Details

Length: 408
Story Build: quickly paced 
Character development: solid with personality 
Age Recommendation: possible 7th grade or 8th grade (with parent knowledge), high school Reasoning:, language, sexual content (with no real description), themes of sexual identity

Summary and Review

If you haven’t had a chance to read a novel by Julie Murphy, you need to remedy that. Fast. My first foray into Murphy’s literature was with her novel, Dumplin’, which I STRONGLY recommend (even if you’ve seen the movie, the novel is very well done and brings more levels than the Netflix rendition could ever provide). Ramona Blue continues to showcase Murphy’s strong ability to create likeable characters who you want to root for and a world that you wish you could visit–even if it’s a real place, you want to visit the place the way Murphy curated it. 

The novel’s narrator is Ramona Blue, aptly named for her blue hair that is a staple around Eulogy, Mississippi where she resides with her father and her sister, Hattie. Life is not simple for this soon-to-be senior as she works two jobs to help support her family (and hopefully herself as she makes plans to leave once she graduates) and lives in a small trailer provided to her family after her home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. To make life even more interested, her slightly older sister is pregnant, and the father is a not-so-driven young man by the name of Tyler. Oh, Ramona cannot stand him, by the way. 

What you come to love about Ramona from the start is that she does not lie about who she is, and she’s proud of who she is. Ramona is a 6 foot 3 tall young woman who lives in the south and identifies as a lesbian. Her two good friends, Ruth (frenemy, really) and her brother, Saul, are also gay, and together the three navigate the world as being outcasts, although Ramona’s father and sister are quite accepting of who she is. 

However, while readers will appreciate Ramona’s confidence, they will also relate to her as she navigates her identity, which she first thought she had so figured out. What shakes things up for Ramona is the reintroduction of a summer friend, Freddie, who helps to show Ramona that she can be more than she is. He introduces her to swimming and homemade eggs and to a different kind of love that she had originally thought she wasn’t drawn to. What results is a great deal of questioning. Ramona begins to wonder: Can we be defined only be one thing? Can we love more than one type of person? Can we take time to love ourselves if it means putting ourselves first for once? Ramona navigates these inner conflicts beautifully with Murphy’s quiet profoundness and poignant writing. 

Celebrations

After reading a second novel by Murphy, I know a big celebration for me is her characters. There is something about a world that is created by a young adult author that just pulls you right in and makes you desire to be a part of it. Murphy does just that with her witty dialogue, description of character actions and looks, and the relationships formed among the characters. Furthermore, they are relatable. It’s interesting to see the opposite side of the sexual identity conversation–you have a gay young woman questioning her feelings for a heterosexual male. She has a dialogue with her friend, Ruthie, about whether or not that makes her less of who she is if she isn’t always having relationships with women. This is such a brilliant moment in Murphy’s text as she brings a common theme to the forefront: the multifaceted nature of identity. In our current society, we are constantly evolving what it means to be a person, and Ramona is questioning just that. Therefore, Murphy’s characters and the inner conflicts they endure are relatable and very timely. 

Hesitations

One of my only hesitations was the climactic moment with Freddie and Ramona’s relationship. In a lot of ways, it felt forced. It seemed like she shut him out too easily over something that didn’t really add up because she was pretty open with him. I also really wanted Hattie to realize everything Ramona had done for her; I understand that life isn’t perfect and that the people we love most sometimes don’t see all we do for them, but Ramona deserved a thank you in some form.