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    The Blue Star: A Novel
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    The Blue Star: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Blue Star: A Novel
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Blue Star: A Novel

    Written by Tony Earley

    Narrated by Kirby Heyborne

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Eight years ago, readers everywhere fell in love with Jim Glass, the precocious ten-year-old at the heart of Jim the Boy. Now a teenager, Jim returns in a tender and wise story of young love on the brink of World War Two.

    Jim Glass has fallen in love, as only a teenage boy can fall in love, with his classmate Chrissie Steppe. Unfortunately, Chrissie is Bucky Bucklaw's girlfriend, and Bucky has joined the navy on the eve of war. Jim vows to win Chrissie's heart in Bucky's absence, but the war makes high school less than a safe haven and gives a young man's emotions a grown man's gravity. When Bucky returns to Aliceville a fallen hero, Jim finds himself adrift in a once-familiar town where everything, including Chrissie, seems to be changing.

    With the uncanny insight into the well-intentioned heart that made Jim the Boy a modern classic, Tony Earley has fashioned a nuanced and unforgettable portrait of America in another time-making it feel even more real than our own day. This is a moving story of discovery, loss, and growing up, showing again that Tony Earley's writing radiates with a largeness of heart.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 11, 2008
    ISBN9781415949443
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Blue Star

    4/5

    103 ratings17 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The continuing story of Jim Glass (from Earley's previous novel "Jim the Boy" along with several short stories). Jim is now a teenager and World War II looms on the horizon. Raised with abounding family love and understanding, Jim is in his final year of high school and is confronted with the call of duty and war. Jim falls in love at first sight with Chrissie Steppe, the daughter of a woman who was once courted by Jim's Uncle Zeno. But Jim knows Chrissie belongs to Bucky Bucklaw, who has recently enlisted in the Navy. I love Tony Earley's writing, which consistently presents compassionate, sweet and gentle stories. Four and a half stars.
    • 3/5
      I liked this sequel to Jim The Boy a lot, though I didn't like it quite as much as JTB. It's evocative and sweet. I found some of the characters to be a bit clunky and heavily drawn. And I don't know if Earley's naming Chrissie's father Injun Joe was a tip of the hat to Twain or merely a coincidence. Either way it was jarring to my eyes every time. And Bucky Bucklaw's name was too reminiscent of Whitey Whitesides. Perhaps this is nitpicky on my part. I found this book quite readable, solid, but not luminous. I do hope there's another after this.
    • 4/5
      I'm a sucker for sweet, unpretentious novels about the good ol' days. This is the sequel to "Jim the Boy" -- one of the best of such novels, and it's darn good. The plot is simple: boy falls in love with girl, girl has secrets, boy learns hard truths.... It's a bit like watching a tankful of fish, or a fallen leaf navigating a stream: calm on the surface, with only hints of untold dramas. I tried to read it as slowly as possible to enjoy the words and let the story unfold in my imagination as well as the pages.
    • 4/5
      Jim the Boy is growing up. On the cusp of America's entry into WWII, Jim Glass is a senior in high school. He and his friends are the big kahunas at school and they intend for their last year to be a good one. It's a year in which Jim falls in love and much changes. He still lives with his widowed mother and his three bachelor uncles, has the run of town in his car, and goes about with his buddies. But he's fallen in love with Chrissie Steppe, who lives up on the mountain and is the girlfriend of one of last year's seniors who has joined the navy and is stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As the story unfolds, Jim wants nothing more than to figure a way for Chrissie to be his girl, not Bucky's. Earley has once again beautifully captured the feel of small town southern USA in the early 40's. He has delicately limned social issues through Jim, Chrissie, and Jim's friends, touching on racism, teen pregnancy, and the gathering storm of war. As charming as the first book, this one deftly handles a boy becoming a man and the reader is swept along as Jim comes to understand that so much of what lies underneath adult interactions would have been unknowable to him as a child. He is still a delightful and sympathetic character. Hearkening back to a quieter, in some ways more innocent time, this is a wonderful read that will please those who have read the first novel and will even enchant those who haven't as a stand-alone novel. Here's hoping we see more of Jim Glass in the future.
