Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Summer Skin
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.kirstyeagar.com/
CITY: Sydney
STATE:
COUNTRY: Australia
NATIONALITY: Australian
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2018076149
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2018076149
HEADING: Eagar, Kirsty, 1972-
000 00973nz a2200217n 450
001 10769808
005 20180607073020.0
008 180606n| azannaabn |n aaa c
010 __ |a no2018076149
035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca11382770
040 __ |a ICrlF |b eng |e rda |c ICrlF
046 __ |f 1972 |2 edtf
100 1_ |a Eagar, Kirsty, |d 1972-
370 __ |a Queensland, Central |e North Sydney (N.S.W.) |2 naf
372 __ |a Young adult fiction |a Economics |2 lcsh
374 __ |a Authors |a Economists |2 lcsh
375 __ |a Female |2 lcsh
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a Eagar, Kirsty. Summer skin, 2018: |b title page (Kirsty Eagar) author bio. (Grew up on Australian cattle property, studied economis, worked at the Bank of England in London, lives on Sydney’s norhtern beaches)
670 __ |a LAC in VIAF, June 6, 2018 |b (Eagar, Kirsty, 1972- )
670 __ |a kirstyeagar.com, author website, June 6, 2018 |b (Kirsty Eagar, raised in Capricornia, Queensland; has a Masters in economics; Lives on Sydney’s northern beaches)
PERSONAL
Born 1972, in Mackay, Queensland, Australia; married; children: two daughters.
EDUCATION:Studied at University of Queensland.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Reserve Bank of Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, formerly on staff; Bank of England, London, England, formerly on staff. Public speaker; Stella Schools Program ambassador; has also worked as a personal trainer and a cook; has appeared on national radio programs.
AWARDS:Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction, for Raw Blue.
WRITINGS
Contributor to Elle, Review of Australian Fiction, and Women’s Money.
SIDELIGHTS
Kirsty Eagar is an Australian writer. She grew up riding horses and holidaying at the beach in Queensland. After graduating with a Masters in Economics, she entered into a career in finance in Sydney and London. Eventually, she left the corporate world and traveled around Australia’s best surf towns while working various jobs and starting to write fiction.
Raw Blue
Eagar published her first novel, Raw Blue, in 2010. Carly drops out of university and fills her days with surfing and working at a local café. The surfing provides welcome relief from the trauma she experiences two years earlier during schoolies week. When she meets fellow surfer Ryan, who is recently out of jail, she wonders if she will ever be able to find happiness with someone.
A contributor to the Inkcrush blog admitted: “I read this in one gulping heap and even now Carly’s story continues to linger. Not only was this novel brilliantly engaging—but it’s also an important novel about hope and pain and healing. I’ve re-read it already, as if hoping to absorb some of the magic of Kirsty’s writing into my own.”
Saltwater Vampires
In 2011 Eagar published the novel Saltwater Vampires. Jamie Mackie spends her summer holidays in the remote Western Australian coastal town of Rocky Head, where she surfs and enjoys the local music festival. A four-hundred-year pact of vampires from the Batavia shipwreck, though, threatens the lives of everyone in town.
A contributor to the This Is the Best Book, Ever… blog cautioned readers: “Don’t be fooled into thinking this is another Twilight. It’s a thriller, and so much more. Look out for it.” A contributor to the Inkcrush blog confessed: “I haven’t seen many thrillers of this outstanding calibre in the YA scene.” The same reviewer reasoned that “it’s a dark, spine-tingling read but not without its moments of laid-back humour and some heart-felt relationship drama that added some levity. Also, how much did the last page just make me grin? It left me with a sense of loving these guys.”
Night Beach
Eagar published Night Beach in 2012. Abbie obsesses over her boyfriend, Kane. But she sees something dark in him that nobody else notices, and it is pulling her dangerous close.
A contributor to the Alpha Reader blog called it “the quintessential young adult horror story.” The reviewer observed that “there is such a sinister ambiance throughout Night Beach, that Eagar’s ability to conjure fright and tension in the reader is bordering on sublime…. I read this book at night, under the covers and looking out the window into a blackened evening. And I’ve got to say, it was the best way to read a book that so delights in being a horror story. Once again, Eagar masterfully paints a very different version of Australia’s iconic sandy beaches–turning them once more into an unsettled and unpredictable landscape.” The same reviewer admitted that “Abbie is the stand-out of this novel. She’s utterly relatable and wonderful–navigating her first and arguably doomed love with older step-cousin, Kane. She is the book’s narrator, and some of her observations of this tricky time in her life, when her feelings overrun her common sense, are enviably communicated.” The Alpha Reader blog reviewer concluded that “Night Beach reads like an ocean swell; turning and flipping the reader, dunking us under the cool depths of Eagar’s beautiful and complex story.”
Summer Skin
Eagar published the novel Summer Skin in 2018. Jess sets up the Unity girls group to get revenge against men from the Knights group who slut shamed one of their friends the previous year. Sexist rugby player Blondie is Jess’s target, but they both have a special connection ad reveal their vulnerabilities to the other at times of need, complicating Jess’s view of their relationship and her agenda.
Writing in School Library Journal, Tamara Saarinen found the novel to be “a realistic and engaging story of defining what an adult relationship is.” Saarinen opined that “the details of college life … will resonate with most readers.” A contributor to the All the Books I Can Read blog remarked that Jess and Blondie’s “is truly a push-pull interaction with witty banter that is interspersed with moments that truly tap into something more, and on more than one occasion, hit a nerve. I loved their every moment together, even when it was painful and heartbreaking. Blondie is deeply flawed, master of a cutting remark but at the same time he’s also quite intensely vulnerable. This is a romance with a very rocky path.” The same reviewer concluded that “Summer Skin is raw, engrossing, funny, sexy, confronting and thoughtful all at once and I freaking loved it. It and Raw Blue are two of the best older YA books I’ve ever read and I will be happy to shove copies of both into everyone’s hands. And now I will sit and wait patiently for Kirsty Eager’s next novel.”
In a review on the Booktopia website, Sarah McDuling pointed out that the novel “has a lot of important things to say–and it says them without once preaching or lecturing.” A contributor to the Book Thingo website suggested that “if you like clever romance that is also a coming of age story, with a good dash of feminism, a hero who is tortured and chauvinistic, but does eventually get his head out of his arse, a heroine who is smart and knows her own value, and an unusual setting (hooray for fiction set in Australian universities!), Summer Skin definitely deserves your attention.” Booklist contributor Maggie Reagan claimed that “this sharp, pointed takedown of university hookup culture will hit the spot for modern riot grrrls.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 1, 2018, Maggie Reagan, review of Summer Skin, p. 73.
School Library Journal, April 1, 2018, Tamara Saarinen, review of Summer Skin, p. 131.
Voice of Youth Advocates, June 1, 2018, Brandi Young, review of Summer Skin, p. 55.
