Buy Somewhere In Blue
Special $11.80 (Regular price: $14.95)
Publisher: Lobster Press
Format: Paperback
Reviewer: Melissa on February 24, 2011
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
In Somewhere In Blue, Gillian Cummings composes a deep and beautiful meditation on the loss of a parent and the resulting grief the child feels. She describes the ache in Sandy Rawlin’s stomach, which gets stronger with almost no warning when speaking with her mother – the remaining parent – or a friend about her father’s death in such a way that the reader can’t help but consider how they would feel in her place. As you can imagine, this thought alone is chilling. However, in this novel, Cummings demonstrates both the despair and the way out of it, the infinite desire for survival that comes with seeking the solace of a blue sky.
When 16-year-old Sandy losses her father suddenly, he mother seems unable to grieve the loss, which makes it even more difficult for the teen daughter to cope. Instead, SomewhereInBlue shows not only that Sandy is spiraling out of control, but also that she pushes her best friend, Lennie, away. At the same time, Lennie is also struggling to understand her own mother’s actions and behavior and really needs Sandy, so the distancing complicates things for her. In addition, Sandy’s neighbor, Dan, who has always been just a friend now seems to want something more from her. Everyday, Sandy sinks further away into her depression, leaving the audience wondering whether she’ll find her way back to the surface in time.
Cummings writes a slow and methodical story that took awhile for me to get into. That’s not to say that teen readers won’t appreciate it though because what bothered me, more that anything, was the angst that Sandy and Lennie feel toward their mothers. Lennie is embarrassed and disgusted by her mother’s cougar-like ways with men. Sandy has never gotten along well with her mother, so her lack of grief after Sandy’s father dies strains their relationship further. I understood where they were coming from, but the anger was off-putting at first. As the novel continues though, the girls’ understanding of their moms grows significantly. In some cases, the secrets shared between mother and daughter bridge the gap between them. In others, it pushes the characters to their breaking point. Either way, Somewhere In Blue’s action built up at a slow and steady pace that eventually makes pulling away not only difficult, but also virtually impossible.
One of the other things that I loved about this novel is that Cummings doesn’t dumb her writing down for the teen audience. She uses intelligent symbolism including that found in a scene in which Sandy is sitting on a bench at the beach: “The picnic bench had been closer to the edge than she knew” (232). Sure, the bench is literally close to the edge of the water, but if Sandy’s sitting on it, than she is also closer to the edge as well. Not only is she close to the water, but also this phrase suggests that Sandy is also metaphorically close to the edge of madness. In this way, the author has given young readers something they can work through and analyze further than the regular paranormal or realistic teen fiction that they might be reading.
Singled out by Governor General’s Award-winner Tim Wynne-Jones for a Letter of Distinction at the Humber School for Writers, Somewhere In Blue made me realize that Gillian Cumming is definitely a writer worth watching. And the gorgeous cover design created by Montreal’s own Lobster Press for this novel will draw you into this novel and possibly others published by this small publishing company.
Buy Somewhere In Blue today!
Melissa has always been a voracious reader of fiction and has an M.A. in English Literature to prove it. Like many other adults, she got caught up in the young adult crossover fiction phenomenon. Now, one of her great joys comes from sharing her love of YA lit on this popular review site. Come with expectations of intellect, magic, and honest reviews, and you won’t be disappointed.
