Saltwater Vampires by Kirsty Murray

First published in 2010 by Penguin

Picked up Saltwater  Vampires after falling in love with Eagar’s Raw Blue. For me, this one was not in the same league. But there were lots of things I enjoyed and appreciated about it.

Saltwater Vampires is like a weird mesh of old-world type vampires invading the very contemporary Rocky Head music-festival scene – an old-school sensibility meets a young, hip awareness complete with all the typical modern teen emotions. For me, it wasn’t quite a perfect match, and that was my main problem with the book. I appreciated it, but I didn’t really get it. I felt there was perhaps a little too much going on. The way the three distinct story overtones overlapped was all a little too complicated, with the different stories becoming distractions from the other stories to the point where I couldn’t really commit to any of them.

I liked the ‘contemporary YA’ overtone the best, and this is what I think Eagar excels at. Jamie and his gang of friends and vamp-busters are all funny and likeable and totally cool and all the rest, and their interactions are true to life and affectionately written. I liked where Eagar was taking their emotional stories, but the nature of the book – with all it’s time-jumping and shifting perspectives and what-not – means I never really got involved, like I did with Carly in Raw Blue.

This is a book all unto its own genre – it’s not a conventional vamp story, especially as we’ve come to know them from YA, and it’s not quite contemporary Aussie YA-lit. I do feel that with everything that was going on, it was more suited to an adult readership. Of course I’m all for YA pushing conventions, but I felt the plot, pacing, stories, scope, etc, would just be a better fit for ‘adult fiction’. But I did enjoy its novelty, and also the fact that these vamps were ugly and nasty – something to be scared of, disgusted by, instead of romanticised and smitten by. The whole book had a good grittiness to it.

Aussie setting is used well – the beach, the coastal town, the music festival – in a way that’s familiar but then, as Eagar works her word magic, into something strange and atmospheric and full of the unknown. Particularly the night-surfing scene and when Jamie’s bike breaks down in the national park – fantastic stuff.

I enjoyed the final big ‘showdown’ scene at the end – it provides a nice pay-off, gives the whole book a sense of urgency, and is fun to read. I found the final ‘dealing with the vamps’ (at the festival) a bit weird but that’s a minor quibble – I guess I’m just used to vamps crumbling to dust or something.

Also, a teeny bit long. Weird and wonderful and well-written but not quite perfect –kept me entertained, but just a little too much going on. 

Friday Musings

"Except I can sit here and think like this all night and you know what it does? It starts a bushfire in me. My chest tightens and my jaw clamps and my hands shake and I can feel it burning me up and there's just no relief from it. I want to drive and even then I don't think I could crash hard enough ... I'm glad I never told anybody ... Because that'd be just like letting it happen again. Once they know they've got hold of your shame, they can shake it out and hold it up for all the world to see. And you become less than it. You become something disgusting. Tainted. Stained. Soiled."

~From Raw Blue, by Kirsty Eagar

My Picks of 2010

I've been reading a fair few 'best of 2010' type blogs and so I decided to do my own. The following is a list of my picks out of all the books I read in 2010 (not just ones that were published in 2010). I have an ever-growing list of back titles that I need to read and so new releases tend to get pushed back a bit. There will probably also be a few picks for most categories - yes, I am that annoying person who can never have just one choice.

Merry Christmas to all, Happy New Year and Happy Reading.
P.S. Don't be a hater ;)

BEST KIDS BOOK READ IN 2010: The Undrowned Child, by Michelle Lovric & Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O Dell

The Undrowned Child is a real story-tellers story, full of fabulous, crazy characters; original ideas; sly, knowing humour and a love of language and books. An absolute delight. Island of the Blue Dolphins is a heartbreakingly good story of survival. Enduring, moving and the writing is just so good - vivid and descriptive and relentless.

BEST YA BOOK READ IN 2010: Raw Blue, by Kirsty Eagar & This is Shyness, by Leanne Hall

I've mentioned these numerous times in my blog. The first is such a powerful, emotional story, made all the better by the author's restraint. Love the whole vibe of the book. The second was just so quirky and original with such great authetic and witty characters. These two were real winners.

BEST KIDS SERIES READ IN 2010: Septimus Heap, by Angie Sage

I feel like this series stuggled under the shadow of Harry Potter, but it can more than hold its own.

BEST WRITING: Winter's Bone, by Daniel Woodrell

Beautiful and bleak but always riveting. His use of language to evoke setting and emotion is outstanding.

BEST DISCOVERY: Merrow, by Ananda Braxton-Smith

Gorgeous central characters, gorgeous use of language and a sense of the otherworldly that lingers with you beyond the final page. 

MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE: Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

A paranormal romance with just that little bit extra to send it from formulaic to a decent read that can stand on its own. Also The Dead-Tossed Waves, by Carrie Ryan. There is some great writing and passages amongst all those zombies and gore.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T READ UNTIL NOW: Looking for Alaska, by John Green & Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt

The second was a real charmer. The first even more so.

MOST UNPUTADOWNABLE: Raw Blue & This is Shyness

BEST CHARACTER: I loved Ree in Winter's Bone. What an awesome, resilient hard-ass. Those two crazy kids in This Is Shyness. Neen & Ushag in Merrow. Practically anyone fantastical in The Undrowned Child.