ONLINE
All the Books I Can Read, https://1girl2manybooks.wordpress.com/ (February 22, 2016), review of Summer Skin.
Alpha Reader, http://alphareader.blogspot.com/ (April 25, 2012), review of Night Beach.
Booked Out, http://bookedout.com.au/ (July 25, 2018), author interview.
Bookthingo, http://bookthingo.com.au/ (February 19, 2016), review of Summer Skin.
Booktopia, https://blog.booktopia.com.au/ (February 3, 2016), Sarah McDuling, review of Summer Skin.
Inkcrush, http://inkcrush.blogspot.com/ (August 21, 2010), review of Raw Blue; (September 6, 2010), review of Saltwater Vampires.
Kirsty Eagar website, https://www.kirstyeagar.com (July 25, 2018).
Spellbound by Books, http://www.spellboundbybooks.com/ (September 2, 2010), author interview.
Sydney Writers’ Festival website, https://www.swf.org.au/ (July 25, 2018), author profile.
This Is the Best Book, Ever…, http://yougotbuckleys.edublogs.org/ (October 1, 2010), review of Saltwater Vampires.
Kirsty Eagar was raised by her mum and grandmother under the big skies of Capricornia in Queensland. She grew up riding horses and mustering, went to a small country school where shoes were optional, and spent holidays at the beach with her dad. After attending state high school in Rockhampton, she left home at seventeen to study at the University of Queensland, spending four years in a residential college thanks to Austudy and a multitude of part-time jobs. She graduated with a Masters in Economics, making the Dean’s honour roll for academic achievement. Kirsty then worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia in Sydney, and the Bank of England in London, before deciding corporate life was not for her.
She spent the next few years surfing her way around Australia, living out of a Toyota troop carrier and working in kitchens. It was the best thing she could have done because during that time she started to write.
Her debut novel, Raw Blue, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Young Adult fiction. Her follow up novels, Saltwater Vampires and Night Beach, were shortlisted for numerous literary awards including the NSW Premier’s Awards, the Queensland Literary Awards, the Western Australia Premier’s Awards and the Gold Inky. Her latest work, Summer Skin (Allen & Unwin, Feb 2016) has been described by Bookseller+Publisher as a must-read for older teens for its frank examination of love, sex and intimacy.
These days Kirsty is married with two daughters and lives on Sydney’s northern beaches. Her husband is an elite-level soccer coach who is partly to blame for her interest in performance psychology and its application to creativity. She surfs most days and is a contributor at White Horses surf magazine. Her work has also been published in Elle magazine, Review of Australian Fiction and Women’s Money.
Kirsty is an experienced speaker and has delivered numerous author talks and workshops at schools and other venues to audiences ranging from four to four hundred. She has appeared at major literary festivals, toured regional Queensland as part of a Brisbane Writer’s Festival initiative, and guested on ABC and commercial radio. She is proud to be an ambassador for the Stella Schools Program.
Kirsty Eagar was born and raised under the big skies of Capricornia in Queensland. She grew up riding horses, went to a small country school where shoes were optional, and was always allowed to read at the dinner table. After studying economics, she worked on trading desks at the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank of England in London, before resigning to pursue a life where she could write and surf. Her Young Adult novels have won and been shortlisted for numerous awards including the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Queensland Literary Awards, the Western Australia Premier’s Awards and the Gold Inky. She lives on Sydney’s northern beaches with her family.
Kirsty Eagar is an award-winning Young Adult author, economist and surfer. Her most recent novel, Summer Skin, has been described as a must-read for teens for its frank discussion of love, sex, feminism and relationships.
Kirsty Eagar was raised on her mum's central Queensland cattle property, and spent most holidays at the beach with her dad. After completing a Master's degree in Economics, she worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank of England before changing careers, wanting a life where she could surf every day. She travelled around Australia for a couple of years, living out of a car, worked a variety of jobs and began writing fiction. Her debut novel, Raw Blue, won the 2010 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Young Adult fiction. Her second novel, Saltwater Vampires, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Her third novel, Night Beach, was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards, the Western Australia Premier's Awards and a Gold Inky.
Kirsty lives with her husband and two daughters on Sydney's northern beaches.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Interview with Kirsty Eagar
Spellbound By Books would love to introduce Kirsty Eagar, Author of Raw Blue and Saltwater Vampires which has only just been released!
So here goes:
1. How would you describe Saltwater Vampires?
It's the story of a fifteen-year old surfer called Jamie Mackie who has to deal with both girls and vampires over the course of a weekend at a music festival. And I should add that the vampires in the story hail from the shipwreck of the Batavia in 1629, off the West Australian coastline (which really did happen).
2. What was the easiest/hardest part of writing Saltwater Vampires?
The easiest part was definitely getting to know the characters. Especially Jamie
The hardest part was how to structure the narrative. That's because I had three or four different stories in a sense - the present day at the music festival, what happened with the Batavia, a theft in Amsterdam three weeks earlier, and Jamie's back story (Jamie and a friend nearly died in a boating accident; Jamie managed to swim for help, but his friend was badly injured, and now the two of them don't talk to each other and they've never told anybody what happened). So yeah ... just thinking about it makes me tired. I ended up going WAY overboard on the Amsterdam and Batavia stuff and having to cut a lot of that out.
3. Was becoming a published author how you expected it to be? Any surprises?
I like hearing from readers. They alwasy have a different take on your story and characters, and because of that you see things you hadn't noticed before, which is really cool. I also love the collaborative relationships I've got with my editor, Amy Thomas, from Penguin. She is extremely talented and an excellent person. What took me by surprise with the whole thing, though, was how you feel like you've lost something. I think it's because hyou can't go back into the story and be with your characters again, and you really miss them. Sounds weird, but you did ask :)
4. Where do you do most of your writing?
In my head and at this two-desk set up (sorry about the mess - I wish I could pretend that it's unusual for me). The desk on the left was my first ever writing desk. I bought it at a garage sale. I like how it has bits of masking tape stuck to it for no apparent reason. The maneki neko is for luck, and the slinky is for playing with. My daughter made me the star. I found the doorknob on the beach.
5. What routines/quirky habits do you have for when and how you write?
I get up early (usually around 5am). If I do that regularly I'm too tired to doubt myself too much, and it's the only way I ever get through a first draft.
6. What keeps you writing?
The knowledge that when I finish the first draft all will no longer be unknown and I get to play with it.
7. Finish this sentence 'When I'm not writing/editing ...'
I'm doing a lot of surfing. For such a slack writer, I'm a very disciplined surfer.
8. Is there a question you've always wanted to be asked but haven't? What would your answer be?
Q. What is the best sound you've ever heard? A: My girls laughing.
9. Are there any tips and advice you would like to pass on to aspiring writers?
Well, for what it's worth ... Learn to recognise the people who give you good feedback. It will be a genuine response to the work and you should be able to bounce off it. You will recognise what they're saying (which doesn't automatically mean you must implement it) and it won't smash your self confidence.
