The Blue GirltThe Blue Girl, Written by Charles de Lint in the year of 2004. The book was published by Penguin Group in New York. Okay, now that I have the uselessness out of the way, let’s get on to the main event… the story!!! I want to find a good way of how to open this up. Well, I guess we can start with the character. Imogene’s’ her name, tough girl status is her game! She starts off as this tough chick that has had it rough alongside her older brother, Jared, and her mother. After the parents split, the mom went back to school to make something out of her life. Imogene used to always hang out with the wrong crowd where nobody really messed with her or else they’d get beaten up. She literally tried every type of drug (or so she says). You could say she was the one who always hanged with the screamos and goth kids who follow the dark side. That is, until she moved to Newford. Starting school at Redding High all over again must have been a struggle, but she was okay with that, I guess. This gave her a chance to start over and just be herself (Not all of herself, I should say). Although she stills the loser, no good, left out, wash over; she was able to make a friend. Maxine: a geek… rephrases… a nerdy, school distracted, brunette who has a secret side of wanting to be free. Maxine is a shy fragile girl… “okay, I’m lying” because later on you get to meet geeky Maxine. I just realized you’ll never get to meet her for you have not read the book before. Maxine is a young teenager who is tired of living in the world as she presently knows it. The reasoning for this is because she feels as though she is is in the way that her mother living the life she would like to live. Moreover, that she feels that her mother would prefer to be rid of Maxine. She wants to live her life the way she wants to, just like every other teenager you shall come across. I mean, have you seen her clothes… again, forgetting that you never read it. If you have you would agree that her mom needed to back off a little. She does back off a little, however it is only secretly through Imogene. This is what makes Imogene even more special. She was able to open up Maxine’s inner self by allowing her to be her true self. Let’s just say that if I was able to meet Maxine, I would think that we were related due to the fact we have multiple similarities. The story goes on to show the readers through the use of imagery just how open Maxine is willing to be. As an example she travels to visit her father during her summer vacation and through her experiences that summer (boys noticing her), her whole persona changes. She begins to dress and act much more mature around not only her family but her friends as well. Because of these experiences she obtained the courage she needed to be able to approach Jarred and begin a friendship which would blossom into a relationship. Keep in mind she met Jarred through her closest friend Imogene; as Jarred is her brother. Maxine has the proven ability to have an open mind when it comes to dealing with her best friend’s quirky imagination. Due to their extreme closeness, their peers begin to speculate that they are involved romantically, meaning they must be lesbians. Because of their schoolhouse peers taunting them their behind their backs, they have been able to rise above the negativity and thus strengthen their friendship bond. And Maxine so happens to help Imogene as well. For starters, Imogene no longer hung out with the wrong crowd where danger lurked in every direction. She was actually going in classes and occasionally got tardy, but at least goes to classes. She was able to do her work as well because of Maxine. And since Imogene goes to the thrift shop, she would take Maxine along just to see what she likes. Whatever she buys, she keeps at Imogene’s house to hide from her mother. These two are not the only protagonist that you shall fall upon. There so happens to be three narrators: Imogene, Maxine, and Adrian. Now I daresay, think you might ask, ‘what makes this Adrian so special?’ Well, for starters, he is a ghost. Adrian died in the year 1998 which was during his junior year of high school and what happens to be six years before Imogene’s present self-came to be. Adrian was considered a loner by all that knew him; this was because he was what many would call a nerd. Everyone who came in contact with him to include those who should be more willing to assist him (his parents and teachers) did nothing but make fun of him. With people treating him like this his self-esteem would drop to an all new low, thus causing him to feel depressed. It is a good thing too, because if he weren’t at this stage in his life, he would not have been able to meet fairies; that’s right, I said fairies! When I mentioned fairies, I know most people automatically got a vision or thought of the Tinker Bell variety. Meaning, the type of fairies that come equipped with their own set of sparkles (fairy dust). No, these fairies were the exact opposite of the ones you would find in a Disney movie. The only way Adrian would find happiness is when the fairies were teaching him how to fly. There are many other creatures in which Adrian (the ghost), Maxine (the nerd) and Imogene (the heroine) are able to encounter on their long journeys. Creatures such as Imogene’s imaginary friend whose name is Pelly and who just so happens to be part hedgehog, boy, monkey, and rabbit. These creatures are the ones who assist the young narrators with finding themselves and being able to get past the negativity they have encountered and will continue to encounter throughout their lives. I found “The Blue Girl” to be an interesting read as it allowed me to open up spiritually, emotionally, as well as be able to run away with my imagination. Through these experiences, I was able to put myself in the life like roles of Maxine and Imogene on more than one occasion. Especially when both girls were experiencing challenges amongst their peers to include being chased, bullied, and chastised by their peers and various creatures they came in contact with. They were able to teach me to look beyond the shallowness of individuals in order to achieve what many may find to be the impossible. After reading this fictional novel, I would have to say that I would recommend to other persons who enjoy reading fantasy type novels and who would also like to expand their inner imagination.
