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The Blue Girl
In this small lakeside town, mothers bake their secrets into moon pies they feed to a silent blue girl. Their daughters have secrets too—that they can't sleep, that they might sleep with a neighbor boy, that they know more than they let on. But when the daughters find the blue girl, everyone's carefully held silences shake loose.
Laurie Foos is the author of five previous Before Elvis There Was Nothing, Ex Utero, Portrait of the Walrus by a Young Artist, Twinship, and Bingo Under the Crucifix. She teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Lesley University in Cambridge.
Laurie Foos is the author of five previous Before Elvis There Was Nothing, Ex Utero, Portrait of the Walrus by a Young Artist, Twinship, and Bingo Under the Crucifix. She teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Lesley University in Cambridge.
220 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 22, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
August 16, 2016
Perhaps 4.5
I thoroughly enjoyed this. One of the best-executed magic realism novels I've read, with a strong and effective balance between the surreal and the everyday. Beautiful writing and strong characterisation throughout - I'd highly recommend!
I thoroughly enjoyed this. One of the best-executed magic realism novels I've read, with a strong and effective balance between the surreal and the everyday. Beautiful writing and strong characterisation throughout - I'd highly recommend!
March 14, 2019
Well, that was interesting. This book is nearly impossible for me to review because it’s smarter than me. I don’t think I understand the point of it. I’m confused about pretty much everything, but I’m going to give reviewing it my best shot.
Likes: I love magical realism, so when I saw The Blue Girl, at a used bookstore and read the synopsis, I knew I needed it in my life. It’s a very strange novel about overworked mothers, rebellious daughters, family secrets, and a blue-skinned girl who ties them all together.
The story is told from six perspectives: three teenage daughters and their mothers. Each character has a different relationship/fascination/obsession with a silent, medically fragile, blue girl who loves moon pies. They want to know who she is and why she’s so unusual looking. They make up excuses to get away from their own families and spend time with her.
My favorite part of the book is the dynamics between the mothers and daughters. I think it’s realistic that the mothers are passing their families’ burdens on to their daughters. They’re training their daughters to become caretakers and secret-keepers. It’s sad because the mothers are raising their female children to have the exact same lifestyle that’s making the mothers unhappy.
My second-favorite part is the setting. The story takes place in a small lake town during summer. It’s a tourist destination where people go to have fun, but the characters definitely aren’t having fun. They’re dealing with serious family drama.
Dislikes: I’m confused. I was confused the whole time I was reading. I don’t understand why any of the events in this novel happen. To me, the plot just feels pointlessly weird. I don’t understand the meaning of the blue girl. I guess feeding her moon pies makes the mothers feel better about their failures as mothers? I don’t know. The “secrets” they feed the blue girl aren’t actually secrets because the other characters know about them. The blue girl doesn’t really do anything for anybody. Why are the characters so obsessed with her? What is the point of this story?
The Bottom Line: I kept hoping to become un-confused, but that never happened. I’m still confused!
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Likes: I love magical realism, so when I saw The Blue Girl, at a used bookstore and read the synopsis, I knew I needed it in my life. It’s a very strange novel about overworked mothers, rebellious daughters, family secrets, and a blue-skinned girl who ties them all together.
The story is told from six perspectives: three teenage daughters and their mothers. Each character has a different relationship/fascination/obsession with a silent, medically fragile, blue girl who loves moon pies. They want to know who she is and why she’s so unusual looking. They make up excuses to get away from their own families and spend time with her.
My favorite part of the book is the dynamics between the mothers and daughters. I think it’s realistic that the mothers are passing their families’ burdens on to their daughters. They’re training their daughters to become caretakers and secret-keepers. It’s sad because the mothers are raising their female children to have the exact same lifestyle that’s making the mothers unhappy.
My second-favorite part is the setting. The story takes place in a small lake town during summer. It’s a tourist destination where people go to have fun, but the characters definitely aren’t having fun. They’re dealing with serious family drama.
“I remember wondering if I had been that way with my own mother once, always distant, always trying to disappear, always dismissing her, she who had held me in her womb and squeezed me out. How ungrateful we all once were, we daughters who become mothers only to learn how it feels, the endless cycle of rejection.” – The Blue Girl
Dislikes: I’m confused. I was confused the whole time I was reading. I don’t understand why any of the events in this novel happen. To me, the plot just feels pointlessly weird. I don’t understand the meaning of the blue girl. I guess feeding her moon pies makes the mothers feel better about their failures as mothers? I don’t know. The “secrets” they feed the blue girl aren’t actually secrets because the other characters know about them. The blue girl doesn’t really do anything for anybody. Why are the characters so obsessed with her? What is the point of this story?
The Bottom Line: I kept hoping to become un-confused, but that never happened. I’m still confused!
Do you like opinions, giveaways, and bookish nonsense?
I have a blog for that.
July 11, 2016
A bizarre yet enthralling novel that reads like a song.
One summer three mothers and their daughters are out at the lake when they see the blue girl drowning - they manage to save her and that act alone has a huge and irreversible effect on the each of the women. We follow the ins and outs of day to day life as these women struggle to cope with their own issues. The daughter who saved the blue girl is plagued by the memory and cannot sleep. Her friend is obsessed with knowing how and why the girl is blue. Whilst the three daughters push themselves through school each day we see how the mothers turn to another method of coping. They begin to cook moon pies and into these pies they pour their secrets. Once all of the children have gone to bed they travel out in the night to feed them to the blue girl. What will become of them?
