A review by evybird
Ramona Blue, by Julie Murphy
4.0
3.8 stars. Overall, not bad! In fact, I really really loved most of this book.
However, it had a few unfortunate problems.
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First of all, it's about 100 pages too long. The middle really super dragged, even on audio, which usually makes slow books enjoyable for me. I don't know why so many contemporary novels these days are 400+ pages, but the vast majority of them that I have read have not needed all that length, this one included.
----
Second of all, the ending did not make all that much sense to me and honestly ruined things a bit. I was looking forward to some kind of big eventful thing that helps Ramona realize, and while she does realize those things, there didn't seem to be any big eventful thing. I didn't really understand what happened that led her to change her mind, her mind which had been very firmly made up for most of the novel. And since her changing her mind seemed like the POINT of the novel, that was a bit of a letdown.
Also,. Did I miss something? The end just felt unexplained.
----
Finally, third of all.
How does a novel with an explicitly demisexual character (Ramona's friend Ruth), also have the following passages in it, completely seriously and without addressing them as being problematic?
and
Now look, I get that these things might seem pretty minor, and you see that I'm not giving the book one or two stars because of them or anything, but really this is not a minor issue. SEXUAL DESIRE AND SEXUAL ATTRACTION ARE NOT UNIVERSAL THINGS. "Human Being" does not equal "thinks about sex."
But sexual desire is presented as universal just about everywhere. It took me until I was in my 20's to realize I was asexual because I thought that "human being" equals "sexual desire." I must have feelings of sexual attraction, right? Everyone thinks about sex. I just had to pin point which of my feelings it was. It didn't even occur to me that I could not experience sexual attraction.
Anyway, so I wanted to point these passages out because I was disappointed to see those sentences and sentiments in a book that, to me, otherwise did so great on the sexual identity side of things.
----
Things about this book that I liked!
- Ramona! And Freddie! And all the characters in general, actually.
- Exploration of bisexuality, or whatever Ramona identifies as. Realizing it's complicated.
- The whole thing with Ramona's mom thinking her liking girls is a phase--which it's not, but if she says she's dating a guy, her mom will think it is. Complicated!
- Ramona's conflicts about money and family and college. There are not that many YA books with extremely poor main characters, that I've come across. Really, this book is about family and Ramona's living situation as much as it's about sexuality.
- The audiobook narration wasn't bad!
Lots to like!
However, it had a few unfortunate problems.
----
First of all, it's about 100 pages too long. The middle really super dragged, even on audio, which usually makes slow books enjoyable for me. I don't know why so many contemporary novels these days are 400+ pages, but the vast majority of them that I have read have not needed all that length, this one included.
----
Second of all, the ending did not make all that much sense to me and honestly ruined things a bit. I was looking forward to some kind of big eventful thing that helps Ramona realize
Spoiler
she can go to college and doesn't need to only think about her sister and not herselfAlso,
Spoiler
how did all the money troubles kind of just go away at the end there, without any help? Even after their trailer got destroyed!----
Finally, third of all.
How does a novel with an explicitly demisexual character (Ramona's friend Ruth), also have the following passages in it, completely seriously and without addressing them as being problematic?
“Anyone who pretends they don’t send nudes, or partial nudes, are either celibate, still use flip phones, or lying.”
and
“I’m not a sex-crazed maniac or anything but I’m a human being. I think about sex.”
Now look, I get that these things might seem pretty minor, and you see that I'm not giving the book one or two stars because of them or anything, but really this is not a minor issue. SEXUAL DESIRE AND SEXUAL ATTRACTION ARE NOT UNIVERSAL THINGS. "Human Being" does not equal "thinks about sex."
But sexual desire is presented as universal just about everywhere. It took me until I was in my 20's to realize I was asexual because I thought that "human being" equals "sexual desire." I must have feelings of sexual attraction, right? Everyone thinks about sex. I just had to pin point which of my feelings it was. It didn't even occur to me that I could not experience sexual attraction.
Anyway, so I wanted to point these passages out because I was disappointed to see those sentences and sentiments in a book that, to me, otherwise did so great on the sexual identity side of things.
----
Things about this book that I liked!
- Ramona! And Freddie! And all the characters in general, actually.
- Exploration of bisexuality, or whatever Ramona identifies as. Realizing it's complicated.
- The whole thing with Ramona's mom thinking her liking girls is a phase--which it's not, but if she says she's dating a guy, her mom will think it is. Complicated!
- Ramona's conflicts about money and family and college. There are not that many YA books with extremely poor main characters, that I've come across. Really, this book is about family and Ramona's living situation as much as it's about sexuality.
- The audiobook narration wasn't bad!
Lots to like!