Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar
Published: June 29, 2009 Penguin Books Australia
Received: on loan from Bibliophile Brouhaha

Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly café. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing … and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago at schoolies week.

And then Carly meets Ryan, a local at the break, fresh out of jail. When Ryan learns the truth, Carly has to decide. Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy? {goodreads.com}

There is something unique and poignant about Aussie YA Contemps.  I've had the pleasure of reading a handful of them by a few different authors, and each one has gotten a five-star review from me.  Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar is no exception. Once again I have found myself completely blown away by the beauty of this author's style of writing.  I have no idea what's in the water over there, but they are producing some seriously talented writers!

Carly is a surfer girl.  She lives and breaths to be on the swells, catching the perfect wave in to shore.  She's also a girl who escapes to the waves in avoidance of one horrific night that won't leave her memory.  Since that traumatizing event, she's shut off her family and friends.  She's quit school and moved to another town.  Surfing is what keeps her sane now.  Riding the waves alone is what her purpose has now become.

All of that changes when she meets a fellow surfer boy by the name of Ryan.  He's mysterious, yet calm.  He's the one to make contact first with her, and little by little she starts to shed her outer shell and let Ryan in.  Life has become easier by avoiding her past, and pretending it never happened, until Ryan discovers the secret she's kept buried for so long.  Carly's fears are churning inside her on the brink of over flowing.  She's not quite ready to deal with the reality of what had happened, and like before, her instincts kick in to retreat back inside her shell.

This is a story about over-coming obstacles we battle within ourselves.  Every one has personal demons, whether they're caused by someone else, or inflicted by our own doings -- they are there.  We can choose to bury them, like Carly did, letting them eat at us from the inside out.  Or we have a choice to deal with these demons, no matter how unbearably difficult it may be.  If we're lucky, we'll find people like Ryan along the way to help us see the beauty that still lies inside us.

This novel weighs heavy in my mind, and in my heart.  It's the raw, vulnerable words that have stirred something inside me though.  Every once in awhile I'll come across a novel that is more than just a story to me, it's a piece of honest artistry that's been molded between the pages. I am honored to post this review as my first 5-star review of 2012. 

Though this novel is not available in the U.S., you can purchase a PB copy from fishpondworld.
Thank you Linds for being such a strong advocate for Raw Blue and sharing this beautiful story with me.