I was oddly pulled in by this unusual novel (I'm not big on things that are too weird) but this was really wonderful. The writing was stunning and the ambiguity of it all was really captivating. I would recommend to all!
One summer three mothers and their daughters are out at the lake when they see the blue girl drowning - they manage to save her and that act alone has a huge and irreversible effect on the each of the women. We follow the ins and outs of day to day life as these women struggle to cope with their own issues. The daughter who saved the blue girl is plagued by the memory and cannot sleep. Her friend is obsessed with knowing how and why the girl is blue. Whilst the three daughters push themselves through school each day we see how the mothers turn to another method of coping. They begin to cook moon pies and into these pies they pour their secrets. Once all of the children have gone to bed they travel out in the night to feed them to the blue girl. What will become of them?
I was oddly pulled in by this unusual novel (I'm not big on things that are too weird) but this was really wonderful. The writing was stunning and the ambiguity of it all was really captivating. I would recommend to all!
January 29, 2016
Weird and sad and beautiful.
July 11, 2019
Re-read 11/07/19
Still a 5 star read with such lyrical writing and a fabulous execution. More to follow...
———————
What a charming, insightful, life-affirming, surreal and beautifully written story! Honestly, I had goose bumps while reading this and cannot praise this book enough!
The Blue Girl by Laurie Foos is, once again, one of those incredibly rare and special books where the author's sensitivity to perception is off the scale. She writes about small time life in a lakeside town where six people's (possibly more) lives are changed when they discover a blue girl (yes, the girl is actually blue) drowning in a lake.
I don't want to say here who saves her...but you might be surprised (and I will say now that it's not one of the mothers.)
This book has six different narrators (Irene, Magda and Libby who are the mothers and Audrey, Caroline and Rebecca who are their daughters.) What is interesting to note is that despite having six different females narrating, you can tell the characters apart. They all have their own way of telling their part of the story and their own issues and struggles to focus on.
On the surface of the story, it is actually pretty simple - the blue girl is rescued and she is visited by each of the mothers who feed her moon pies which contain all of their secrets (e.g. marriage woes and parental troubles.) That's basically what the story is about, however, as with all quality literary fiction, there is so much which can be gleaned from the story when you actually start to scratch away beneath the surface.
One of the most pertinent questions to ask is 'why do they feed this blue girl moon pies?' One theory could be that this is a way of the mothers dealing with their guilt since they did nothing to help rescue the girl who was clearly drowning on that day. All mothers are supposed to have a maternal instinct, to protect and keep children safe, but in this instance, it was actually one of their daughters who dived in and revived the girl, since the blue girl was technically dead when they brought her to the shore. Another theory could be that they feel relief by feeding this girl their secrets as a means of her being their confidante, or the mothers sympathising with the girl who is obviously quite a tortured soul deep down and so by sharing their troubles with her might be a way of letting her know that she's not the only troubled soul in this town.
There is Irene who first opens the story with her daughter Audrey, son Buck and husband Colin. Since their meeting with the blue girl, Irene has noticed that Audrey has stopped eating and has grown emaciated and thin, she also never sleeps now and as a result, has blue circles beneath her eyes. Her son Buck is closer to his sister than his Mom and goes to Audrey for comfort, while Colin has had a mental breakdown and spends his time in the living-room with the TV switched off (afraid that it might explode) and plays with his Nerf ball. He does not interact with his family at all. So this is one set-up and already you can see how incredibly sad and complex Irene's family life is.
This same unhappiness and complexity appears in Magda's domestic life where she is worried about her daughter Caroline's weight (she mentions how thick her waist has become) and how her son Greg keeps touching and messing around with Libby's daughter, Rebecca. Magda also has to contend with her son's constant use of the 'f' word and doesn't know where he has picked this up from. Magda's marriage is also strained since she only stayed with David in this lakeside town because she fell pregnant with Greg. She feels trapped and always wanted a life somewhere else which is why she warns Greg not to mess around with Rebecca because she is scared that he will get her pregnant and will live a similar life to the one she has. This is not something she wants for him as parents always want better for their children.
Finally, Libby's set-up is, once again, fraught with problems and broken down relationships. Her daughter Rebecca is fooling around with Greg, despite having the pick of any guy she wants (she is the most beautiful girl in the lake town) but Libby doesn't want her to get involved with anyone, not for a while anyway. She thinks her daughter will set her hopes and dreams too high and will have more to lose (because of her good looks) and wants her to know that there is more to her than beauty. She doesn't want her daughter to be objectified. Libby also has a son, Ethan, who has Down's Syndrome who speaks in a cartoon voice and repeatedly hits his head off the walls and floor. She knows that people talk about her son in the community and pity her. Libby has to lock Ethan away in his bedroom at night since he broke the previous alarm they had installed and found him wandering around the house in the middle of the night. Ethan doesn't respond well to Libby but to his sister, Rebecca. Again, Libby hates to think that Rebecca's future will solely focus around looking after her handicapped brother. And then there is Libby's husband, Jeff, who leaves the house before Libby wakes up, and comes home late at night when she knows she'll be asleep in bed. Libby just wishes he would leave since he's never around anyway and is like the invisible man.
As you can see, all of the mothers have incredibly difficult and painful family lives. Now, a point which struck me was 'who do the mothers spend their time feeding this blue girl who is no relation to them instead of trying to fix the plethora of family problems they have at home?' The only real answer I could think concerns their guilt from failing to revive the girl, or because sharing their secrets with someone, temporarily relieves them. It is this act which unities the mothers in their guilt and despair.
