancy. I highly recommend it!
Thank you to Catnip Books for the review copy.
lauredhel's review
4.0
Terrific book, a deserving Inky award nominee! ( http://www.insideadog.com.au/inkys/2010_shortlist.html )
Warning: rape/PTSD survivor story, some distressing scenes.
Warning: rape/PTSD survivor story, some distressing scenes.
audiblybooked's review
5.0
I was so incredibly excited to win a copy of Raw Blue from Linds over at Bibliophile Brouhaha. (thanks Linds!!) She had raved about this book so much that I knew that I simply had to read it! Once I had read it though, I found that it is quite difficult to write a review about a book that feels like such an intimate, personal story. Its almost like reviewing someone’s journey to recovery, because that’s kind of what Raw Blue is.
After surviving a traumatic event at school, Carly, the main character, had completely disengaged from her life, quit going to University against her parents demands, moved away from everyone she knows, and began working an evening job as a cook simply to pay her bills so she could spend her days surfing along the beautiful Australian coast where she could lose herself and calm her mind and spirit. Despite her best efforts to keep everyone out, she finds herself with several unconventional friends, Danny a teenage boy who sees everything in colors, Hannah her Dutch salsa dancing neighbor, and Ryan a sexy surfer who was recently released from prison. Each plays a part as Carly slowly begins to put the pieces back together.
Raw Blue explores Carly’s journey as she tries to rebuild her life in the aftermath of a brutal assault. Kirsty Eagar unflinchingly recounts each painful moment in such an uncomfortably insightful way that I almost felt as if I was riding this emotional roller coaster alongside Carly. The details of the incident itself were shocking and disturbing, but not overdone in a way that was too much. The beauty of Raw Blue was in the depth of emotion that the author was able to convey with a simple and straightforward writing style, the incredible characters, and the relationship building and interaction between the characters. I loved each of the secondary characters, each one had their own interesting background that made me want to know more about them outside of their place in Carly’s world.
The story felt genuine and relatable with a definite “Aussie” tone. There were many purely Australian words and phrases that I wasn’t sure about the meaning, but it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the story. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys books that are intense and emotional and fans of YA Contemporary as well as Adult Contemporary. I definitely don’t see this as a purely Young Adult book.
After surviving a traumatic event at school, Carly, the main character, had completely disengaged from her life, quit going to University against her parents demands, moved away from everyone she knows, and began working an evening job as a cook simply to pay her bills so she could spend her days surfing along the beautiful Australian coast where she could lose herself and calm her mind and spirit. Despite her best efforts to keep everyone out, she finds herself with several unconventional friends, Danny a teenage boy who sees everything in colors, Hannah her Dutch salsa dancing neighbor, and Ryan a sexy surfer who was recently released from prison. Each plays a part as Carly slowly begins to put the pieces back together.
Raw Blue explores Carly’s journey as she tries to rebuild her life in the aftermath of a brutal assault. Kirsty Eagar unflinchingly recounts each painful moment in such an uncomfortably insightful way that I almost felt as if I was riding this emotional roller coaster alongside Carly. The details of the incident itself were shocking and disturbing, but not overdone in a way that was too much. The beauty of Raw Blue was in the depth of emotion that the author was able to convey with a simple and straightforward writing style, the incredible characters, and the relationship building and interaction between the characters. I loved each of the secondary characters, each one had their own interesting background that made me want to know more about them outside of their place in Carly’s world.
The story felt genuine and relatable with a definite “Aussie” tone. There were many purely Australian words and phrases that I wasn’t sure about the meaning, but it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the story. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys books that are intense and emotional and fans of YA Contemporary as well as Adult Contemporary. I definitely don’t see this as a purely Young Adult book.
tish's review
5.0
I'm not sure I'll be able to verbalize what I love about this book, but I feel impelled to try anyway. I've never surfed even once in my life and I know nothing about the sport. That said, the book goes into quite a bit of surfing detail (complete with its attendant terminology) and yet I was never at a loss for overall understanding or put off by the alienness of it. For all this is a YA book and Carly is only 19 (and I'm in my 40's), I identified so strongly with her.
I know how she felt inside her skin, recognized her need to be alone, viewed the world along with her thru the lens of a psyche cracked by traumatic violation. Carly felt so spot on to me. I like how Eagar never makes her maudlin or turns sappy or whiny, and how strong Carly actually is despite her emotional fragility. I especially identified with her insight as to why Carly never told anyone what happened to her that night.
Carly felt alive and three dimensional and Eagar, thankfully, doesn't take the HEA route, even though the book ends on a good note, you just know it's still going to take time for her to heal. There are no snapping of the fingers and voila! Carly is fine and ready to run off into the sunset with Ryan - something writers do all the time and it annoys the crap out of me. You aren't just fine after a gang rape, you are never going to be the same person ever again.