And build a solid relationship with the process, that is, the work. Because ultimately that's what gets you through. You might pile up rejections, or collect awards and good reviews, or be met with a wall of indifference, and all of these things can make it hard to write. But the only thing you control is whether you are going to sit down and play with words today. Back yourself. If you love what you're working on, that's reason enough.
10. And last, your stuck on a deserted island which character from your books would you take with you and why?
Probably Ryan from Raw Blue. I've always had a crush on him.
Thank you Kirsty for an awesome review. I look forward to reading more of your work.
You might also like:
Kirsty Eagar is an award-winning Young Adult author, economist and surfer. Her YA fiction has won and been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Queensland Literary Awards, the Western Australia Premier’s Awards and the Gold Inky. Her novels include Raw Blue, Saltwater Vampires, Night Beach and Summer Skin.
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Kirsty Eagar
Author
Kirsty Eagar is the award-winning author of the Young Adult novels: Summer Skin, Raw Blue, Night Beach and Saltwater Vampires. She believes storytelling is a life skill, and her author talks and workshops are structured using tenets of performance psychology to ensure they are distilled, sequenced and practical.
Where were you born?
I was born in Mackay, Queensland, and spent most of my childhood in regional Capricornia, raised by my mother and grandmother. I left home at seventeen to attend uni in Brisbane, and have also lived in Sydney, Canberra, Perth, and London, among other places.
What other jobs have you had?
I graduated with a Masters in Economics and worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank of England trading bonds. After that I worked in kitchens while completing a Certificate III in Commercial Cookery at TAFE. I also gained qualifications and worked as a personal trainer for a period.
What themes are recurring in your work?
Female sexuality, Australian masculinity, the call of the natural environment, the distortive impact of social media, and family situations that aren’t perfect – I have tremendous respect for teens who are navigating complicated home arrangements; they should be congratulated, but so rarely get positive feedback.
What have been the highlights of your career?
My debut novel, Raw Blue, winning the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Young Adult fiction. Even better, the emails I have received from readers about that book.
The response to Summer Skin! I took risks with the story that wouldn’t have been possible before, but I feel are necessary now. It’s generating discussion, and that is a good thing when there is so much sexual content available online and people’s lives are increasingly becoming a performance thanks to social media.
Where have your works been published?
Australia and the UK.
What are you passionate about?
Access to education and opportunity – I am state-schooled and relied on Austudy and part-time work to get through university.
Feminism. I strongly believe in the work that White Ribbon are doing to address violence against women. I want women’s stories and roles, in all their diversity, to be given greater respect and representation in our culture. Likewise, I feel that neither men nor boys benefit from rigid definitions of masculinity.
I am passionate about more recognition and understanding being given to the issues facing regional Australia.
Haven’t I seen you before?
Probably the defining thing about my life is that I’m a surfer. It’s the reason I left my career as an economist, and it’s because of that I started writing. When Raw Blue was published I was on radio and in the major papers a lot because the media loved the idea of someone throwing in their career job to go surfing.
Anything else you’d like to share with us?
My husband is a professional soccer coach. His expertise is in elite player development and sports psychology, and I am constantly picking his brains because a lot of it applies to the creative process.
EAGAR, Kirsty. Summer Skin
Tamara Saarinen
School Library Journal. 64.4 (Apr. 2018): p131.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
EAGAR, Kirsty. Summer Skin. 352p. Feiwel & Friends. May 2018. pap. $10.99. ISBN 9781250146007.
Gr 10 Up-Set at a university in Brisbane, Australia against the backdrop of booze, hookups, friendship, and rivalries, this steamy YA centers around Mitch and Jess's relationship. Jess lives in Unit)' Donn and starts the school year seeking to avenge her friend, Farren, by humiliating the guys in the Knights Dorm who livestreamed Farren having sex. She meets Mitch, a Knight, and in their first encounter dyes his hair pink, starting a bizarre romance. They have multiple sexual encounters, and both carry baggage from previous relationships. During school break, they move to tentative boyfriend and girlfriend status. After returning to college, their new relationship flounders when a member of the Knights learns about them, and Mitch retreats. Jess narrates the story, and all the conflict that comes from her relationship with Mitch--guilt for betraying a friend by sleeping with the "enemy," and slowly learning what happened to Mitch the previous year that started him on a path of change. Jess, Mitch, their friends, and everyone's messy relationships are realistic and relatable to many older teens. The details of college life, from part-time jobs to playlists, parties, and cramming for exams will resonate with most readers. Jess and Mitch end on a hopeful note, but the journey there was painful for both of them. VERDICT A realistic and engaging story of defining what an adult relationship is, this book is a good purchase for most libraries serving mature young adults.--Tamara Saarinen, Pierce County Library, WA
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Saarinen, Tamara. "EAGAR, Kirsty. Summer Skin." School Library Journal, Apr. 2018, p. 131. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A533409080/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7d8eddf5. Accessed 20 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A533409080
Summer Skin
Maggie Reagan
Booklist. 114.15 (Apr. 1, 2018): p73+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Summer Skin. By Kirsty Eagar. May 2018. 352p. Feiwel and Friends, paper, $10.99 (9781250146007). Gr. 11-12.
Last year, the boys from Knights College had a contest: the first to sleep with a Unity College girl won a cash prize. Jess Gordon's best friend, Farren, was that girl, and unbeknownst to her, the hookup was filmed and streamed. This year, the Unity girls are out for revenge. That's how tough-talking, rabble-rousing Jess meets the guy that, at first, she knows only as Blondie. He's arrogant, entitled, and standoffish, and, initially, Jess is only too eager to make him pay for the sins of his peers. But there's more to Blondie than meets the eye, and there's a chance he and Jess are circling something real. This Australian import slots neatly into the new adult category. The sex is frequent, explicit, and claims center stage; the plot, by contrast, can be difficult to follow, and the points Eagar tries to make often get buried. Still, this sharp, pointed takedown of university hookup culture will hit the spot for modern riot grrrls.--Maggie Reagan
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Reagan, Maggie. "Summer Skin." Booklist, 1 Apr. 2018, p. 73+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A534956951/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c461e054. Accessed 20 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A534956951
Saltwater Vampires by Kirsty Eagar
October 1, 2010 by missusb
Just finished reading this. It is extremely chilling and scary. I found that I had to put it down a couple of times because I was nervous about how events might play out.
This is not a story told in what is becoming a sub-genre of its own – The romantic, noble vampire premise – This is very much constructing vampires in a more traditional way. They are killers, greedy and thirsty, immoral and predatory.
But as well as all the bloodlust and the biting, there is also a genuinely well written narrative. It is taut and tense. The suspense builds, and we are almost holding our breath by the time our heroes confront the powerful, determined villains.
