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The Blue Star Audiobook
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(3.05) - 586 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
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” (Esquire).
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"Jim the Boy was a true delight, a wonderfully understated book that I treasure years after reading it. News of a sequel made me both excited and nervous. Excited because of how much I enjoyed Jim; nervous because of losing the simplicity of the earlier book. The Blue Star retains a great deal of the charm of Aliceville, North Carolina from the original novel. At the same time, the outside world forces its way into his life as he approaches adulthood. The book is set in 1941. The fact that Jim is 17 and a high-school senior lends an ominous air to its story of young love and heartbreak. Jim grows up and we the readers cannot stop it anymore than we could with a real child. While the subject matter keeps it from being as comforting as the original, Earley's ability to depict his characters with deceptive simplicity still works well. I expect further sequels about Jim at different points in his life and I look forward to them."
— Louis (4 out of 5 stars)
Awards
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A 2008 Christian Science Monitor Book of the Year for Fiction
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One of the 2008 New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Fiction
The Blue Star Listener Reviews
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" Sequel to Jim the Boy. Such a wonderful book. I love Jim and Uncle Zeno, and of course all the other characters. So sweet. "
— Amber, 2/14/2014 -
" This is a sweet book about a young man's first love as the world goes crazy in 1941. The story line and characterizations are a bit overwrought at times but the main character is a gem. It does make me want to read the first book, "Jim the Boy." "
— Kc, 2/4/2014 -
" A nice story. Easy, readible and good way to pass a weekend. "
— Carrie, 1/29/2014 -
" Not sure that I could write a review of either The Blue Star or Jim the Boy that would do them justice. Both are just beautifully written stories that were a joy to read. "
— Jennifer, 1/29/2014 -
" Another elegiac coming of age story from Tony Earley. Jim is a typical 17-year-old boy -- self-absorbed and stupid, but with such a great heart, and he is really earnest about trying to figure it out -- why we love who we do, how to be with our beloved. "
— Lindi, 1/29/2014 -
" A follow-up to Jim, the Boy, taking Jim out of high school and into adulthood. Not quite as good, but still very enjoyable. "
— Jan, 1/27/2014 -
" Gotta love the Patten Free display shelf. "
— Tasha, 1/21/2014 -
" Charming and beautiful follow up to Jim the Boy. Read that one first. "
— Will, 1/20/2014 -
" I think I liked this a little more than Jim the Boy but both are excellent reads. "
— Janice, 1/8/2014 -
" The sequel to Jim the Boy came highly recommended to me, but this story of a small town boy who falls in love with a half Cherokee girl during World War II was a little predictable. It was sweet, but not especially gripping for me, the sort of book I sometimes call "mostly harmless." "
— Sherry, 8/22/2013 -
" This book deals with Jim as a high school senior and how he reacts to WWII, growing up, and falling in love. I was disappointed that it wasn't as clean as the first book, Jim the Boy. It is well written, but does have some immorality. For a clean read, skip pages 171-180. "
— Janeen, 6/5/2013 -
" A young man is having to grow up in a time we can remember fondly. "
— Marti, 3/31/2013 -
" Nice story it even has sort of a happy ending "
— Vincent, 3/6/2013 -
" I zipped through this book. It was sweet, well-written and full of lovely and lovable characters. I highly recommend it. "
— Kaitlyn, 4/2/2012 -
" Liked both of the books about Jim. Easy read, good stuff. "
— Christa, 7/21/2011 -
" A sweet follow-up to Jim the Boy. About his high school years during World War II. "
— Jonelle, 6/22/2011 -
" Historical fiction of the highest order. Try Jim the Boy, too. "
— Dan, 4/3/2011 -
" Love, love, love. A perfect sequel to Jim the Boy. Takes you back to the magic of young adulthood the same way Jim the Boy took you back to childhood. Jim Glass is unforgettable. "
— John, 3/30/2011 -
" I was glad to read the 2nd book on the continuation of Jim the Boy but was disappointed in this book. I did not like the ending and liked the younger Jim much better. "
— Lisa, 8/17/2010 -
" Just as good if not better than Jim the Boy! "
— Sherrie, 8/1/2010 -
" I think I liked this a little more than Jim the Boy but both are excellent reads. "
— Janice, 7/21/2010 -
" I loved this book, just like I loved Jim the Boy. Such simple, lovely writing. Although the characters are largely the same, you definitely do not have to have read Jim the Boy to read Blue Star. "
— Buddy, 5/3/2010 -
" Loved Jim the Boy, sweet whimsical writing, reminds me a bit of Laura Ingall's Wilder Farmer Boy "
— Karen, 3/24/2010 -
" In my opinion, a perfect book. Honestly. "
— Shivering, 2/21/2010 -
" Another winner of a story by Earley. I feel like I am listening to a story being told around a pot bellied stove when I read his books. "
— Quiltgranny, 12/30/2009 -
" Amazing… pitch perfect, just like the first. Earley really captures the tone of a high schooler, during that time. Earnest, yet honest. "
— Christian, 12/9/2009
About Tony Earley
Tony Earley is the author of Here We Are in Paradise, a collection of stories; the novel Jim the Boy; the personal essay collection Somehow Form a Family; and the novel The Blue Star. A winner of a National Magazine Award for fiction, he was named one of the twenty best writers of his generation by both Granta, in 1996, and the New Yorker, in 1999. His works have appeared in Harper’s, Esquire, the New Yorker, the Oxford American, the New York Times Book Review, Tin House, Best American Short Stories, New Stories from the South, and many other magazines and anthologies. He is a native of western North Carolina and a graduate of Warren Wilson College and the University of Alabama. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and daughter, where he is the Samuel Milton Fleming associate professor of English at Vanderbilt University.
About Kirby Heyborne
Kirby Heyborne is a musician, actor, and professional narrator. Noted for his work in teen and juvenile audio, he has garnered over twenty Earphones Awards. His audiobook credits include Jesse Kellerman’s The Genius, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, and George R. R. Martin’s Selections from Dreamsongs.