Eager lets you know that there are still obstacles ahead, but that now Carly's ready to begin trying to surmount them, that's she's ready to move out of the limbo she's kept herself in. I loved Carly, I loved this book. I loved Ryan for being the flawed, confused man and yet not pushing anything right from the start, almost like he knew instinctively that she was like a deer caught unawares, ready to bolt at the slightest provocation - which of course, she was. I loved this book
I know how she felt inside her skin, recognized her need to be alone, viewed the world along with her thru the lens of a psyche cracked by traumatic violation. Carly felt so spot on to me. I like how Eagar never makes her maudlin or turns sappy or whiny, and how strong Carly actually is despite her emotional fragility. I especially identified with her insight as to why Carly never told anyone what happened to her that night.
Carly felt alive and three dimensional and Eagar, thankfully, doesn't take the HEA route, even though the book ends on a good note, you just know it's still going to take time for her to heal. There are no snapping of the fingers and voila! Carly is fine and ready to run off into the sunset with Ryan - something writers do all the time and it annoys the crap out of me. You aren't just fine after a gang rape, you are never going to be the same person ever again.
Eager lets you know that there are still obstacles ahead, but that now Carly's ready to begin trying to surmount them, that's she's ready to move out of the limbo she's kept herself in. I loved Carly, I loved this book. I loved Ryan for being the flawed, confused man and yet not pushing anything right from the start, almost like he knew instinctively that she was like a deer caught unawares, ready to bolt at the slightest provocation - which of course, she was. I loved this book
glaiza_echo's review
This book had both raw and beautiful experiences conveyed in words.
Recommended for anyone seeking good upper YA/new adult books.
Recommended for anyone seeking good upper YA/new adult books.
andreathereader's review
4.0
Something bad happened to Carly a few years ago, and she never dealt with it. Instead, she dropped out of school, moved away from home and spends her days surfing and her nights working in the kitchen of a fancy coffee shop/café. She’s happy being alone and pushes everyone away. She’s kind of friendly with her landlady, and tolerates the people at work, but that’s it.
Then, out of nowhere, an unusual teen breaks through her barriers. He doesn’t treat her differently, which she likes. He has synaesthesia, and is right up front about everything, which she finds unexpectedly endearing.
But that’s just the start. Soon, the people at work start wanting to get friendlier with Carly, and one of the surfers at her usual spot takes a liking to her. Suddenly, she is faced with letting people into her life, and what that means to her.
The characters were okay, though they were sort of secondary to Carly. This is not a multi-character book, it’s definitely Carly’s story. Though there are other people in her life, she spends most of her days alone, so we never had a chance to really get to know the other people. The same idea applies to the dialogue; there’s not much of it. Even when she is with other people, Carly spends a lot of time talking to herself. I liked the overall dialogue, though. There are lots of “Aussie-isms” that I am unfamiliar with, but they are pretty easy to get from the context.
Though there is some sex, it isn’t something I would call super sexy. It is graphic and just matter-of-fact. There is a description of rape, but it isn’t very graphic. There are some tender moments between Carly and Ryan, especially as they form their relationship.
Kirsty Eagar’s writing is wonderful, so descriptive. In a book basically about water, she comes up with so many different ways to describe surfing, the ocean, waves and the beach, that I never got tired of reading about it. It could have easily become repetitive, but she does a great job of avoiding that.
The cover is great, it totally captures the tone of the book. She is alone in the water, with a surfer in the background, and has grown her hair long to hide from her past. Spot on.
"As reviewed on The Busy Bibliophile."
Then, out of nowhere, an unusual teen breaks through her barriers. He doesn’t treat her differently, which she likes. He has synaesthesia, and is right up front about everything, which she finds unexpectedly endearing.
I laugh. ”Have people been staring at you?”
He frowns. ”I don’t know. I guess so. I forgot it was there. Can you really notice it?”
“Well yeah, but I think its great.” To me, Danny rocking up to surf with graffiti all over his face is precious, the fact he talks to me is a gift. But of course, you can’t say things like that to people.
But that’s just the start. Soon, the people at work start wanting to get friendlier with Carly, and one of the surfers at her usual spot takes a liking to her. Suddenly, she is faced with letting people into her life, and what that means to her.
The characters were okay, though they were sort of secondary to Carly. This is not a multi-character book, it’s definitely Carly’s story. Though there are other people in her life, she spends most of her days alone, so we never had a chance to really get to know the other people. The same idea applies to the dialogue; there’s not much of it. Even when she is with other people, Carly spends a lot of time talking to herself. I liked the overall dialogue, though. There are lots of “Aussie-isms” that I am unfamiliar with, but they are pretty easy to get from the context.
Though there is some sex, it isn’t something I would call super sexy. It is graphic and just matter-of-fact. There is a description of rape, but it isn’t very graphic. There are some tender moments between Carly and Ryan, especially as they form their relationship.
Some phone calls he doesn’t say much and I know he’s called just to hear my voice. That’s all he wants, to hear me tell him about my day, what the surf’s like, what work’s like. And that’s humbling, knowing that your voice can mean so much to another person.
Kirsty Eagar’s writing is wonderful, so descriptive. In a book basically about water, she comes up with so many different ways to describe surfing, the ocean, waves and the beach, that I never got tired of reading about it. It could have easily become repetitive, but she does a great job of avoiding that.
The cover is great, it totally captures the tone of the book. She is alone in the water, with a surfer in the background, and has grown her hair long to hide from her past. Spot on.
"As reviewed on The Busy Bibliophile."