It is also very Australian. The protagonist, Jamie is a 15 yr old surfer, encapsulating all the traits: he’s laid back, he’s scruffy, wild and lean. And he proves to be courageous and persistant. Surrounded by his mates, he takes on a very difficult but desperate plan amidst the frenzy of a New Year’s Eve music festival.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this is another Twilight. It’s a thriller, and so much more. Look out for it. Here is the book trailer and the website. Here is an interview with Kirsty Eagar talking about the book and all things vampiric.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Saltwater Vampires by Kirsty Eagar
He looked to the sky, praying for rain, a downpour, some sign from the heavens that he should refuse the abomination contained in that flask. But all he saw was the bloated white face of the moon smiling down on him …
And the sky around it was cold and clear and black …
They made their circle of blood. And only the moon witnessed the slaughter that followed.
For Jamie Mackie, summer holidays in the coastal town of Rocky Head mean surfing, making money, and good times at the local music festival. But this year, vampires are on the festival’s line-up … fulfilling a pact made on the wreck of the Batavia, four hundred years ago. If their plans succeed, nobody in Rocky Head will survive to see out the new year.
Page-turning and suspenseful, Saltwater Vampires is a distinctly Australian vampire thriller.
After being floored by Raw Blue, Kirsty Eagar became my newest must-read author. And, also, how good is the trailer for Saltwater Vampires? I snatched up a copy as soon as I saw it shelved.
Saltwater Vampires has a hugely ambitious and sophisticated plot - there's three story-lines that blend together: the shipwreck and blood pact made on the Batavia (400 years earlier), a gathering of powerful freaky-guys in Amsterdam and Jamie and his mates kicking back surfing in Rocky Head, Australia.
What I loved about this book is it's unique blend of rich prose and suspense-filled plot. It's got this laid-back Aussie pace that manages to buzz with an exhilarating, suspense-filled plot. My reading experience was similar to Raw Blue: a contradiction - I was tearing through the pages and at the same time pausing at moments to re-read sentences and soak up the magic in the prose.
Jamie and his mates are not your usual heroes or vampire slayers. They're these loveable, freaked-out, wide-eyed and brave teens: flawed and crushed, hopeful and resilient. They're mates who watch each others backs as well as let each other down and these contractions are so well drawn that the characters breathe on their own and worked their way into my heart. Eagar is a master of showing and readers are drawn into the richness of her characters and maybe have to work a little to see all the shades and complexities in the Aussie gang (consisting of three guys and two girls - whose history includes crushes, betrayals, guilt, relationship complications and a recent horrific accident in the ocean).
The vampires from the Batavia wreck are seriously freaky creatures of the night. Ugly and evil and the stuff made of nightmares. Powerful and relentless and their desire for blood and sadistic plans of mass feasting gave me chills. The horror factor clawed at my belly - in a wide-eyed, can't-look-away, creeped-out manner.
Just like the power of the outback setting in Lucy Christopher's Stolen, Eagar evokes similar sensations with the ocean. It's churning and powerful and compelling and lurking with hidden horrors. The ocean and the bush and music festival were used to advantage to add to the creepy undertones and Australian authenticity.
I haven't seen many thrillers of this outstanding calibre in the YA scene. Also, the male POV - spot on in a way that made me ache for it's authenticity.
It's a dark, spine-tingling read but not without it's moments of laid-back humour and some heart-felt relationship drama that added some levity. Also, how much did the last page just make me grin? It left me with a sense of loving these guys.
Two quotes I loved:
Aw, bugger it. Don't die wondering. 17. I love Jamie :)
I love this sentiment: Jamie's eyes met hers and recognition passed between them. He wondered if that was how it was going to be for the rest of their lives. They'd talk as if they were just two people who used to hang out, but all the time their eyes would be saying, I know you well and I miss you badly. 304.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar
Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly café. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing ... and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago. Then she meets Ryan and Carly has to decide ... Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy? (from Penguin: publisher's site)
I was hanging out to read this because:
Melina Marchetta mentioned it as a fave read of 2009.
author Julia Lawrinson said: 'If you only read one book this year ... it should be Kirsty Eagar's Raw Blue …"
with a 19 year old protag and a 26 year old love interest, it's my kind of fave upper YA
surfing, Sydney, haunted past, Aussie YA :)
Mate, Raw Blue is so Australian, hey? It is also so authentic that I experienced little pools of tension in my gut and tiny bubbles of hope that Carly would be okay. A powerful, raw and beautiful novel that now sits proudly on my all time faves shelf.
It has this languid, quietly intense pace which you sit back in the pocket, holding your breath. I was only a fifth in when I was startled to discover that Carly had gotten under my skin in a way that a literary character hasn't for a very long time. I was crazily invested in her and felt all ripped up and torn inside-out as the novel progressed. I so wanted her to be okay.
Carly is such an awesome protag - 19, tough surfer girl, vulnerable and alone, hurting (after a traumatic/shocking event @ schoolies) not letting anyone in. Enter Ryan - surfer, 26. With his own dodgy/dangerous past. And, he likes Carly. The scenes of them meeting and starting to hang out and then Carly deciding whether to trust Ryan - it's mesmerising and lip-biting and beautiful and painful all at once.
These characters are contemporary YA at it's best.
The characters and dialogue were not only distinctly Australian, but they were so nuanced and authentic that I felt like I was eavesdropping on real life. I loved the surfing scenes, where the ocean was like a living, breathing all-consuming force. Kirsty has such a way with words that you are engaged in the scene with all your five senses.
Also, I have to mention Danny, one of my fave characters. A 15 year old surfer with synaesthesia (so completely fascinating) who befriends Carly and was an awesome dude in general.
I read this in one gulping heap and even now Carly's story continues to linger. Not only was this novel brilliantly engaging - but it's also an important novel about hope and pain and healing. I've re-read it already, as if hoping to absorb some of the magic of Kirsty's writing into my own (ahh, hasn't happened yet). Kirsty Eagar has shot straight up onto my list of whoa-crazy-good authors.
Her sophomore novel, Saltwater Vampires, is out in September and I am so there! If it's half as good as Raw Blue - it'll be the best paranormal out there :)
I hardly ever give 5 stars
I only like to save them for the best of the absolute best.
This is 5 stars all the way.
Thanks to Between the Lines who sent me this book after I won a comp :)
Review: Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar
by 1girl2manybooks on February 22, 2016
Summer Skin
Kirsty Eagar
Allen & Unwin
2016, 347
Purchased personal copy
Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}:
Jess Gordon is out for revenge. Last year the jocks from Knights College tried to shame her best friend. This year she and a hand-picked college girl gang are going to get even.
The lesson: don’t mess with Unity girls.
The target: Blondie, a typical Knights stud, arrogant, cold . . . and smart enough to keep up with Jess.
A neo-riot grrl with a penchant for fanning the flames meets a rugby-playing sexist pig – sworn enemies or two people who happen to find each other when they’re at their most vulnerable?
