Krissys Books: Blue Calhoun by Reynolds Price

Friday, August 26, 2016

Blue Calhoun by Reynolds Price

Review:

April 28, 1956, was the day Blue Calhoun met a sixteen-year-old girl named Luna.

And for the next three decades, their love has borne consequences of the most shattering -- and ultimately, perhaps healing -- kind for everyone they know.

As Blue recounts the years and their events for us -- fervently, tenderly, knowing full well his own deep responsibility -- we are made witnesses to a story of classic dimensions, a story of love and suffering, family and friendship, death and redemption.

Blue Calhoun is a bizarre book, its hard to say if its the readers empathy for Blues broken out look on life or the readers disgust with the fact that hes so obsessed with this young girl that makes it so.

Its his fascination with her innocence and his jaded outlook on life that draws him to Luna so much. He's tired of his life and the way his life has turned out and she feels like a fresh start for him he wants to feel alive again.

That's what she does for him regardless of the fact that he knows he has obligations to his family and responsibilities he shouldn't abandon just because he isn't happy with the way things have turned out.

I can't really say whether Blue Calhoun is a really good book or a really bad one because there is just too much conflicting emotions I have toward Blues constant ramblings and inner dialogue trying to reason and defend his feelings for such a young girl who is around the age of fifteen and with Blue being in his forties its really inappropriate.

This issue is brought up repeatedly in the story which gets annoying but you also can see not just Blues conflict, readers can see how Luna sees him as a father figure because she's too young to understand and in his mentality he disconnects from reality, seems to mirror her mental maturity level and continuously ignores warnings from others just to be with her taking on both a father/lover/friend role. You see two sides to both Blue and Luna in this aspect. Both are childish, both are jaded by their lives.

Blue knows its wrong to want Luna so much and yet hes drawn to her and refuses to deny himself the chance of having her for himself when he has the chance to sneak in "alone" time with her. Its really infuriating and disgusting but the book is written really well.

The authors ability to describe an emotion or a scene is really impressive. He's a talented writer but I still don't know how to rate this book so I'm gonna have to lean to the side and stand in the middle. Just as Price as done I leave it up to other readers to decide what they think.