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    Ramona Blue
    Ramona Blue
    Ramona Blue
    Audiobook9 hours

    Ramona Blue

    Written by Julie Murphy

    Narrated by Therese Plummer

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 9, 2017
    ISBN9780062476036
    Author

    Julie Murphy

    Julie Murphy lives in North Texas with her husband, who loves her, and her cats, who tolerate her. When Julie isn’t writing, she can be found watching movies so bad they're good, hunting for the perfect slice of cheese pizza, or planning her next great travel adventure. She is the author of the middle grade novels Dear Sweet Pea and Camp Sylvania as well as the young adult novels Ramona Blue, Side Effects May Vary, the Faith series, Pumpkin, Puddin’, and Dumplin’ (now a Netflix original film). You can visit Julie at imjuliemurphy.com.

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    Reviews for Ramona Blue

    4/5

    201 ratings14 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Julie Murphy has a way with words that makes them seem commonplace yet outstandingly gorgeous at the same time. I love the world she created for Ramona and the diverse, full characters that were brought in. This book was a great read, even though it made me feel a little emotionally exhausted by the end - just how I love to feel after reading a book, like everything actually happened to me and I’m somewhat surprised I came out alive.
    • 5/5
      Honesty. Poverty. Love. Lesbian, Gay, Bi. Opportunity. Mistakes. Forgiveness. Self.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed the characters and the lgbt representation in a YA book. The diversity felt natural and not forced. I think some important questions were raised about identity and flexibility, poverty, and family.
    • 4/5
      we love a queer coming of age story. i related so hard to ramona's struggles w/ identifying as a lesbian and then catching feels for a boy. its confusing times and this book executed it perfectly. also loved the sister relationship, the dose of found family-ness, queer friendships, so much goodness.

      something to add...
      labels are weird and it's ok if you dont know what or who you are in this moment. that shit takes time, you'll get there soon bb<3
    • 3/5
      Rounded up from 2.5 so predictible. It was too in your face about what the MC was feeling that was holding her back and there was no big revelation. Her family never helped her to grow and it took a nature's event for her to figure things out....
    • 4/5
      Ramona works two part-time jobs, is a high school senior, and is struggling in love. The girl she fell for over the summer has gone back home with her family and there aren't many other romantic prospects in her small town. When an old friend moves back to town and they rekindle their childhood friendship, Ramona begins to question her sexuality. So sure of who she thought she was and who she was attracted to, Ramona finds herself wondering what term she should use now, or if a redefinition of her sexuality is even necessary.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.
    • 4/5
      teen fiction (LGBTQA high school seniors in small coastal Mississippi town; diversity in ethnicity, family types, sexuality, socioeconomic backgrounds). This was mostly a win just for the sake of representing diversity but I also liked the characters, once I got to know them--the story does take a little while to hook you in. Parental note: there is drinking and sex (with a message emphasizing responsibility), and an unplanned pregnancy.
    • 5/5
      I would give this book ten stars if I could, I loved it so much.

      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 who haven't actually read the book, because that VERY THING is addressed WITHIN THE NARRATIVE ITSELF. Ramona's mother thinks her lesbianism is "just a phase" and she's delighted when Freddie comes along. Ramona herself is worried, briefly, that she's somehow changed, that she's been living a lie, then realizes that, nope, she still likes girls. At the end of the book she says that she doesn't really know what to call herself, but she's not too concerned about it. And I think that's ok.

      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).
    • 5/5
      The narrow-minded folks complaining in the comments that this book is 'anti-lesbian' are exactly why this book is important. If a book gets that kind of bitter and unfair criticism before it's even been published, imagine the exclusionary vitriol that gets directed at actual queer women who start out identifying as lesbian and later shift their identity to include the possibility of romantic relationships with men. (Which is true of me personally and a number of other women I know.)

      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.
    • 5/5
      A great book about a lesbian/ bisexual/ still figuring it out teen where she is accepted by almost everyone for who she is, so the story can be about more than that. The story is more about her trying to deal with her working-class life on the gulf following Katrina where the pieces still haven't been put back together in her life.
    • 5/5
      This book has content warnings for mild racism (not condoned), mild heterosexism (not condoned), one acemisic line, and natural disasters.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 their sexuality and end the book being okay with continuing to question, and as someone who primarily IDs as bi but isn’t 100% certain if it fits and is still questioning, I really loved this. I loved how she was taking the time to figure herself out; she acknowledged who she knew she liked at that moment in time, she acknowledged some identities that could potentially fit her, but she didn’t force herself to choose one just for the sake of having a label. And that’s okay. If she decides on a label she thinks fits later, she’ll probably take it as quickly as she took on the label of “lesbian” before realizing she liked Freddie, too.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
    • 4/5
      This novel is listed for grades 8+, and it’s realistic fiction.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 works all the time, but he loves his daughters and wants them happy. Hattie is pregnant with her boyfriend’s child, but she’s not very good about being realistic and practical, so Ramona feels the responsibility of supporting her economically and emotionally. Tyler, Hattie’s boyfriend, does little except take up room. Ramona’s flaky mother lives in another town and makes brief appearances in the novel just as she does in Ramona’s life. Ramona works multiple jobs to help provide for the family and tolerate Tyler.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.
    • 5/5
      I am a huge fan of Murphy's other book Dumplin', so I was quick to pick this one up. It's a great story of self-discovery and growth. I like the way the author tackles the topic of gender fluidity. I feel like youth right now are in such a huge hurry to label themselves at such a young age. This book has a great message that you don't have to have everything figured out so fast. 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
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books that I wish would have lasted forever. Figuring out who you are and being ready to move on are HARD CHOICES and Ramona is a great example to teens who are struggling with similar issues.