It’s all Girl meets Boy, Girl steals from Boy, seduces Boy, ties Boy to a chair and burns Boy’s stuff. Just your typical love story.
A searingly honest and achingly funny story about love and sex amid the hotbed of university colleges by the award-winning author of Raw Blue.
I was so keen to read this book that I took no chances and made sure I ordered it in directly to the local bookstore in my town because their selection is difficult to predict and you can’t rely on them having anything that you’re wanting, especially in the week of release. When it arrived I was deep into the Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante so they were always going to be a hard act to follow. This book however? Is more than up to the task.
This book is my university experience. I lived in residential halls for two years and so much of this book is those years. It took me straight back there, from the O-week celebrations/rushing to the pranks played on one residential house by another. The dorms at my old uni weren’t segregated so there were no male only ones but apart from that, everything was there. Right down to the rugby union playing misogynistic bullshit. In fact, this book brought to mind something I’d long forgotten, a memory from my first year. I lived in a 3 story dorm, 16 rooms on each floor which was set apart from the other dorms by a piece of land roughly the size of a football field. We were isolated by geography and also, because it was the most expensive dorm. “A-Block C***s” was the preferred usage describing us by those in other dorms. Anyway, despite this university being on the outskirts of Sydney, a lot of my fellow residents lived in various other parts of Sydney and often went home on weekends. I lived 2 train rides and 8hrs travel time away so I did not. One weekend, I was alone on my floor save one foreign student who never came out of her room. A friend from another dorm came over to see me and we had dinner together and were hanging out chatting when some drunk Ag-majors from another block stumbled in. They made nuisances of themselves and then one took off, looking for someone on another floor. The remaining guy was a notorious mess, and he sat there, in silence for several moments before looking at me.
“You know,” he slurred thoughtfully. “You’re alone on this floor this weekend. I could come back and rape you and no one would ever know.”
By now, it was late and my friend had wanted to return home to her own dorm. But she didn’t, she stayed with me until the guy stumbled off and disappeared (he was later found in a bathroom on bottom floor in a pile of his own vomit and something else even grosser than that). I was forever grateful to her for sticking around and unsurprisingly, he was kicked out of dorms at the end of our first year because that was by no means an isolated incident.
But it wasn’t all drunken threats of rape and avoiding rugby players with popped collars, jeans with giant belt buckles and RM Williams. It was two incredibly fun years and Summer Skin is brilliant at catching that too. Living in residential colleges is a hard experience to reproduce but you form a different sort of friendship with your dorm mates than you would as a day student. You’re living together, breathing in pretty much every facet of each other’s life and it becomes a very tight bond. The good thing about living in that sort of environment is that there’s always someone to talk to, or go do something with, whether it be going to the bar or to the shops or even just for a walk. The bad thing can often be that it’s very hard to find time to be alone – even locking yourself in your room isn’t enough when drunk people know you’re in there.
The book opens with Jess sneaking into the notorious Knights College, an all-male residential hall which is set apart from Jess’s more casual/eclectic Unity in many ways. Knights College has pretentious little gold plaques that announce each wing as you enter it. Unity has blocks. Last year the residents of Knights College played a terribly cruel and disgusting trick on one of Jess’ friends and this year, her and a couple of others are out for revenge. I have to admit their revenge ideas are pretty damn clever – they definitely beat the pranks of the residential halls at my old uni!
Jess and a Knights boy she nicknames Blondie cross paths and Jess smells victory and revenge all at once. It’s complicated by the fact that Blondie, despite being a typically arrogant Knight keeps showing flashes of depth and humanity as well as something quite damaged. Theirs is truly a push-pull interaction with witty banter that is interspersed with moments that truly tap into something more, and on more than one occasion, hit a nerve. I loved their every moment together, even when it was painful and heartbreaking. Blondie is deeply flawed, master of a cutting remark but at the same time he’s also quite intensely vulnerable. This is a romance with a very rocky path – both of them make a lot of very realistic mistakes and are carrying a bit of baggage that’s not just about a Unity girl and a Knights boy.
The Australian culture is so strong in this novel, from the music references to the slang and way of speaking. When I first read this section, I couldn’t stop laughing:
At that moment, a stocky guy with curly hair and a blue face blocked Blondie’s path, addressing him as ‘Killer’ and telling him it was the Paddington Tavern for afters, acting like he couldn’t see Jess, tucked under Blondie’s arm. And Blondie played right along: widening his stance as if experiencing a sudden and significant surge in ball size, speaking in the drawl used by guys who are fluent in Brah.
“Yeah, right, the Paddo. Not going to make it, hey.”
But even though it’s amusing (because that is a thing that guys do and a way in which they speak) it also highlights the differences in the hook up culture for men and women. Men like Blondie are celebrated for picking up a girl and heading out of a function with rawkus ribbing and elbowing and side-eyeing and a lot of sniggering and “roger that”. Rarely are women applauded for such things, instead they become ‘that’ girl. The one who slept with the football player or the third year or the RA or whatever defines the male – slut shaming is rife and there’s a belief that women don’t seem to have the same needs and desires – or if they do, they should never voice them! Jess makes an absolutely amazing speech in this book about sexual desire and what she feels and wants sometimes and it’s just incredible! Utterly refuting the belief that sexual needs and desire are a man’s domain and that sometimes, she just wants as well. Her forthrightness and bluntness help evolve Blondie from well, a bit of a dick who doesn’t ‘do’ relationships and seems to view women as merely vessels with holes for brief moments of pleasure, into a still-flawed person, but one that recognises the human-ness of Jess, the fact that she can be and is more than that. In getting to know Jess, (sometimes reluctantly) sharing pieces of himself with her, he begins to connect on a more-than-physical level and it’s delicious (although the physical stuff is pretty hot, too). He doesn’t change overnight though – he still does and says thoughtless and hurtful things and you get the feeling he probably will in the future too. This is no instalove, it’s something that they both need to work at, trying and trying again after each time something fails/goes wrong.
I could probably keep talking about this book forever but I’ve just noticed how long this review has become, thanks to my ridiculously long university anecdote! Another 1500 words probably wouldn’t give me enough time to address the topics and issues running throughout this book. Summer Skin is raw, engrossing, funny, sexy, confronting and thoughtful all at once and I freaking loved it. It and Raw Blue are two of the best older YA books I’ve ever read and I will be happy to shove copies of both into everyone’s hands. And now I will sit and wait patiently for Kirsty Eager’s next novel.
9/10
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
'Night Beach' by Kirsty Eagar
Received from the Publisher
From the BLURB:
Imagine there is someone you like so much that just thinking about them leaves you desperate and reckless. You crave them in a way that's not rational, not right, and you're becoming somebody you don't recognise, and certainly don't respect, but you don't even care.
And this person you like is unattainable. Except for one thing . . .
He lives downstairs.