I've read much ooh'ing & aah'ing about DeLint's books, so I was eager to give this a try. But despite an intriguing premise, I wasn't impressed. Perhaps this doesn't represent DeLint's best work; perhaps it was a style that didn't suit me; perhaps I've missed something important by not starting with book 1 of his sprawling Newford cycle. Or perhaps it's a combination of all three.For a story that has lots of 'stuff' happening, there's very little going on. To quote MST3K, things are doing things...and that's about it. At first I was quite sympathetic toward Imogene & Maxine -- but as the book went further I lost interest, which is especially disappointing because they share the narration in first person. So what's left without that connection? Things happened. Things were declared dangerous. Things were (supposedly?) scary. More things happened. Things were solved. The end. But with all that does go on -- the faeries, the ghost (more on him below), the creepy imaginary friend, the pair of romances, the childhood insecurities -- it was remarkably distant. Both girls fall in love, yet we don't see it happening -- it's all offscreen. They are repeatedly warned by various "experts" (again, see below) that their situation is dire, yet I never once worried for their safety -- perhaps because neither are scared enough to do something wrong. Everything simply falls into place & contributes to the master plan of never-in-doubt achievement.Re: the ghost Adrian: what an obnoxious wimp. Normally I sympathize with geeks & recluses (probably because I've always been a shy nerd), but this kid is everything that makes inept people a target for bullies. He takes turns narrating with the girls, & each of his chapters made me hate him more. I couldn't sympathize with him; I just wanted him to go away.Re: the fey experts: they left me disconcerted. While neither of the girls know these people before the book takes place, the author's treatment of them felt as if I, the reader, already understood every detail of their histories, their personalities, & even the most basic question of Dude, are you good or evil? ...Come to think of it, the entire book left me feeling as if I wasn't smart enough to pick up on the author's oh-so-subtle scholarly discourses on the nature of faerie interaction with the human world. I've got no problem with subtle urban fantasy, but there's a line between 'nuanced' & 'so subtle that I can't see why this is scary.' It feels as if the author thinks entirely too much of his mad skills in this genre -- so very polished & perfect & waxed that he must keep a layer of frosted glass between me & the story. But I don't want sanitized, tidy urban fantasy. I want rumpled urban fantasy -- not violence, per se, but grit -- and this book lacked that authenticity.
What do You think about The Blue Girl (2006)?
http://www.crandomblog.com/?p=364This book was read as part of the 2015 Reading Challenge. Even though it IS a re-read for me, it takes the slot of book with a color in the title.I originally read this book back in my school days. I believe it was middle school, on the recommendation of one of my really good friends name Megan. Megan recommended numerous books to me (and still does) like the Wicked Lovely series and the novels written by Lynne Ewing. I have never been lead astray by her recommendations.The Blue Girl is a Young Adult novel, so at first, when I checked it out of my local library, I was more than a little afraid that it wouldn’t hold the same appeal to me that it did in the days that I had gone past. However, I was not disappointed at all. The adoration for this book was still there. The writing style was awesome and easy to read even though it took place in high school. This book deals with bullying, friendship, love, irresponsible parents, school, life choices, and best of all… MAGIC! I am a such for anything mythical and magical so this book drew me in like a charm.If you like novels that can keep you guessing until the end, that make you fall in love with all the characters and that leaves you desperately wanting more… than this is a book for you. I was shocked to find out that The Blue Girl is actually book number 15 in a series by Charles de Lint (the series is called Newford), but happy to find out that they are stand-alone books with reoccurring characters. I will defiantly be checking out the rest of them soon!
—Sandra (Crandomblog)
I declared my love for this book on page 9.I love so much about it--the way the magic folks are bad and good (just like us), the way the magic seeps in, the way romance takes a backseat to friendship and adventure, the way the mom is beautifully understanding, the way the heroine is fierce and independent, the way there are these hints to all of the other Newford books and yet this stands alone just fine. Sometimes Imogene's voice and the dialogue felt a wee bit stiff and unrealistic. But, I'm not convinced it's a true problem as it may just be a me problem. Either way, this was a pleasurable read and I ate it up. I highly recommend it to all fantasy lovers. I do adore the way fantasy meets the contemporary in urban fantasy and de Lint was one of the forerunners of the genre. It's a treat to read his work.
—Kress
Charles de Lint takes on the similar territory as Nina Kiriki Hoffmann's Spirits That Walk in Shadow, but not quite as engagingly. Imogene is the new girl at school, trying to make the best of a fresh start. No more hanging out with the bad crowd, no sirree. But she puts herself in danger by revealing that she can see the school ghost, and that gets other spirits in an uproar. Danger, danger, weird dreams and soul-eaters ahead.I liked Imogene's punky sensibility, she reminded me of Buffy, especially when she befriends Maxine, the smart nerdy girl.
—Jackie "the Librarian"
