Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

I absolutely loved Dumplin' by Murphy.  I honestly have no idea what took me so long to read this. 

Ramona is a gay teen in southern Mississippi post-Katrina entering her senior year.  She's certain about her sexuality and "out" in her small community.  Her drunk (and racist and homophobic) mother has left her and her slightly older sister with their father (a hotel maintenance man) in a trailer park.  Hattie may be older, but Ramona is the responsible one.  Hattie's unemployed, lazy baby-daddy-to-be (also a racist homophobic) moves into the trailer.  Ramona works as a waitress, paper girl, sitter, and other odd jobs to keep the family afloat.

The story opens as the summer comes to an end.  Ramona and a tourist had a relationship, but now Grace is heading back inland.  At the same time, former resident Agnes moves back to Eulogy with her grandson Freddie. 

I think you can guess what happens at this point.  It was pretty obvious Ramona and Freddie would fall in love, making Ramona question her sexuality.  Still, it was a easy, enjoyable read.

So, yes, I did enjoy it as a story.  Was it the social commentary some people have played it up to be?  I don't think so. What irked me was that there were too many "issues" for any of them to be delved into with fidelity.  Unplanned pregnancy and abortion, race, gender, unemployment, poverty, college financing...I totally get that this is reality for a whole lot of people, but it made it hard to sympathize because their issues were only surface level (example: the group gets caught swimming in a vacant rental home pool, Freddie launches into a tirade about that being how a black kid gets shot--relevant and timely, but then poof, issue over). 

Sometimes though, I think reviewers make a book out to be something it's not.  Maybe it was just meant to be a good story. 

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.