I'm not going to spoil the ending because this is so much more than just a story; this is an experience, a journey you have to feel yourself. The Blue Girl is exquisitely written and Foos' makes this look effortless. At times, I was reminded of Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, (which is one of my all-time favourite books) not because of the subject matter or the style of writing but because of the nostalgia and surrealism it provoked in me.
The Blue Girl is a literary feast for all creative minds who want something magical but also something very real to savour. It will make you think, it will make you question, but most of all, it will make you feel, and reading is all about generating feelings regardless of whether they're ones of love or hate.
A book which can move you is a treasure you will want to savour again and again, and I can tell you now that The Blue Girl will be revisited by me again and again.
A simply marvellous and life-affirming book. READ IT!
Still a 5 star read with such lyrical writing and a fabulous execution. More to follow...
———————
What a charming, insightful, life-affirming, surreal and beautifully written story! Honestly, I had goose bumps while reading this and cannot praise this book enough!
The Blue Girl by Laurie Foos is, once again, one of those incredibly rare and special books where the author's sensitivity to perception is off the scale. She writes about small time life in a lakeside town where six people's (possibly more) lives are changed when they discover a blue girl (yes, the girl is actually blue) drowning in a lake.
I don't want to say here who saves her...but you might be surprised (and I will say now that it's not one of the mothers.)
This book has six different narrators (Irene, Magda and Libby who are the mothers and Audrey, Caroline and Rebecca who are their daughters.) What is interesting to note is that despite having six different females narrating, you can tell the characters apart. They all have their own way of telling their part of the story and their own issues and struggles to focus on.
On the surface of the story, it is actually pretty simple - the blue girl is rescued and she is visited by each of the mothers who feed her moon pies which contain all of their secrets (e.g. marriage woes and parental troubles.) That's basically what the story is about, however, as with all quality literary fiction, there is so much which can be gleaned from the story when you actually start to scratch away beneath the surface.
One of the most pertinent questions to ask is 'why do they feed this blue girl moon pies?' One theory could be that this is a way of the mothers dealing with their guilt since they did nothing to help rescue the girl who was clearly drowning on that day. All mothers are supposed to have a maternal instinct, to protect and keep children safe, but in this instance, it was actually one of their daughters who dived in and revived the girl, since the blue girl was technically dead when they brought her to the shore. Another theory could be that they feel relief by feeding this girl their secrets as a means of her being their confidante, or the mothers sympathising with the girl who is obviously quite a tortured soul deep down and so by sharing their troubles with her might be a way of letting her know that she's not the only troubled soul in this town.
There is Irene who first opens the story with her daughter Audrey, son Buck and husband Colin. Since their meeting with the blue girl, Irene has noticed that Audrey has stopped eating and has grown emaciated and thin, she also never sleeps now and as a result, has blue circles beneath her eyes. Her son Buck is closer to his sister than his Mom and goes to Audrey for comfort, while Colin has had a mental breakdown and spends his time in the living-room with the TV switched off (afraid that it might explode) and plays with his Nerf ball. He does not interact with his family at all. So this is one set-up and already you can see how incredibly sad and complex Irene's family life is.
This same unhappiness and complexity appears in Magda's domestic life where she is worried about her daughter Caroline's weight (she mentions how thick her waist has become) and how her son Greg keeps touching and messing around with Libby's daughter, Rebecca. Magda also has to contend with her son's constant use of the 'f' word and doesn't know where he has picked this up from. Magda's marriage is also strained since she only stayed with David in this lakeside town because she fell pregnant with Greg. She feels trapped and always wanted a life somewhere else which is why she warns Greg not to mess around with Rebecca because she is scared that he will get her pregnant and will live a similar life to the one she has. This is not something she wants for him as parents always want better for their children.
Finally, Libby's set-up is, once again, fraught with problems and broken down relationships. Her daughter Rebecca is fooling around with Greg, despite having the pick of any guy she wants (she is the most beautiful girl in the lake town) but Libby doesn't want her to get involved with anyone, not for a while anyway. She thinks her daughter will set her hopes and dreams too high and will have more to lose (because of her good looks) and wants her to know that there is more to her than beauty. She doesn't want her daughter to be objectified. Libby also has a son, Ethan, who has Down's Syndrome who speaks in a cartoon voice and repeatedly hits his head off the walls and floor. She knows that people talk about her son in the community and pity her. Libby has to lock Ethan away in his bedroom at night since he broke the previous alarm they had installed and found him wandering around the house in the middle of the night. Ethan doesn't respond well to Libby but to his sister, Rebecca. Again, Libby hates to think that Rebecca's future will solely focus around looking after her handicapped brother. And then there is Libby's husband, Jeff, who leaves the house before Libby wakes up, and comes home late at night when she knows she'll be asleep in bed. Libby just wishes he would leave since he's never around anyway and is like the invisible man.
As you can see, all of the mothers have incredibly difficult and painful family lives. Now, a point which struck me was 'who do the mothers spend their time feeding this blue girl who is no relation to them instead of trying to fix the plethora of family problems they have at home?' The only real answer I could think concerns their guilt from failing to revive the girl, or because sharing their secrets with someone, temporarily relieves them. It is this act which unities the mothers in their guilt and despair.
I'm not going to spoil the ending because this is so much more than just a story; this is an experience, a journey you have to feel yourself. The Blue Girl is exquisitely written and Foos' makes this look effortless. At times, I was reminded of Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, (which is one of my all-time favourite books) not because of the subject matter or the style of writing but because of the nostalgia and surrealism it provoked in me.