    • 5/5
      A portrait of life in America on the eve of World War II, The Blue Star tells the story of Jim Glass Jr during his last year of high school. From among the well-to-do families in his small town, Jim has recently broken up with Norma Harris. Jim finds himself in the awkward position of being fascinated by his friend Bucky's girl friend Chrissie Steppe. But his friend, Bucky Bucklaw Jr. is in the Navy, surely courting Chrissie Steppe would be out of bounds.When Jim digs deeper into the relationship between Chrissie Steppe and Bucky Bucklaw, he learns more than he'd bargained for about the Steppes and even his own family.Review:There is so much more to The Blue Star than Jim's attraction to Chrissie Steppe, which is what makes The Blue Star such an interesting and satisfying read. You don't have to have read the earlier book Jim The Boy to appreciate The Blue Star. The characters are fully fleshed out. Each individual struggle adds to the tension and coherence of the novel. There is enough romance, tragedy and action to make The Blue Star hard to categorize and easy to enjoy.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed reading Jim the Boy last year, but it left me wanting more of the story. This sequel delivers on the tentative promise of the earlier book. Jim Glass is growing up. He is a high school senior in the throes of hs first real love. The object of his affection is the half-Cherokee Chrissie who lives in poverty on the mountain overlooking this idyllic NC town where Jim lives with his mother and Uncle Zeno.The story takes place on the cusp of the U.S. involvement in WWII. Earley is an eloquent writer who can convey the spirit of a 17-year-old boy while capturing the heart of this much older female reader. This charming book cries out for another sequel...the sooner the better.
    • 2/5
      I guess I just don't like Tony Early's writing. I tried to read "Jim the Boy," but the writing was just too cloying and simplistic. Same with this book, which I ended up pretty much skimming.
    • 5/5
      Well, having all my people sick sucks, but it's done wonders for my reading this week. I've been plowing through books the past 10 days or so like it's the Reading Olympics or something.I read this book yesterday in two sittings. (Well, one sitting and one lying in bed anyway.) It's the sequel to Earley's lovely little book, Jim the Boy. Earley's books are simple and homespun, gentle enough to share with your grandma (of course, I share lots of books with my grandma, but you could share this with any ol' grandma and be okay). The Salon review of Jim the Boy made it sound too sickly sweet, cloying in its innocence, but that's why I loved it. Why shouldn't a 10 year old, especially a small-town farm boy in 1934, be innocent and learn life lessons from his wise old bachelor farmer uncles? Maybe I loved it because I grew up a small-town farm kid too and knew men who were just like those old farmers.Anyway, Earley continues that same down-home, straight-shooting tone in this book. Jim's now 17, a senior at Aliceville High, and he's fallen head over heels in love with Chrissie Steppe. But there are obstacles to a relationship with Chrissie, and Jim has to learn a bit about life and human nature as he tries to overcome those obstacles. I don't know why I love books like this. I hated being a teenager and how hard it was with those emotions so raw, those feelings so deep and dangerous, but I love reading about them, especially when the author gets it right. Maybe it's because in books there's at least a good chance that it won't be as messy and ugly as real life usually is.So, yes, I loved this book. I don't care if it is simple and sentimental. Sometimes you need simple and sentimental.I even loved the advice Uncle Zeno gives Jim. It may be hokey, but it's true, you know?"You have to choose to be a good man," Uncle Zeno said. "You have to choose every minute of every day. As soon as you don't, you're lost.""I don't believe in fighting a man to keep him away from a woman. Either you can trust a woman or you can't. If you can trust her, nothing anybody can say is going to turn her head, and if you can't trust her, beating up every man who says howdy to her won't do you a bit of good."Sometimes it's nice having morals spelled out so plainly.
