Blueeyedboy

I'm not usually a thriller fan, but this one really grabbed me. Joanne Harris knows how to tell a story and keep the tension high and the twists are never overwhelming, but always exciting. This is the story of a very messed up group of people told through the blog and private posts of "blueeyedboy" who is a 40-something bachelor living with his mother. He writes "fiction" about his family and assorted murders...but what is really true and what is truly fiction? Also, we read the private posts of Albertine, whose identity we think we know, until we don't. Well written, great story and enough depth of character to satisfy my preference for character-driven stories.

This book was like playing a squash game. The author starts off playing easy shots off the wall, 2/3s of the way through, you get a shot off the back wall, followed by a massive ricochet exploding all over the court, and ending with that drop shot to the front that you suspect is coming, but don't have the energy to get to.
I think I am reading these Malby novels in the wrong order, and since I haven't read G & P, may have missed out on some helpful background.

Johanne Harris è una trasformista che non si può imbrigliare in una categoria precisa della narrativa: scrive romanzi rosa, di magia, di mitologia, thriller, horror e l'elenco potrebbe proseguire ancora perché ciascuno di essi potrebbe venire incluso anche in un sottinsieme, come una matrioska. Un particolare però lega tutti i suoi romanzi, ed è la mostruosa suggestione con cui crea vite. Non personaggi, non caratteri, ma esseri che potrebbero uscire dalle pagine dei romanzi e vivere di vita propria tanto sono realistici e concreti. A questa si aggiunge la sua bravura nello stravolgere le situazioni di partenza e "Il ragazzo con gli occhi blu" è il non plus ultra: leggerlo è come guardare un quadro di Escher, dove le scale show more continuano all'infinito e gli uccelli si trasformano in pesci senza soluzione di continuità.
Blueyedboy è uno come tanti, un uomo che si potrebbe definire anche ragazzo per la vita da adolescente che conduce: vive ancora con la madre nonostante abbia un lavoro e quarant'anni suonati, si sfoga nella vita parellela della rete, nel suo blog che in traltà è una tela di ragno dove intrappola i suoi lettori come prede con cui divertirsi. Nasconde la propria verità di imbroglione dietro una maschera di perbenismo, cercando di evitare lo sguardo indagatore della madre soffocante e la curiosità delle sue amiche sempre pronte a fare la spia.
Il libro è un dialogo virtuale a suon di botta e risposta via blog tra Blueyedboy e Albertine, due facce della stessa medaglia che descrivono la stessa verità in due modi diversi eppure complementari. E quando il lettore crede di essere arrivato a capire, la storia viene capovolta, una volta, due , tre... fino alla fine. I punti di riferimento consueti vengono demoliti, il bene non è tale e il male è l'unica soluzione; le scelte di uno influiscono indelebilmente sulla vita degli altri, ma le conseguenze non rispondono alla prima legge della fisica; ciò che viene spacciato per vero, non lo è, o forse sì, o forse no, o forse...?
"Il ragazzo con gli occhi blu" è un romanzo dove la cattiveria trasuda da ogni pagina, mescolata al rancore e all'odio: emozioni così forti che il lettore non ne resta immune e per quanto dica a sé stesso che è "solo una storia" chiude il libro con un senso di inquietudine che non lo abbandona nemmeno dopo l'ultima pagina. I vari pezzi del puzzle si incastrano senza sforzo e senza dare l'impressione di seguire uno schema già stabilito: un unico difetto, forse necessario per descrivere la complessità delle vicende, è la narrazione impostata come un blog, con post e commenti. Peccato che solo questi abbiano la freschezza e l'immediatezza dei messaggi reali, mentre i capitoli-post mancano completamente del linguaggio tipico dei diari on-line: troppo involuti, troppo descrittivi, troppo narrativi e quindi poco credibili. Conoscendo però le magie della Harris viene da pensare che anche questo, in fondo, potrebbe far parte del gioco: come un mago che annuncia al pubblico cosa sta per fare, in modo tale da distogliere l'attenzione degli spettatori, che andranno a concentrarsi su altri dettagli mentre lui, indisturbato, fa esattamente quanto aveva detto. show less

Once there was a widow with three sons, and their names were Black, Brown, and Blue. Black was the eldest; moody and aggressive. Brown was the middle child; timid and dull. But Blue was his mother's favourite. And he was a murderer.

Joanne Harris says that in writing this novel she cultivated a secret online life.
Under a pseudonym, I made a number of online friends, wrote a great deal of fanfic, and began to take an increasing interest in the way people interact online, the communities they create and join, and the way they choose to portray themselves.