The Blue Girl is a literary feast for all creative minds who want something magical but also something very real to savour. It will make you think, it will make you question, but most of all, it will make you feel, and reading is all about generating feelings regardless of whether they're ones of love or hate.
A book which can move you is a treasure you will want to savour again and again, and I can tell you now that The Blue Girl will be revisited by me again and again.
A simply marvellous and life-affirming book. READ IT!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2015
Nope. Started out beautifully. Loved the atmosphere. The introduction of the characters- but realized as I read along that I was being taken for a ride. If there are secrets to be held- that's fine - but allow the reader to be in on the secrets. The blue girl with the mouth and the tongue that begs for moon-pies. Uh, yes. No. No. No. Maybe I'll reread this another time- but I felt cheated. I didn't care about the characters- and for that I feel sad.
June 29, 2017
I only like magical realism when the "magical" part serves a purpose and is not simply present for the unconventional twist in the book. And it certainly felt like nothing but an unconventional twist in this case. What secrets? Why? The girl?
Is it all one grand metaphor? I somewhat doubt that.
The Blue Girl starts off in a very interesting manner, but after the first three chapters it simply loses its charm, beats around the bush and ends in nothing. I didn't get what the point of the book is or what the story really is about. And whenever I do not get a character driven book, I expect plot and there is none in this book. It's neither character- nor plot-driven. What is it then? Just some 200 pages of a really weird story.
Yay.
Boring. Meh.
Not recommended.
Is it all one grand metaphor? I somewhat doubt that.
The Blue Girl starts off in a very interesting manner, but after the first three chapters it simply loses its charm, beats around the bush and ends in nothing. I didn't get what the point of the book is or what the story really is about. And whenever I do not get a character driven book, I expect plot and there is none in this book. It's neither character- nor plot-driven. What is it then? Just some 200 pages of a really weird story.
Yay.
Boring. Meh.
Not recommended.
June 12, 2016
A book I read almost in a single sitting. Lyrical prose full of magical realism! The story of a blue girl, told by many different narrators that alternate in their telling. A bit disturbing. Compelling. Mysterious. There is a bit of everything in this surprising book: family relationships, growing up, autism, mental illness, unburdening of secrets. I would really recommend it, in case you like a touch of magic!
December 15, 2015
If I were in the business of hand-selling books, this title would be at the top of my current list. Laurie Foos strikes the perfect balance between realism and magic. The Blue Girl is fantastic.
It's about three sets of mother/daughters who live in a small lakeside town. We alternate between their six perspectives. One of the daughters ends up saving a (very literally) blue girl from drowning which sets the mothers baking their secrets into moon pies that they feed to the blue girl - almost forcefully.
There's secrets and lies, communication problems, mother/daughter relationships, gender dynamics, distance husbands, sex, marriage, autism, and commentary about domestic life. The ending is beautifully ambiguous. In such a sort space, Foos manages to create and define and give voice to each character in real, concrete ways even when they don't get the chance to speak for themselves.
Loved it. A++++
It's about three sets of mother/daughters who live in a small lakeside town. We alternate between their six perspectives. One of the daughters ends up saving a (very literally) blue girl from drowning which sets the mothers baking their secrets into moon pies that they feed to the blue girl - almost forcefully.
There's secrets and lies, communication problems, mother/daughter relationships, gender dynamics, distance husbands, sex, marriage, autism, and commentary about domestic life. The ending is beautifully ambiguous. In such a sort space, Foos manages to create and define and give voice to each character in real, concrete ways even when they don't get the chance to speak for themselves.
Loved it. A++++
August 21, 2019
I’m not exactly sure what this book was about but I definitely did not care. Just let the girl drown already.
April 5, 2023
Fantastic character work. This story is told from the perspective of six women, three mothers and three daughters, who struggle with their home lives in a small town. Every character is distinct and how they see themselves, how they see the other characters and how the other characters see them was intricately woven into a rich tapestry of personalities, strengths and insecurities that made them feel alive. A standout theme is female sexuality, the pain of not feeling wanted, or the dull ache of going through the motions for the sake of what's expected of you, the looming worry of unwanted pregnancy and the consequences of it, raising children who aren't the perfect beings you imagined them to be but whole, complicated people who you can't control and who can go on to repeat the same mistakes you made. Perhaps that's what the lake and the constant threat of drowning are meant to symbolise.
The Blue Girl seems to be a take on the Welsh tradition of the sin-eater, in which a poor person would be hired by the family of someone who had recently died to eat bread that had been used to "remove" the sins of the deceased, and by eating this bread the sin-eater would take their sins onto themselves.
The mothers seem to be trying to get rid of their guilt and regret by partaking in the ritual of feeding moon pies to the blue girl, but I didn't understand the symbolism of the moon pies. Could raspberry tarts have worked as well? Why the girl is blue seems to be explained by one of the characters in her hypochondria: she fears she's in the active phase of dying. The mothers keep feeding her but are always late, every time almost too late, barely making it there before the blue girl starves, as if their anxiety is forcing them to procrastinate their visits. I'm not going to pretend I understand what this means. I feel I'm also missing a lot of context to make sense of the behaviour of the men in the story, of the woman who guards the blue girl, and of literally anything the teenagers in this story do, why they do it or why it has the consequences it has. The magical realism element of this book is confusing, but it didn't really take away from my enjoyment of the story.
The Blue Girl seems to be a take on the Welsh tradition of the sin-eater, in which a poor person would be hired by the family of someone who had recently died to eat bread that had been used to "remove" the sins of the deceased, and by eating this bread the sin-eater would take their sins onto themselves.