    • 5/5
      Wonderfully written sequel to "Jim the Boy". This one is about a senior in high school in a rural North Carolina town on the eve of WWII. Quiet and insightful. Can be read on its own, but would suggest it's worth reading the excellent "Jim the Boy" first anyway.
    • 5/5
      This is really pretty wonderful. I wonder if it would be worth digging up the "prequel".
    • 5/5
      St. Barts 2019 #5 - Thoroughly enjoyed this sequel to Earley's 'Jim the Boy'.....as we share Jim Glass's journey from teen to adult....in the shadow of Pearl Harbor, and our entry in WWII. Small-town rural NC is the setting, and Jim,surrounded by his loving mother and 3 uncles, comes of age and learns of love, loss, friendship, honor and the unnerving launch into adulthood. Earley has a light, easy style and this uncomplicated yet poignant story just flies, yet it does so in a way that has spot-on insight to being a young adult male finding his way, and makes you feel glad you were along to accompany this journey of his. Thank you Tony Earley.
    • 4/5
      I loved the first book of this planned trilogy(Jim the Boy), the second was a little slower, but so charming. The story is a throwback to a kinder, gentler, simpler time. I adore all the characters and cannot wait until the next/last book comes out!
    • 4/5
      The Blue Star isn't so much a sequel to Earley's first book, "Jim the Boy" as it is a separate book that focuses on the same character. Jim Glass is a senior in high school in 1941. He develops a ferocious crush on Chrissie, a poor girl whose absent father was a Native American, scorning his previous girlfriend, Norma, who still loves him. Chrissie supposedly has a boyfriend who graduated the year before and is in the Navy, which complicates matters tremendously. Earley tells a good tale, but we never feel the intensity of falling in love that we should feel from Jim, and perhaps from Norma and Chrissie as well. A coming of age story for adults or more mature young adults.
    • 5/5
      Sequel to Jim the Boy, and just as lovely...
    • 4/5
      3.5 starsJim Glass’ senior year was supposed to be simple. But his life in a small North Carolina town in 1941 has become anything but simple. He is supposed to be with Norma, but he doesn’t love her – or right now even like her. He wants to be with Chrissie, but she is dating a guy Jim hates who has left for the Navy. On top of that, Chrissie won’t even look in his direction. For Jim, time may be short because the winds of war are blowing and he will need his family to guide him through life and politics in a small town that he doesn’t understand.“The weather matched Jim’s mood perfectly. He found it a good day to labor under the almost public burden of a not-quite-secret unrequited love. His friends, both the guys on the steps and the girls who pretended to be offended by their existence, had begun to tease him about Christine Steppe – which genuinely puzzled Jim because he had spoken of his feelings about Chrissie to no one, and certainly not to Dennis Deane, who these days, when the bus from Lynn’s Mountain pulled up in front of the school, launched into a ridiculous, mincing recitation of “Jim and Chrissie sitting in a tree” that even Jim had to admit was funny.”The Blue Star follows Jim Glass – who is introduced in Jim the Boy (2000) – through his senior year of high school. Earley does a masterful job of immersing us in the rural American of the early 1940’s. Images of the town and townsfolk of Aliceville are crisp and clear, bringing to life that bygone era of American when it was about to lose its innocence for good.The characters of The Blue Star feel authentic and the writing really allows us to feel who they are. However, none of the characters, including Jim, ever really surprise us. They are all pretty normal people leading pretty normal lives – and maybe that is Earley’s whole point. There is a soft, simplicity to his writing style that makes the story warm and comfortable to curl up next to the fireplace with.The story itself follows a classic love triangle of boy pursuing the girl across the tracks rather than the obvious choice who is hung up on him. But the relationships lack much emotional angst beyond the three participants themselves. The rest of the town seems oblivious to what is happening, leading to little tension or depth to the story. The ending is also a bit trite, if not unexpected. Even so, The Blue Star is an enjoyable, comfortable read that serves as a bit of an antidote to high stakes novels with cliff hanger endings. It is slower-paced literature that doesn’t try to be anything more than what it is – a story of a boy falling in love. If that is something you are looking for, The Blue Star will serve you quite well.
