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A review by stephxsu
Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar
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.
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.