The mothers seem to be trying to get rid of their guilt and regret by partaking in the ritual of feeding moon pies to the blue girl, but I didn't understand the symbolism of the moon pies. Could raspberry tarts have worked as well? Why the girl is blue seems to be explained by one of the characters in her hypochondria: she fears she's in the active phase of dying. The mothers keep feeding her but are always late, every time almost too late, barely making it there before the blue girl starves, as if their anxiety is forcing them to procrastinate their visits. I'm not going to pretend I understand what this means. I feel I'm also missing a lot of context to make sense of the behaviour of the men in the story, of the woman who guards the blue girl, and of literally anything the teenagers in this story do, why they do it or why it has the consequences it has. The magical realism element of this book is confusing, but it didn't really take away from my enjoyment of the story.
August 16, 2015
Captivating but confusing. The blue girl element felt like poetry- moving but unclear. A book that I wish I had a book club to discuss with or author's note or Q&A to clarify. Well-written, and I liked the mother-daughter storytelling structure, although two chapters each almost seemed too few. Above all, I wish a recipe for moonpies had been included, the book had me craving them!
June 21, 2021
Very weird book. I guess I'm not one for an entire book being a metaphor for something with a deeper meaning. I also didn't love the repetition of the same scenario from different viewpoints. Usually I like that, but it felt repetitive in this book.
April 24, 2017
I really loved this book. I am a big fan of the magical realism genre but as much as I loved this part, what made this book perfect is the mother-daughter relationships in this book and how much disappointment plays an effecting role. How as daughters we look up at our mothers not wanting to disappoint them but in the same time we don't agree with them on every thing. What broke my heart was the mothers how are they as children and teenagers never envisioned their life to be like this how at the end of the day no one put his/her hand on their shoulders to tell them it is okay, you're doing a good job.
June 11, 2017
Blue Girl was a fun read. Told from many points of view, it's the story of a small town's reaction to a strange blue girl who turns up nearly drowning in the lake one day. Audrey saves her, and nearly loses herself. The town mothers feed her, moon pies with their secrets baked into them. It's witchy and weird.
July 9, 2017
4.5
Strange and beautiful. Magical realism at its best.
Strange and beautiful. Magical realism at its best.
July 25, 2020
I usually like a good strange book every once in a while. This was recommended if you liked Little Fires Everywhere. Sorry, nothing like that and just plain strange.
June 19, 2023
I absolutely loved the cynicism and realism in this book, I also liked how everything went back to normal after the last day at the lake.
February 17, 2023
Very chill, a little miserable, v interesting character studies!
June 23, 2025
3.5 ★彡
Lo he dejado reposar un poco porque a pesar de que siento que fue una lectura con la que no conecte mucho al principio, creo que después de leerla, ha sido una revelación, porque los temas y por donde iba la autora comenzó a tomar mucha fuerza después de leer el último capítulo de hecho. Al principio lo sentí muy repetitivo en las voces y el hecho de la niña azul me parecía más cruel que otra cosa, hasta que todo conecta al final y uff es que creo que temáticamente es muy profundo. Esta idea de dejarse llevar por la vida y ver cómo se va sin decidir por sí mismas (es la sensación que parece tienen estos personajes) y primero desde una perspectiva muy de mujeres casadas, con hijos e infelices por las decisiones que las llevaron a esa vida, decisiones que parecen hechas por la vida y no por ellas y poco a poco se revela otra cosa y es a través de sus hijas que están comenzando su propio ciclo. Y luego la perspectiva masculina que está ahí pero parece que no está. Pero está y no es tan alejada de los mismo que sienten ellas. Y no sé, es que ese pensar, esa reflexión, esa capa me parece maravillosa de esta lectura. Y admirable por parte de la autora, porque puede pasar sin fu ni fa, si no te llega a tocar lo que verdaderamente quieren decir los personajes. Muy extraña lectura, muy rara. Pero me gusta esa sensación que me ha dejado al final.
Lo he dejado reposar un poco porque a pesar de que siento que fue una lectura con la que no conecte mucho al principio, creo que después de leerla, ha sido una revelación, porque los temas y por donde iba la autora comenzó a tomar mucha fuerza después de leer el último capítulo de hecho. Al principio lo sentí muy repetitivo en las voces y el hecho de la niña azul me parecía más cruel que otra cosa, hasta que todo conecta al final y uff es que creo que temáticamente es muy profundo. Esta idea de dejarse llevar por la vida y ver cómo se va sin decidir por sí mismas (es la sensación que parece tienen estos personajes) y primero desde una perspectiva muy de mujeres casadas, con hijos e infelices por las decisiones que las llevaron a esa vida, decisiones que parecen hechas por la vida y no por ellas y poco a poco se revela otra cosa y es a través de sus hijas que están comenzando su propio ciclo. Y luego la perspectiva masculina que está ahí pero parece que no está. Pero está y no es tan alejada de los mismo que sienten ellas. Y no sé, es que ese pensar, esa reflexión, esa capa me parece maravillosa de esta lectura. Y admirable por parte de la autora, porque puede pasar sin fu ni fa, si no te llega a tocar lo que verdaderamente quieren decir los personajes. Muy extraña lectura, muy rara. Pero me gusta esa sensación que me ha dejado al final.
June 21, 2018
The premise of this novel got me really excited – the idea of women baking their secrets into pies and feeding them to a blue girl hidden away reminded me of one of my favourite short stories by Ursula le Guin (The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas). In Foos’ novel, the story centres around three mothers and their three daughters, and their respective relationships with the mysterious blue girl. The narrative switches between their viewpoints, anchored by the first and last narrator, mother Irene.