FAV COVER: Wildwood Dancing, by Juliet Marillier

MOST DISAPPOINTING: Keeper, by Kathi Appelt

My fault, but it just wasn't what I expected. The mermaids weren't even real! No! Mermaids must always be real! Don't hate on me like that! I need my mermaids!

LEAST FAVOURITE: Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli & Evernight, by Claudia Gray

 My own personal taste, but didn't do it for me at all.

MOST ANTICIPATED FOR 2011: The Mourning Emporium, by Michelle Lovric, Lost Voices, by Sarah Porter & Wolfborn, by Sue Bursztynski

2010 INKY WINNERS

The winners of the 2010 Inky Awards were announced last week.

I know I am slow on the uptake but it's been a busy week.

So, just in case you didn't know yet, the winners were as follows:

GOLD INKY: Stolen, by Lucy Christopher

SILVER INKY: Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

I have heard so much about Shiver, but always steered clear because I didn't want to read another paranormal romance (often badly written) type thing, but I have heard this one lauded both critically and commercially, so might put it on the Summer reading list. (The cover is gorgeous too - very evocative).

My choice to win the Gold Inky was Raw Blue, by Kirsty Eagar. Loved this book - was one of my fave and best reads of 2010.

I am always so very impressed by The Inky long and shortlists. This is their deal: (from http://www.insideadog.com.au/inkys/index.html )

"There is no other award in Australia that relfects what teenagers want to read. The Inkys are international awards for teenage literature, voted for online by the readers of insideadog.com.au. There are three awards: the Golden Inky for an Australian book, the Silver Inky for an international book, and the Creative Reading Prize, won by a young person for a creative response to a book they love, in any format they choose."

Raw Blue, by Kirsty Eagar

Published by Penguin, 2009

Loved this book – it has become one of my favourite reads of the year. Once I started reading I didn’t want to put it down. Very deserving of all the praise I’ve seen heaped on it (and what encouraged me to finally pick it up and see what all the fuss was about).

Carly has dropped out of uni. She feels like a disappointment to her parents and moves away, working a monotonous kitchen job so she can devote the rest of her time to what she really loves – surfing. In the ocean, Carly feels like she belongs, and doesn’t have to think about what happened to her two years ago at Schoolies. Except then she meets local boy Ryan, and his presence in her life means she will have to face up to her problems, or let the past prevent her from truly being happy.

This is a great young adult novel that is authentic and involving. It has trauma and anguish but the story and emotion is always wonderfully controlled. There is a quality of self-assurance to the writing – it is clear Eagar knows what she wants to say and has tapped into the best and truest way of saying it. This is not a sentimental book, and that’s because the focus is on Carly’s anger. It  is the anger that provides the fuel for the story – it sets up the pacing, the themes, the prose. Despite all the emotional brevity, Raw Blue feels lean and whipped into shape. There is an urgency to it that is quite addictive – I was drawn in by how far Carly could push herself and let others push her until she just completely cracked.

I grew up with the beach, and I love it, and Eagar too seems to have an obvious affection for the ocean, the surfing culture, and the people who are a part of it. This really shines through in her writing. Personalities are quickly drawn and dominate the pages in much the same way they dominate the ocean. Their nuances, the way they speak, their attitudes – I feel like I know these people. I do know these people. It is fascinating to see these familiar types observed and brought to life so realistically (and fondly, even if they are a total ass).

I just love this book because it really does feel so honest and real – the people and the situations are ones I have come across a million times before. And yet they are never boring or lazy; they are written in a way that makes me come to them with fresh eyes. I also think Eagar has excellently captured how it is to work in a kitchen, or ‘behind-the-scenes’ at a cafe or restaurant. I remember working in a few as a teenager, and I swear I could have transported myself into the pages of Raw Blue and I would hardly notice the difference.

Not a great deal happens in this book, and there is no big climatic moment. Carly just sinks deeper and deeper, and the good things that happen to her are really only distractions in her seeming intent to self-destruct. The last few chapters show the slow re-emergence of hope and recovery. And yet something about the story made me keep turning and turning the pages. I don’t often really come to ‘care’ about characters, but I did with Carly. I think it’s because despite all the crap and moping about, she doesn’t feel sorry for herself – she just gets on with it, using all her anger to drive herself forward.

A last two things I love about Raw Blue – the distinct Australian tone of it, and the fact that it deals with a university-aged teen. It was a refreshing change from YA that revolves around high school, and actually an age group that I feel in fiction often gets overlooked.

Raw Blue wins Victorian Premier's Literary Award

Earlier this week the winners of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards for 2010 were announced. The prize for Young Adult Fiction was won by Kirsty Eagar, for her novel Raw Blue.



I've noticed this book popping up everywhere so I think now it definately has to go on my reading list. That it is based around beaches and surfing also makes it pretty irresistible. At least to me.

I also noticed that the prize for an unpublished manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer was won by Peggy Frew. I remembered the name vaguely from the Age Short Story Award, and upon checking I found she won it in 2008. I think it's so fabulous to see emerging writers keep going with their work and building on the momentum and just getting their stuff out there.

Who's read Raw Blue? What did you think?