Abbie has three obsessions. Art. The ocean. And Kane.
But since Kane's been back, he's changed. There's a darkness shadowing him that only Abbie can see. And it wants her in its world.
A gothic story about the very dark things that feed the creative process.
Abbie feels abandoned in her own hometown. Her older sister, Anna, has moved away for University, leaving Abbie stranded with her distant mother and meticulous stepfather. Abbie’s real father is starting a new family with his pregnant girlfriend, wiping the slate clean, or so it seems. Abbie has also distanced herself from school friends, and been abandoned by her best friend Petey in favour of her new boyfriend, Jake.
But all of these cut ties and drifting friendships are nothing compared to losing her step-cousin, Kane. After a confusing Christmas encounter, Kane and his friends went for a surf photo shoot overseas and absence has certainly made Abbie’s heart grow fonder. For weeks she has been thinking and obsessing about Kane, missing him and remembering their ‘almost’ moment.
Abbie fills the time between waiting for school and Kane by thinking about her all-important final art project, and surfing. She duck-dives and rips through the waves, paddles out every day until she’s numb with cold. Accompanying her are new friends and local art/surfer boys Max and Oliver Wood (aka, ‘Ollie Wood’, aka ‘Hollywood’). And for a little extra money she babysits a little girl called Joey, a budding young artist with a curious imaginary friend named Pinty.
And then Kane comes home.
Abbie is still under his spell, and elated by the news that he has recently dumped his girlfriend. Kane’s time away, surfing with friends around remote islands, has improved his technique and turned him into an even more ruthless surfer. Abbie admires his bravado on the waves, the way his powerful body cuts through the surf . . . but something has changed about Kane. His first day back in town and he picks a fight with the meanest old boy there is, Greg Hill, sparking a nasty territory war amongst the local surfers.
But that’s not the only thing that has changed about him. He’s hot to the touch with gouges on his skin. His shadow is not right, and a cryptic message in the back of his notebook has Abbie looking over her shoulder.
Something happened on those islands, and Kane has come back changed. While Abbie tries to figure out what’s wrong with him, her artwork takes on an intensity that scares even her. The only other person who seems to realize Abbie’s concerns is her babysitting charge, Joey. A little girl whose invisible friend, Pinty, understands about the black thing following Kane, and knows where Abbie must go. . .
There is an old maritime superstition that says if the rim of a glass rings, there are shipwrecks ahead. In the weeks after Kane’s return, the peal of vibrating glass can be heard constantly, warning of the wreckage. . .
‘Night Beach’ is the much-anticipated new YA novel from Kirsty Eagar, winner of the 2010 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for her debut, ‘Raw Blue’.
In her first novel, Kirsty Eagar introduced readers to an angry and scarred young woman named Carly who found catharsis in surfing, but whose grief and anger could not be washed away, no matter how much she tried to purge them. In her follow-up novel, ‘Saltwater Vampires’, Eagar turned Australia’s sun, sand and surf into a spine-tingling Gothic setting for a vampire horror story. The best way I can describe her third novel, ‘Night Beach’ is as a glorious blend of these first two books – the emotional complexities of ‘Raw Blue’, examining relationships and wanting, combined with the sinister surf setting of ‘Saltwater Vampires’, with a supernatural malevolence plaguing our heroine.
Our protagonist in ‘Night Beach’ is Abbie, a talented young artist who feels cast adrift in her life. Her older sister, Anna, is arguably the only real family Abbie has left – and even she has abandoned her to study in Canberra. Abbie is left with her reserved mother and Brian, dull-as-dishwater step-father. Abbie’s real father lives interstate, with his pregnant girlfriend, busy creating a new family. Abbie has so many disconnections in her life – even her best friend has abandoned her for the holidays, choosing to vacation with her all-important boyfriend. But the biggest loss in Abbie’s young life has been the recent death of her grandfather – a cranky old bugger who enjoyed morning swims in the ocean and gifted Abbie with numerous and curious treasures.
It is little wonder then that Abbie has a particular obsession with her step-cousin, Kane, who lives with Abbie and her family in a basement for rent. A not-quite pro surfer, Kane is the archetypal surf boy – concerned only with catching waves and picking up girls. Abbie knows he is not the best target for her young romantic feelings – and her best friend, ‘Hollywood’, has cautioned her against those feelings enough times. When Abbie has so few links in her life, she finds comfort in her steadfast feelings for Kane, even as she rallies against their hopelessness (not least of all because of their familial connections, however distant and bloodless).
I don’t want romance and stolen kisses and sweetness and hand holding. I want something so big it’s like two planets colliding, with an aftershock that I feel for the rest of my life.
But when Kane returns from a surf trip with his mates, there is something decidedly wrong with him. He’s cagey and cryptic, talking about a mysterious island he visited with those mates and the local’s superstitions of the place after dark for its ‘bad demon shit’. Abbie observes Kane’s erratic behaviour with growing concern – his punch-up with the local surf bully, and a shifting shadow that seems to cloak him, that only Abbie can see. . .
There is such a sinister ambiance throughout ‘Night Beach’, that Eagar’s ability to conjure fright and tension in the reader is bordering on sublime . . . I read this book at night, under the covers and looking out the window into a blackened evening. And I've got to say, it was the best way to read a book that so delights in being a horror story. Once again, Eagar masterfully paints a very different version of Australia’s iconic sandy beaches – turning them once more into an unsettled and unpredictable landscape. Question-marks drawn into the sand, a flock of birds shedding hundreds of feathers in the surf. . . Eagar slowly but surely flips Aussie geography on its axis, and imbues it with a whole new meaning and menace.
Abbie loves surfing, but what she really craves is the ocean. When no place and no one in Abbie’s life truly feel permanent or reliable, the ocean feels like home. So it’s wonderful to read the way the beauty of the sea turns into a very different landscape throughout the book, warping and shifting with Kane’s mystery that seems somehow linked to Abbie and her sacred home. The other way Eagar turns the tide is in the violence of the men for whom the ocean is a playground, and they’re king of the kids. Local surfer Greg Hill was once great, but is now a bullying menace on the waves. He harasses Abbie’s friend, Hollywood, and is hell-bent on a revenge attack against Kane. This too is something Eagar excels at; her observations of men and their pack-like behaviour, both in the water and out, that is wonderfully translated through the politics of surfing;
To really belong, you have to be really good, really tough, really psychotic, really fearless, really misogynistic, really violent – any of these might do. But loving it isn’t enough. And being nice is a handicap, unless you’re also an excellent surfer, in which case they’ll say you’re a top bloke. Only blokes belong of course, but that goes without saying.
Abbie is the stand-out of this novel. She’s utterly relatable and wonderful – navigating her first and arguably doomed love with older step-cousin, Kane. She is the book’s narrator, and some of her observations of this tricky time in her life, when her feelings overrun her common sense, are enviably communicated.
Pretending to be good, even if no one is around to see it, calms me down. It makes me feel virtuous and protected. Clean of sex stink.
But Abbie is especially interesting for her other obsession - art. She has prints of Brett Whitely works hanging on her wall, and expresses her thoughts in relation to Rene Magritte illusionary classics. There’s a real delight in reading ‘Night Beach’, of writing down the artists Abbie references and looking up the artworks she is thinking about; like the surreal splendour of a Dorothea Tanning painting, or ‘Thebes Revenge’ that she loves most.
‘Night Beach’ reads like an ocean swell; turning and flipping the reader, dunking us under the cool depths of Eagar’s beautiful and complex story. It is at once a coming-of-age novel, as Abbie comes to terms with her imperfect and fractured family, and her complicated love for Kane. The book is also a look at the influences and triggers of creativity – as Abbie looks at her world with an artist’s eye, and feeds her creative instincts with her problematic feelings for Kane, and the shadowy presence that haunts him. . . which carries us to the final aspect of the book, the pervading danger that Kane bought home with him, the ‘something’ that stalks Abbie and sets wine glasses ringing. . .
‘Night Beach’ is the quintessential young adult horror story – the mysterious shadows will keep you up at night, but it’s the teenage protagonist’s personal struggles that will keep you suctioned to the page, as desperate to find out about her doomed love story as the island mystery. This is, without a doubt, one of the most anticipated new Australian young adult novels of 2012, and Kirsty Eagar’s new tale absolutely earns and deserves all the hype and anticipation.
5/5
REVIEW: Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar
by Sarah McDuling |February 3, 2016
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Review by Sarah McDuling
Summer Skin really and truly blew me away. I can’t remember the last time I had a reading experience that was so wonderfully surprising! When I picked up this book I expected a cute, fluffy YA romance and instead what I got was a smart, hard-hitting and emotionally weighted love story full of incredibly rich and layered characters. At turns shockingly honest and wildly funny, with moments of such raw vulnerability that it just breaks your heart … Summer Skin does not pull any punches. This is no-holds-barred storytelling at its best!
Covering a range of topics such as gender politics, sexual desire, slut shaming and rape culture, Summer Skin has a lot of important things to say – and it says them without once preaching or lecturing. Summer Skin deals with a lot of topical issues within the framework of a very engaging love story. Well written and sharply focused, it offers readers an authentic snapshot of Australian youth culture.
Ideal for fans of Melina Marchetta, Vikki Wakefield and Maureen McCarthy.
* Please note this book is marketed at teens aged 17+ and contains some material that may be considered unsuitable for younger readers.
Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar
19 February 2016 by Guest In Reviews, Romantic elements, Young adult fiction.
A clever, romantic coming of age story that deserves your attention. Guest review by Catherine Heloise.
Kat’s note: This author has been on my to-try list for a while, so I was thrilled when Catherine volunteered to write a guest review for Kirsty Eagar’s latest book! But first, a little bit about Catherine:
By day, I work as a scientific coordinator in a medical research Institute. By night, I sing Bach and Brahms and other composers whose names do not start with B, bake incessantly, worry about politics, read as much escapist fiction as I can get my hands on (these two things are related), and write three blogs — one about food, one about politics, and, most recently, one for short stories inspired by the Paris Metro. I also write an occasional music blog. Periodically, I want to review a book, but starting a fifth blog would be ridiculous, so here I am…
Authors I love to read include Lois McMaster Bujold, Connie Willis, Robin McKinley, Laura Florand and Courtney Milan, but that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
I won this book as part of the Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop (which is responsible, in most years, for me spending the public holiday diligently reading blog posts and trying to come up with thoughtful comments in order to get yummy free books by Australian authors). This is an annual giveaway of books by Australian authors in a wide range of genres, and this year I was super lucky and managed to win several romance novels. Score!
Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar was the first one to arrive and it looked very promising indeed, with a bright pink cover, and a highly entertaining tagline:
It’s all girl meets boy, girl steals from boy, seduces boy, ties boy to a chair and burns boy’s stuff. Just your typical love story.
It also had a cover quote from Clem Ford, calling it ‘the feminist love story that girls have been waiting for’ — also a good sign for this reader. To my further delight, it is set in Brisbane, a city I don’t know well, but have enjoyed visiting. It seems to me that most high-profile romances (and indeed other novels) set in Australia are rural romances, and I can understand why — the bush has a certain glamour, and is much more exotic to a foreign audience. And let’s face it, that’s a big market. But as one of the 86% of Australians who live in a city or inner regional areas, it’s fun to see a story set somewhere that’s a bit closer to the Australia I know.
Our protagonist in this story is Jess ‘Flash’ Gordon, a second-year student at Unity College, who is out for vengeance. Last year, the jocks from Knights College did something terrible to her best friend, and this year, Jess is going to make them pay. But of course, it isn’t quite as simple as that.
I should probably digress here, for any overseas readers, to note that college means something a bit different here to what it means in the US. Rather than being the place where you do your undergraduate degree, a college here is a residence on or near campus with food and utilities provided, and often other amenities such as tutors, sporting teams, and the like. Shared rooms aren’t a thing here, either, though one usually shares a bathroom with everyone on your corridor, and sometimes facilities like microwaves (though not on my floor when I was there, because someone in the year prior to mine got drunk and put a dim sim in the microwave for two hours to see what would happen, and what happened was that he got bored and wandered off and the dim sim exploded and the microwave caught fire, and that was the end of microwaves on our corridor. Or so I was told.)
As colleges are generally more expensive than a share apartment, most of the students who stay in them are either from rural areas, or are first year students who want to meet people — a lot of people move out in their second or third year into share apartments, and plenty more live at home with their parents for a year or two before moving out with friends.
And each college tends to have its own identity and rivalries with neighbouring colleges. In Summer Skin, Unity College is a very progressive, small-l-liberal sort of college. It’s co-ed, a bit hipster-ish, a bit free-spirited, and clearly prides itself on being welcoming and supportive of difference (though in retrospect, I don’t recall noticing a single character at Unity who wasn’t straight and white — there’s a boy at Knights who I think is Torres Strait Islander, though I now can’t find where it said that, but that’s about it). Knights college is all male, very into sports, and feels very private-school-for-rich-jocks.
Eagar sucked me into the story very early in her first chapter, in which Jess was furtively hunting all over Knights college for *something*, but we didn’t really know what or why. And then she got caught, sort of, and wound up in a cryptic conversation with a nameless Knights boy, who she dubs Blondie. Here’s a bit of dialogue:
‘I know you’re lying.’
Jess whirled around. ‘Excuse me?’
Blondie wasn’t looking at her; he was measuring out washing powdr. ‘The song,’ he said calmly. ‘They’re the words, aren’t they?’
Jess realised he was referring to the song now playing on the radio. ‘Yeah, I guess,’ she said. He’d been repeating Meaghan Trainor’s lyrics, but was there a subtext?
‘You should know. It’s one of yours.’
‘How do you mean?’
He sprinkled powder over his clothes, his tone dismissive. ‘It’s a chick song.’
There was the subtext: he was a dick. ‘I didn’t realise music had a gender,’ Jess said.
Eagar has a highly enjoyable style, very dry and witty. It is also the sort of writing that reminds me in some indefinable way that Australian English is its own mini-dialect — perfectly intelligible to another English speaker, but somehow the word choices or phrasing are not quite those you’d find in a novel by an American or English or Canadian writer. For me, this is relaxing to read on a level that I didn’t even know was there.
The story is told entirely from the viewpoint of Jess. It’s tight third person, so we get to enjoy her inner thoughts, and her voice is lovely, very acerbic and very consciously feminist, and she won’t take shit from anyone, though sometimes her anger runs ahead of her brains. Jess is studying economics, and plays with the sharemarket in her spare time, and she is ever so slightly obsessed with setting things on fire (which gives me hives, but Brisbane is a lot wetter than Melbourne, and she is always careful to be safe about it). She is very loyal, very good at speaking her mind and saying what she means. She also seems emotionally a bit all over the shop, but then, she’s nineteen or so, and who isn’t a disaster about relationships at nineteen? Speaking of which, she is also recently out of a relationship with a boyfriend who will not let go — except that he does disappear from the story quite peacefully about a third of the way in and is never seen again. This is, of course, how things work in real life but somehow threw me, as I thought he was being set up to cause trouble later, and I kept expecting him to reappear.
But no — our Jess doesn’t need an ex-boyfriend to cause trouble later, because she has Blondie, who is, as she so cleverly deduced earlier, a bit of a dick, though also not at all stupid. He is also, as it turns out, not going to disappear from her life after the first, or even second encounter, because he kind of sort of likes her, even though she is a girl, and he’s also really attracted to her, even though he is absolutely not going to sleep with her, or kiss her, because he doesn’t do kissing, or heaven forbid, give her his phone number or room number or anything else that might imply a relationship. Jess isn’t sure she likes him very much, either, but he is clever, and amusing, and kind of hot, so…
It’s hard to write about this story without giving the plot away, because it does twist and turn all over the place. And we are always going to have more sympathy for Jess, because while both characters are screwed up, we can see the inside of Jess’s head and see where she is coming from, while our friend Blondie (and I’m not giving you his name because it’s a minor spoiler) is busy performing toxic masculinity for large portions of the book. He’s not violent, and he is pretty good on consent (though some of his lines, ugh), but he is unbelievably sexist, and has a real knack for saying appalling, deliberately hurtful things if he thinks Jess is getting too close to him. There is an element of self-defense about this (he really has earned his issues, and Jess does something pretty awful to him at the start of the book.), but it does not make him particularly sympathetic.
‘Oh, that’s ladylike.’
The sneer in his voice. As though she wasn’t worth even a pretence at courtesy.[…] ‘You forgot to say that a lot of your friends are guys.’
‘A lot of my friends are guys,’ Jess said, sliding out from under him. […]
‘They’re not your friends. They’re just guys who wouldn’t mind doing you, and they’ve worked out that familiarity gives them an advantage.’
Jess flicked her Zippo on and stared at the flame. ‘You’re telling me this because a lot of your friends are girls?’
‘None of my friends are girls.’
She snapped the Zippo shut. ‘And that’s a good thing, is it?’
‘At least I’m honest.’
Blondie improves slowly but significantly, as the book progresses, though a lot of the changes in him happen off-stage (he tends to just disappear from sight when dealing with stuff, which again, makes it harder to feel sympathy for him), which is a bit of a pity. Then again, it means that we find ourselves once again standing with Jess, unsure whether to trust these changes or not.
But by the end of the book, he has dealt with a lot of his shit, and in the process, has learned how to be less of a dick. He even seems to have grasped that women are people, which is good. (Nor is Jess putting up with any of that ‘you aren’t like other chicks’ bullshit, and good for her). So I do find myself feeling happy with where the relationship is going by the end, and I think they do have a viable future together, though most of this is sorted out very much in the last chapter or two.
Having said that, I need to write a bit about what happens with the Big Revenge at the start, because it’s not OK, and while it is not written as though it is OK, it did seem to blow over fairly easily.
Teeny-tiny spoilers await you below…
Essentially, in the previous year, the Knights boys ran a sweep with a prize for who could get a Unity girl into bed after the joint college party — and then videotaped the act. The girl in question, Farren, chose not to report this because she didn’t want this one occasion to be the thing that defined her and her year, which is understandable, but also sad. In revenge, Jess and her team of freshers decide that they will have a competition to see who can lure a Knights boy back to their rooms, tie him up, and give him a makeover (involving shaving, hair-dye, etc.), which will then be posted on social media.
While this is less awful than what was done to Farren the previous year, I’m pretty uncomfortable with the fact that revenge is being taken on a completely different set of people to the ones who perpetrated the first act, and honestly, the bit with the unwilling makeover reminds me a lot of what happened to Bella in The Shameless Hour (Sabrina Bowen). While I felt that Blondie’s reaction was proportionate, and that things between him and Jess were settled in a way that seemed fair, it was also mentioned that another of the girls had apologised to one of the other boys who was tied up and shaved (all over, by the sound of it), but that he was still ‘Pretty shaken up, I think. And humiliated– it’s not like the Knights would be forgiving.’
And while Jess feels bad about being the ringleader for all this — and she and the other girls cop a predictable amount of sickening abuse and threats online as a result — that doesn’t actually undo what happened to the boy who was humiliated, any more than their revenge undoes what happened to Farren.
I don’t think Jess or Blondie or anyone else in this book was intended to be a perfect example of anything, or that how they dealt with this situation was meant to be an example of how feminism or solidarity is supposed to work, but it was something I found hard to forget.
Overall, I really enjoyed Summer Skin. I liked its overt feminism, and that it kept going to places I didn’t expect it to. It is not trying to be a sweet, escapist romp, but is instead messy and occasionally morally ambiguous in a way which feels very real, but not always very comfortable. I really enjoyed the two main characters — again, they felt like real people, which made it easier to forgive them when they did stupid, stupid things. I also liked the way intimacy between Jess and Blondie was negotiated, and that the things each of them was comfortable with and uncomfortable with did not follow usual patterns but made total sense for their characters. (Incidentally, while there are no long, explicit sex scenes, the author also doesn’t fade to black — there is a fair bit of sexy stuff going on, and while it is not described in great detail, it’s very much present.)
If you like clever romance that is also a coming of age story, with a good dash of feminism, a hero who is tortured and chauvinistic, but does eventually get his head out of his arse, a heroine who is smart and knows her own value, and an unusual setting (hooray for fiction set in Australian universities!), Summer Skin definitely deserves your attention.
Content advisory: Possible triggers relating to grief and harassment.