I really enjoyed the multi-perspective narration, and the intricacies it revealed slowly about each family’s secrets, although at times there was less distinction between the voices than I’d hoped. The teenage girls (Caroline, Rebecca and Audrey) were well drawn and had preoccupations that rang true for their ages. The men were all secondary to the story, but didn’t feel like tropes.
The mystery around the blue girl sucked me in and kept me hooked – I wouldn’t characterise this book as a page turner, but I found it easy to slip into the rich world of the story and I really wanted a resolution. Foos chooses to leave some things unexplained, which was a bit disappointing, but was probably important for her metaphorical purposes.
There was something fairytale or nursery rhyme-like about the imagery throughout, especially around the lake and the woods, and the images of women baking pies, but with a darker slant. Overall I did enjoy it, but it didn’t quite live up to the potential I’d hoped when I first heard about the premise.
I really enjoyed the multi-perspective narration, and the intricacies it revealed slowly about each family’s secrets, although at times there was less distinction between the voices than I’d hoped. The teenage girls (Caroline, Rebecca and Audrey) were well drawn and had preoccupations that rang true for their ages. The men were all secondary to the story, but didn’t feel like tropes.
The mystery around the blue girl sucked me in and kept me hooked – I wouldn’t characterise this book as a page turner, but I found it easy to slip into the rich world of the story and I really wanted a resolution. Foos chooses to leave some things unexplained, which was a bit disappointing, but was probably important for her metaphorical purposes.
There was something fairytale or nursery rhyme-like about the imagery throughout, especially around the lake and the woods, and the images of women baking pies, but with a darker slant. Overall I did enjoy it, but it didn’t quite live up to the potential I’d hoped when I first heard about the premise.
August 8, 2015
A super quick, easy, fairly minimalist read, and at the same time amazingly, gorgeously, breathtakingly written. I'm not sure how you do both of those things at the same time, but somehow Foos pulled it off.
A silent blue girl has appeared in an unnamed lake town; after one of their daughters saves the blue girl from drowning, three sad, middle-aged women with sad, middle-aged husbands, teenage daughters, and troubled sons sneak out at night to the cabin in the woods where the blue girl lives with an old woman to feed her the secrets they've baked into homemade moon pies. When the kids catch on, everything changes.
Again, I don't understand how she did it, but these 220 dream-like pages weave together some of the most brilliant character development I've read in a while with profound narrative themes & symbolism. Not a wasted word anywhere. Heartbreakingly beautiful.
A silent blue girl has appeared in an unnamed lake town; after one of their daughters saves the blue girl from drowning, three sad, middle-aged women with sad, middle-aged husbands, teenage daughters, and troubled sons sneak out at night to the cabin in the woods where the blue girl lives with an old woman to feed her the secrets they've baked into homemade moon pies. When the kids catch on, everything changes.
Again, I don't understand how she did it, but these 220 dream-like pages weave together some of the most brilliant character development I've read in a while with profound narrative themes & symbolism. Not a wasted word anywhere. Heartbreakingly beautiful.
October 11, 2020
2.0 Stars.
What to say about this book, apart from that I thought it very strange? I started the audiobook on a whim at work, and while the beginning did not convince me, the shortness kept me going. I enjoyed the narration, the switches between the six female characters, three mothers and their daughters. Foos descriptions of their everyday-family-life and struggles was quite captivating. But then here comes the 'Blue Girl', a character -- if even -- that I did neither understand the meaning nor the symbolism of. I suspect she was a metaphor, a stylistic device even, but whatever she was meant to convey, it went straight over my head. This means that either I'm too dense to understand the meaning of this book, or something went wrong throughout the novel itself: I won't judge that, but in any case this story wasn't for me.
What to say about this book, apart from that I thought it very strange? I started the audiobook on a whim at work, and while the beginning did not convince me, the shortness kept me going. I enjoyed the narration, the switches between the six female characters, three mothers and their daughters. Foos descriptions of their everyday-family-life and struggles was quite captivating. But then here comes the 'Blue Girl', a character -- if even -- that I did neither understand the meaning nor the symbolism of. I suspect she was a metaphor, a stylistic device even, but whatever she was meant to convey, it went straight over my head. This means that either I'm too dense to understand the meaning of this book, or something went wrong throughout the novel itself: I won't judge that, but in any case this story wasn't for me.
June 19, 2016
This is a strange book about secrets kept in small town America, and how secrets become suffocating to the keeper. The story features three sets of mothers and daughters, along with their absent or mentally ill fathers and brothers. It is about nothing and everything, and is a short and sweet read bound with moon pies and silence.
March 17, 2021
I just didn't understand the point of this book. The characters all blended together because they all lacked development. The plot was non-existent. And why, oh WHY can't anyone just sit down and talk to each other?
August 12, 2018
I think this is really a 3.5/4 star.
I liked it, but it's weird. Mostly in a good way. The biggest thing to know about this book is the format is very unusual. It's broken into chapters that are from the prospectives of the 6 main characters - 3 mother/daughter pairs. It alternates between mother-daughter-mother-daughter in a fixed pattern that repeats twice in this short book. Which is a cool way to do something like this.
However, this becomes more difficult to follow when you realize that the entire book is basically stream of consciousness. There is almost no dialogue, its virtually nonexistent, and what little you get is like snippets of conversations amongst thoughts, feelings, and memories. It can get murky at times when it comes to tracking actual current events versus past events. Along with at what times different things are happening, there are time jumps that take you forward in the actual story and there are "memory time jumps" that are the characters describing past events as they remember them and they are all jumbled together on the same page. There are points for accuracy here, as brains have a tendency to move from one through to another rapidly, but it makes for difficult reading. I just suggest that readers pay close attention and they to read this in a few sittings. It took me awhile to get through this and I had forgotten stuff in the mean time. The writing is good and the descriptions of the moon pies made me want to make then myself. I too find baking to be a calming activity.
All in all this is ultimately a story about mothers and daughters and the relationships they have with each other. The 3 main mothers remember their own mothers and reflect on their feelings and relationships with them. While also working on their relationships with their own daughters. While also coming to an understanding that they've changed as they too became mothers. The story of the blue girl seems to serve as an attempt for these women to deal with their lives and the secret feelings they harbor towards their husbands and children. Each one of them has an imperfect family with some sort of problem and they all live in a small town they feel trapped in, they want better things for their children then they had for themselves. A classic mothers wish.
I don't know that I would recommend this book to my friends, as I don't really have friends that would love this kind of story. I'm not sure if I even liked it that much. I picked it up off a list of weird fiction books as more of a curiosity then anything. I didn't pick up on the magical realism that others seem to, but that could be because this writing style doesn't work as well for me. It may have just not translated well. So I take it as more of an interesting experience if anything and can just say I read it and sort of shrug after that.
I liked it, but it's weird. Mostly in a good way. The biggest thing to know about this book is the format is very unusual. It's broken into chapters that are from the prospectives of the 6 main characters - 3 mother/daughter pairs. It alternates between mother-daughter-mother-daughter in a fixed pattern that repeats twice in this short book. Which is a cool way to do something like this.
However, this becomes more difficult to follow when you realize that the entire book is basically stream of consciousness. There is almost no dialogue, its virtually nonexistent, and what little you get is like snippets of conversations amongst thoughts, feelings, and memories. It can get murky at times when it comes to tracking actual current events versus past events. Along with at what times different things are happening, there are time jumps that take you forward in the actual story and there are "memory time jumps" that are the characters describing past events as they remember them and they are all jumbled together on the same page. There are points for accuracy here, as brains have a tendency to move from one through to another rapidly, but it makes for difficult reading. I just suggest that readers pay close attention and they to read this in a few sittings. It took me awhile to get through this and I had forgotten stuff in the mean time. The writing is good and the descriptions of the moon pies made me want to make then myself. I too find baking to be a calming activity.
All in all this is ultimately a story about mothers and daughters and the relationships they have with each other. The 3 main mothers remember their own mothers and reflect on their feelings and relationships with them. While also working on their relationships with their own daughters. While also coming to an understanding that they've changed as they too became mothers. The story of the blue girl seems to serve as an attempt for these women to deal with their lives and the secret feelings they harbor towards their husbands and children. Each one of them has an imperfect family with some sort of problem and they all live in a small town they feel trapped in, they want better things for their children then they had for themselves. A classic mothers wish.
I don't know that I would recommend this book to my friends, as I don't really have friends that would love this kind of story. I'm not sure if I even liked it that much. I picked it up off a list of weird fiction books as more of a curiosity then anything. I didn't pick up on the magical realism that others seem to, but that could be because this writing style doesn't work as well for me. It may have just not translated well. So I take it as more of an interesting experience if anything and can just say I read it and sort of shrug after that.
January 21, 2022
I’ve had this novel on my shelf for a while based on recommendations from a number of booktubers. I’m not necessarily the biggest reader of magical realism, but this book seemed to please everyone so I thought I’d give it a go.
Ostensibly, the book is about a literal blue girl who is found in a lake one day and saved by a young local girl, Audrey. This blue girl becomes an obsession for the townspeople. Who is she? Where did she come from? Why is she blue? Some people think she is made up, a rumour, and doesn’t exist. Others swear they have seen her, or witnessed the traumatic event by the lake.
The novel begins with one of our six narrators, Irene, Audrey’s mother. She describes how she and her two friends bake moon pies for the blue girl, baking in their secrets, and feed them to her in the depths of night.
While all this sounds quite odd, and I have to say, I couldn’t quite get my head around everything in this novel, in my opinion this isn’t really what the novel is about.
We explore so many themes here; relationships between mothers and daughters, what is means to feel trapped, both mentally and physically, communication or lack thereof, marriage and partnership, disability. I really appreciated the quiet nature of the book and how Foos discusses these topics with subtlety through the thoughts and feelings of the characters.
In terms of form, the book is told from six different perspectives, the aforementioned Irene and Audrey, two of Audrey’s friends and both of their mothers. This style of narrative allowed us to see the same few events and experiences from multiple points of view, which I found to be very interesting and gave the novel depth. I loved the focus on women in the novel. I found the commentary on life in this small lakeside town for the mothers to be quite sad at times, especially as they are almost setting up their daughters for a very similar life, despite their unhappiness and restlessness. I also loved the inclusion of Caroline’s character. She is, like me a rational and logical thinker and throughout the whole book was trying to find an explanation for the blue girls’ existence.
Foos’s writing was probably my favourite aspect of the novel. She is such an evocative and sensational writer, I could see everything she described so clearly, could definitely taste the chocolate and vanilla of the moon pies.
Despite loving the writing and the themes this book discusses, there was definitely something missing for me. I think there are a lot more questions than answers here which, although may be the point, frustrated me as I was reading. I really do ultimately read for the characters and I felt a little detached to these six women, held at a distance somehow. I think if you love magical realism, this is it done right. A good, solid read but I wasn’t blown away.
