It’s especially profound when juxtaposed with Carly being a rape survivor. Frankly, this is the kind of thing that teens/young adults should read. Sex happens and it’s handled very well-more sensitively and appropriately than in most novels for adults. I’m going to be controversial and say this is a good thing. Speaking of Ryan, this book is listed as YA (I think in Australia, they include up to early 20s main characters as YA), but it does not “fade to black” as most YA novels do.He’s real and flawed, but he’s also a good person, trying to figure things out. But the thing is, despite that he’s wonderful, he’s not an idealized, out-sized character. I love that he’s so open and that Carly (the narrator) is the elusive, mysterious one, bunking a common trope that drives me nuts. I didn’t pick them, they just turned up in my life, and I’m really glad. I have two friends here: a fifteen year old who sees people in colours and a salsa-mad Dutch woman. What did he say? You can’t always pick your friends. The secondary characters! Especially Hannah (her half-crazy Dutch neighbor) and Danny (the 15-year old with a unique condition she meets surfing)! These characters ensure that this story is more than just about two broken people finding one another-it’s about these people discovering a community.Kirsty Eagar is a surfer and her love for the water and the sport shines.

The surfing is gorgeous in Raw Blue-it feels so sensory to read the scenes in the water. She’s letting the past eat away at her-he’s moving on and away from it. The juxtaposition between the bad stuff that happened to Ryan and the bad stuff that happened to Carly is extremely well done.It’s a novel of someone who’s had a bad thing happen and is dealing with it in the best way she knows. This could be an “issue book,” but this isn’t at all.Given that it was a tremendous pain in the ass to acquire this book, the bar had been set pretty pretty high-and it certainly met those standards, and will be permanently filed under “True Book Love.” I’m not even sure how to begin a review of this Raw Blue-this is the kind of novel that makes me feel like I should start a book blog to tell the world about the amazing books* they’re missing. This is the first in an ongoing series entitled “I Love,” in which we profess our love and devotion for books, authors, themes or anything else bookish we love. I left in the off-handed comment from my original review about starting a book blog for the laughs (I believe I made the same comment in my Goodreads review of Freefall, mentioned early in this review). This is a hard book to acquire, but if you love high quality, contemporary fiction that tackles tough issues, it will be well worth your while. Editor’s Note: I reviewed this novel on Goodreads last year, and refreshed it for Clear Eyes, Full Shelves-because Raw Blue is such an important book.

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar