The Blue Girl

The Blue Girl (2004) Charles de Lint

I love Charles de Lint. There is nothing he has written that I have read that I have not liked, and most of what he writes I absolutely love. Yet for some reason I was hesitant to read this book. Probably because the main characters are high school students. As usual, as soon as I started the book I wondered what I had been worried about, because as always, Charles de Lint has written an excellent book.

Imogene’s family has moved to Newford, and she decides to take advantage of the move to a place where no one knows her, to change herself, and to stay out of trouble. On the first day of school she makes friends with Maxine, a girl outcast from her peers for being smart, and that friendship immediately puts her on the outs with the popular kids.

And she meets Ghost. A boy who died at school under mysterious circumstances–was it murder or suicide or accident.

As always, Charles de Lint does an excellent job of showing the internal lives of his teenage characters, which moves them from the annoying, angst-ridden creatures that other authors create, to people that I can remember being as a teen.

The bullying was pretty rough in this book, and brought back some unpleasant memories, although it made me realize how lucky I was that the bullying I dealt with as a teenager was never physical. (Although I hardly felt luck at the time.)

But the bullying is not the focus of the story, just a bit that added to the realism of his description of high school. The focus is instead on the fact that Newford, is closer to faerie than other places in the real world. Several of the characters who lives in Newford are mentioned, and some make brief appearances, but for the most part the book is about Imogene and Maxine and Ghost.

I really like Imogene. She’s smart and resourceful, but Charles de Lint also shows that whatever the image she projects, she has doubts and fears. She worries that her past will horrify Maxine and ruin our friendship. This is, at least for those of us willing to admit it, a common fear–that if people find out what we’re really like, they will be so disgusted they will no longer love us. She’s very real, and very likable.

The Blue Girl has teenage characters, and is listed as a young adult book, but like Waifs and Strays is completely accessible to anyone who remembers what it was like to be a teenager. So if you like Charles de Lint’s writing, this is a book you don’t want to miss. If you’ve never read one of his books before, this would be a fine place to start.
Rating: 8/10

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