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Romance. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML: The fourth novel from Julie Murphy, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin'�now a Netflix feature film starring Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston, with a soundtrack by Dolly Parton! For fans of Rainbow Rowell and Morgan Matson, Julie Murphy has created another fearless heroine, Ramona Blue, in a gorgeously evocative novel about family, friendship, and how sometimes love can be more fluid than you first think. Ramona was only five years old when Hurricane Katrina changed her life forever. Since then, it's been Ramona and her family against the world. Standing over six feet tall with unmistakable blue hair, Ramona is sure of three things: she likes girls, she's fiercely devoted to her family, and she knows she's destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Eulogy, Mississippi. But juggling multiple jobs, her flaky mom, and her well-meaning but ineffectual dad forces her to be the adult of the family. Now, with her sister, Hattie, pregnant, responsibility weighs more heavily than ever. The return of her childhood friend Freddie brings a welcome distraction. Ramona's friendship with the former competitive swimmer picks up exactly where it left off, and soon he's talked her into joining him for laps at the pool. But as Ramona falls in love with swimming, her feelings for Freddie begin to shift too, which is the last thing she expected. With her growing affection for Freddie making her question her sexual identity, Ramona begins to wonder if perhaps she likes girls and guys or if this new attraction is just a fluke. Either way, Ramona will discover that, for her, life and love are more fluid than they seem..… (more)
User reviews
First, let me acknowledge the scuttlebutt that's been going around about this book, about how it's "lesbian erasure" because Ramona's only gay until she finds "the right man". That's bullshit, and is probably espoused only by people
When I first read the description, I thought it would be the kind of story where the MC is the only "good" person in her white trash family. But, happily, I was wrong. Ramona's dad and sister are awesome and the three of them love each other deeply. They've just had some rough times. A "there but for the grace of God go I" situation. Even Ramona's mom, who is the least likable character in the book, has some redeeming qualities. Ramona doesn't excuse her mom's behavior, but she accepts it as being who her mom is.
The supporting characters were all fantastic, and I felt like we got to know all of them a little bit. I want to be Agnes when I grow up.
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator was fantastic. She really brought the story and the characters to life. I highly recommend listening to it if you have the opportunity (and enjoy audiobooks).
I loved this book, and I thought it dealt thoughtfully and compassionately with sexual orientation and the shifting landscape of identity, along with issues of poverty, family, and race.
Ramona Blue earned her nickname for her blue hair, which her older sister Hattie helps her maintain. She is reeling from her summer fling with Grace, who visited Ramona's town on summer vacation and has since gone back home. When a blast from the past, Freddie, re-enters her life, she finds they quickly pick up their friendship where they left off. Ramona has always been confident in declaring herself a lesbian. She has always liked girls. But now, she finds herself having feelings for Freddie, a boy, and is confused by what this could mean. While juggling these strange new feelings, Ramona also deals with her pregnant sister Hattie, her sister's loser boyfriend who's moved in to their tiny trailer, and an absentee mom. Her friends help buoy her during the tough times, and she soon realizes that she can be and do anything she wishes, including chase her own dreams AND like both boys and girls.
I've seen some criticism that this book minimizes the lesbian experience and paints it as a passing phase, that if a lesbian just finds the right guy, she can be "cured." I found that in no way to be true. To me, it was a message of giving yourself time to really discover who you are. The main character just happens to discover that she is bi-sexual.
I would recommend this book to high schoolers. Fans of Rainbow Rowell and Julie Murphy's other works will enjoy it. Much like Dumplin', it has plenty of southern charm and quirky, fun characters. Enjoy! -EC
Ramona doesn’t have much except family, friends, and a trailer. After Hurricane Katrina, Ramona’s family lost their home and now live in a trailer, a trailer that has way too many people. Her dad is a minor character because he
The novel encapsulates one year of school, starting the day before school starts and ending the following June. Freddie, a boy who used to spend his summers in Ramona’s town, is back and will spend their final year of school together. He fits in perfectly with her other close friends: Ruth and Saul. They have been supports for Ramona these past few years and accept her for who she is and she returns the favor to them. Freddie has become a competitive swimmer and encourages Ramona to return to swimming, which becomes a stress reliever for her. As the year passes, their relationships allow them to find their true selves. Each of the characters in the novel experience the fear and excitement of change, venturing to the next step of adulthood and independence, which is frightening and exciting. In this year of discovery, they support each other.