The reader "constructs" Blue through his blog posts and the way he interacts with friends online. This is how we learn about his brothers, his mother, and his life history. Blue and his show more friends play mind games, and it becomes difficult for the reader to tell fact from fiction. Nobody in this psychological thriller is quite what they seem and there is really no straightforward narration either, in fact it is hard to tell whether the narrator of the moment is reliable or not. The novel seems to have a structure, but in the long run even that is a bit of an illusion. It feels a bit like a snaggled skein of wool. At the end your mind will feel exercised as you attempt to impose some order on what you are told.

blueeyedboy is not a quick read. But it is not just the length. If you are like me, you'll find yourself re-reading bits just to make sure you got that quite right. Harris herself likens the novel to a Chinese puzzle box. So take it slowly and patiently. Murder did happen, but whose was it? There are plenty of deaths. Murders are plotted. Lives are destroyed. show less

This thriller is filled with desire and mysteries, love and hate. The story is told through entries in a web journal, published by Albertine and blueyedboy, who shows us from the very beginning that they have a common past. She wants to forget about him, but he's determined to rekindle every flame of her dark secret. In this kind of cybernetic diary, with public publications, but also restricted ones, the reader is confronted with facts, or maybe just fiction, that marked and changed the lives of these two characters. However, it's difficult to distinguish truth from artistic freedom.

blueyedboy, or Benjamin, is a forty-year-old who lives with his mother, a manipulative and aggressive woman, in a small village called Malbry. There are show more two other siblings: Nigel, the black, and Brendan, the brown, as they have been cataloged to make domestic life easier. To escape from his own reality, Benjamin, the blue brother, takes refuge in the virtual world, throught the badguysrock community, showing us the dimension that a human being is capable of assuming when not conditioned by social rules. And if we are at first convinced that the main character is really a murderer (or an aspiring one) or that the story she tells us about Emily White and her fate is real, we quickly realize that we don't know who is who. And that, behind a screen, we can all be, say and do as we please. This is the revelation of the dark side of the internet, shrouded in crime, romance, dark humour and many psychological games.

Besides the very interesting premise, the characters have everything to captivate the reader's attention, especially Benjamin, who suffers from a neurological problem, synesthesia, leading him to associate smells and colors. Blue is the predominant color in this story, being associated with crime and unpleasant sensations, but music also has a prominent role in the narrative, through Emily White, who inevitably crosses the path of our blueyedboy.

As for Albertine, the young woman is much more than the red hood of modern times and the mysterious connection she maintains with the anti-hero reveals itself, little by little, throughout the narrative. However, the reader is mistaken if he thinks he will be finally understanding everything as soon as it reaches the end: the revolt is apotheotic and grinds the stomach, but it is deliciously surprising and, after a well-done digestion, it leaves a sweet aftertaste (at least for those who like challenges).

This is a much darker than is usual for Joanne Harries, but it is precisely this difference and also the topicality of the subject that distinguishes it. More than the narration of the life of a homicide enthusiast, it is also the portrayal of a society that builds masks to feel protected, that ceases to be who it is or that becomes who it wants to be or that finally reveals itself, but it still hides in subterfuge. show less

Presented mainly as personal and public webjournal entries and fanfiction, this book presents the story of BB, growing up with his two brothers, his mother, and the local 'gifted' children and teachers.

It's written really well, in that you don't actually know what is real and who is telling the truth = if in fact anything you are being told is real. The way it's constructed only adds to the confusion. Has anyone actually been killed? Who killed them, when and how? Are we reading the journal entries of someone with a strange set of fantasies, or chillingly cold killer flaunting his multiple kills? Who else is lying?

On a web-journal mailing list, blueeyedboy holds court. He is the ringmaster of his own little circus, the svengali to his audience of adoring readers, the puppetmaster of their fantasies. World-weary and nihilistic, he begins to tell the fable-like story of three brothers, brought up by their widowed mother and each, for ease, given their own signature colour: Black; Brown; and Blue. Struggling against each other, and against the mercurial furies of their dangerous, unpredictable mother, the boys try to carve out their own identities in their bleak little town. But this isn’t just a story of three boys coming of age. It’s a tale of ambition, obsession and, most fascinating of all, murder. Don’t get over-excited, though, show more blueeyedboy coyly reassures his readers: it’s only a story. The problem is that not everyone seems to believe him. Setting her story in the same town as her St Oswald’s novels, though in a far less privileged neighbourhood, Joanne Harris invites us to come down the rabbithole of internet anonymity, where everyone wears avatars and usernames, and no one is quite what they seem...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/10/07/blueeyedboy-joanne-harris/ show less