    • 3/5
      The Blue Star, published in 2008, is a sequel of sorts to Jim the Boy, published in 2000. In the first book, Jim Glass, the hero of both books, is ten, and in this one he is seventeen. I did not read the first book, but had no trouble gleaning the background of the main characters and following the story.It is 1941, and Jim lives with his mom in the small town of Aliceville, North Carolina. He has a close relationship with his three bachelor uncles, Zeno, Al, and Coran, who all help raise and mentor Jim. He never knew his dad, who died of a heart attack shortly after Jim’s birth.Jim is in love with Chrissie Steppe, a girl who sits in front of him in class, and who is the daughter of a white woman and a Cherokee man (which is a problem in this conservative town). Chrissie is not available anyway though; she is engaged to Bucky Bucklaw, who is off serving in the Navy. Chrissie’s engagement wasn’t entirely voluntary, however, and she clearly is attracted to Jim. Not free to act upon it, she tries to keep her distance. Still, they skirt the edges of a touching and innocent courtship which is disrupted when Pearl Harbor is bombed, and Jim is forced to make some adult choices.Discussion: This is a “sweet” book written in simple prose, perhaps to evoke simpler times. There are some class and race issues in the book, but they are just part of the landscape, like the laurel and rhododendron, and poplar, oak, maple and sweet gum that Jim so loves on the mountain near his home. The high school boys experiment with love, without understanding much about it. Jim asks his friend Dennis Deane whether or not he loves the girl they call Ellie Something, because they can never remember her last name:"‘Do you love Ellie Something?’‘I guess so. I mean, I think so. I mean I think about her a lot. I didn’t used to think about her at all. What does that mean? I look forward to seeing her get off the school bus. Does that mean I love her?”And they experiment with sex. When Dennis finally “does it,” Jim wants details:"‘You never did tell me what it was like.’Dennis Deane frowned. ‘I don’t really know how to explain it,’ he said. ‘It was different than I thought.’‘Different better or different worse?’‘Just different different. You know how, when you’re by yourself and you think about doing it?’Jim nodded slightly.‘Well, I guess I never really thought about the girl being there.’”Evaluation: I didn’t love this book, but I did like it. There are some charming passages, but I have the feeling a male could identify more with the story.
    • 5/5
      The Blue Star is the continuing of the story of Jim Glass who was introduced in Jim The Boy, Jim is now a high school senior, the year is 1941. He has recently broken up with his steady girlfriend as she was quite religious and he just didn’t find her much fun. Now he has fallen under the spell of the dark-eyed beauty, Chrissie. Chrissie appears to be equally attracted to Jim, but she warns him to steer clear of her as she is considered to be Bucky Bucklaw’s girlfriend and he is away serving in the Navy. Chrissie and her mother live on the Bucklaw property with her grandparents who work for Mr. Bucklaw. As Chrissie sees it, if she drops Bucky, she and her family may be thrown off the property.Jim spends his time brooding over his unrequited love and thinking up ways to “get” Bucky . Then comes Pearl Harbor and suddenly Bucky is coming home, but not the way anyone imagined. Jim and his family, consisting of three bachelor uncles and his mother live in the tiny community of Aliceville, North Carolina. His uncles are always there for Jim, giving him simple advice and steering him gently towards manhood. Jim Glass is just one of many of the delightful characters that fill this book. This is a deceptively simple tale that manages to tackle many adult themes such as racism, teen pregnancy and war issues. I would highly recommend this bittersweet story, I know The Blue Star will linger on in my memory for some time to come.