Ultimately, this is a novel about identity. Ramona isn’t ONE thing--a jock, a sister, a provider, a student, etc. People are complicated and learn new things about themselves with new experiences. Ramona learns that she isn’t who she thought she was. Whatever choices she makes, concerning dating, school, or whatever, she knows that she’s following her own compass and not the perceived expectations she’s created for herself or that others have created for her. Although Ramona is the focus, you’ll see glimpses of this same identity search in each character.
We have other books by Ms. Murphy, but I’m not ordering this one because I think our students are too young to relate to this part of life. I think it’s much more suited to high school students because it’s more real for them because of the feelings that will resonate with those who are feeling the same fear and excitement or rejection that comes with finishing school.
Ramona Blue is a book that is important to me personally because of its questioning rep. There are so, so few books out there that have a character questioning
As someone who is demisexual, I also liked that we had an on-page and named demisexual character. I do kind of wish that we could have gone deeper into that because that was mostly left at “what is that?” and “exactly,” which is the most relatable thing ever, but just seeing the word on the page made me happy, and because the character is a side character I don’t mind quite as much that it wasn’t talked about a lot. It’s something I gloss over a lot too because people don’t understand it and it’s tiring to explain to people.
I really felt for Ramona when she felt the need to be the “adult” of the family. She was a high school student with multiple jobs and a pregnant sister whose boyfriend was an irresponsible loser, and she spent most of her energy trying to provide for her family and insisting that that was more important than her going to college or otherwise trying to find her own path. It’s frustrating to be that young with such high levels of responsibility on your shoulders, and while she had a lot of external encouragement to put herself first, she didn’t really get the same type of encouragement from the place where it mattered: her sister and her dad. I also really loved how their poverty from after Hurricane Katrina was shown; everything from saving to buy her new niece furniture to thrifting her prom dress and altering it with her sister were nice touches.
I also loved the swimming side plot. Because Ramona was so tied up in helping her family with everything, I really liked watching her discover something that she herself loved to do, even while it took her a bit to realize just how interested she was in it. It gave her some room to grow outside of the other people around her, and it also REALLY made me want to go swimming…
There was a lot of ignorance in relation to race and queerness in this book from minor characters, and because of the book’s setting it felt realistic and most of the time it wasn’t brushed off. Several characters express some really awkward remarks about mixed-race relationships (because Freddie is Black and Ramona is white), but they’re portrayed as awkward and racist in the text. Additionally, there is a scene where Freddie has to explain that he can’t take the same risks that Ramona can because he is FAR more likely to be shot than she is if they’re caught because of his race; Ramona does feel guilty after, and it does not happen again in the text.
There are also a handful of characters who aren’t very accepting of Ramona’s queerness, and those negative perceptions are portrayed as wrong. Additionally, there is a bunch of misunderstanding of her sexuality, especially from Freddie; Freddie did admit, though, that he hadn’t had many non-straight people in his life, and though he made several awkward comments he did appear to be actually trying to do better throughout the book. Though the lines were frustrating at the time they were spoken, I did appreciate the character growth and that he was okay with Ramona liking him and girls. There was one line spoken by Ramona in the book that was acemisic, implying that to be human is to want sex. It was only one line, but it’s still there and a little awkward.
One part of the book that I didn’t like so much was when Freddie kissed Ramona without her permission at first. Consent was present later in the book, which was very good, but it wasn’t at first and that was a little irritating.
Overall, I felt like this book was handled really well. It wouldn’t really be right to consider this book bi rep because it really isn’t; it’s very much questioning rep, which is something that we need more of. There are queer teenagers in the world who go through this same thing, and denouncing queer people in m/f relationships is really frustrating because it invalidates the queerness of those people. And those people are very much still queer, no matter who they are with.
Final rating: 4.5/5 stars
I've read a lot of reviews that bash this book because they were upset with Ramona, who describes herself as a lesbian, beginning a relationship with a boy. I didn't understand the issue. Throughout the book, Ramona is so confused by her own feelings, wondering if should change how she identifies. Should she start saying she is bisexual? Pan? Queer? Does she really need a new word?
I think it's an important story to tell of a young woman who is allowed to define and explore her sexuality any way she sees fit. And maybe she doesn't see the need for a specific word. Ramona doesn't ever "turn straight." She doesn't deny her attraction to women, and she shouldn't have to qualify her sexuality to anyone.