October 31, 2019
(Review first published in Shelf Awareness)
Laurie Foos's The Blue Girl follows three women and their daughters after they witness the near drowning of a girl whose skin is entirely blue. Irene's daughter, Audrey, is the only one who took action to save the girl. Surrounded by listless residents and surprised city vacationers, Audrey resuscitated the girl alone. But everyone who witnessed the event experienced an awakening.
The blue-skinned girl introduces an element of magical realism into a novel of otherwise dull and ordinary lives. She stirs in the three mothers memories of ambitions and dreams they once possessed before they became entrenched in disappointments. No longer able to tolerate the pressure of their own secrets, they begin to visit the blue girl at night as she recovers, feeding her homemade moon pies into which they bake their anxieties and anger.
The daughters know their mothers' moon pies are not for a bake sale as they've been told. Already at the pinnacle of adolescent change, the girls are pushed out of childhood by the near drowning. Audrey cannot sleep, haunted by the memory of the girl's blue skin and cold lips. She will not discuss the girl, while her friend Caroline thinks of nothing else. The girl becomes an obsession for her, and she tries to understand what she saw through studying science. The third daughter, Rachel, tries to escape the trauma by pursuing an unsatisfying relationship with Caroline's older brother.
Told in alternating points of view, The Blue Girl explores how these relationships both define and confine each of the women. Foos has crafted a surreal story that is suffocating yet utterly compelling.
Laurie Foos's The Blue Girl follows three women and their daughters after they witness the near drowning of a girl whose skin is entirely blue. Irene's daughter, Audrey, is the only one who took action to save the girl. Surrounded by listless residents and surprised city vacationers, Audrey resuscitated the girl alone. But everyone who witnessed the event experienced an awakening.
The blue-skinned girl introduces an element of magical realism into a novel of otherwise dull and ordinary lives. She stirs in the three mothers memories of ambitions and dreams they once possessed before they became entrenched in disappointments. No longer able to tolerate the pressure of their own secrets, they begin to visit the blue girl at night as she recovers, feeding her homemade moon pies into which they bake their anxieties and anger.
The daughters know their mothers' moon pies are not for a bake sale as they've been told. Already at the pinnacle of adolescent change, the girls are pushed out of childhood by the near drowning. Audrey cannot sleep, haunted by the memory of the girl's blue skin and cold lips. She will not discuss the girl, while her friend Caroline thinks of nothing else. The girl becomes an obsession for her, and she tries to understand what she saw through studying science. The third daughter, Rachel, tries to escape the trauma by pursuing an unsatisfying relationship with Caroline's older brother.
Told in alternating points of view, The Blue Girl explores how these relationships both define and confine each of the women. Foos has crafted a surreal story that is suffocating yet utterly compelling.
December 24, 2023
2.5
I was participating in a reading challenge. I had to read book with my favourite colour on the cover. So as any sensible person I scrolled my scribd/everand in hope to find something short and good.
I found the Blue Girl, saw the cute cover and decided to listen to this book.
As it was a challenge, I needed to finish this book.
I am been reading since early age, and without surprise during my scholarity I was in literature plus plus classes.
And if there is one book, I have truly hated during my obligatory reads, that is Hundred Years of Solitude. And since then, I have discovered that magical realism is something I dislike.
So, here we are with this book which looked like cute romance but actually was magical realism at its finest… With mothers and daughters, this blue girl and secrets being baked in the cakes… Not my wisest chose of 2023 I must say
I just feel that I am not smart enough to understand it.
I was participating in a reading challenge. I had to read book with my favourite colour on the cover. So as any sensible person I scrolled my scribd/everand in hope to find something short and good.
I found the Blue Girl, saw the cute cover and decided to listen to this book.
As it was a challenge, I needed to finish this book.
I am been reading since early age, and without surprise during my scholarity I was in literature plus plus classes.
And if there is one book, I have truly hated during my obligatory reads, that is Hundred Years of Solitude. And since then, I have discovered that magical realism is something I dislike.
So, here we are with this book which looked like cute romance but actually was magical realism at its finest… With mothers and daughters, this blue girl and secrets being baked in the cakes… Not my wisest chose of 2023 I must say
I just feel that I am not smart enough to understand it.
June 4, 2021
I think maybe a 3.5 for this one. I pushed it to a 4 since I did enjoy it very much and it stuck with me.
The Blue Girl opens with a frantic scene of frozen mothers and adrenaline fueled teenagers saving a, well, blue girl. Foos swirls us around the small lake-centric tourist town as we get to know the women who were involved in this borderline indescribable (almost?) tragedy, the story flipping viewpoints from mother to daughter and family to family. No one talks about the blue girl, but all anyone is thinking about is the blue girl.
On the surface this seems like a pretty simple novel, but there's a lot to extract from it if you're so inclined. Foos created curiously intimate relationships between the reader and these characters in a her short (and weird) experimental package. I think you'll either love it or you'll hate it.
The Blue Girl opens with a frantic scene of frozen mothers and adrenaline fueled teenagers saving a, well, blue girl. Foos swirls us around the small lake-centric tourist town as we get to know the women who were involved in this borderline indescribable (almost?) tragedy, the story flipping viewpoints from mother to daughter and family to family. No one talks about the blue girl, but all anyone is thinking about is the blue girl.
On the surface this seems like a pretty simple novel, but there's a lot to extract from it if you're so inclined. Foos created curiously intimate relationships between the reader and these characters in a her short (and weird) experimental package. I think you'll either love it or you'll hate it.
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