Amazon.com Review
Despite her natural talent for singing, 6-year-old Janie knows deep in her heart that if you really want to sing and feel the blues, you gotta be black. Aren't the tapes of the "ladies"--Aretha, Etta, and Billie--that she listens to every night in the stinking basement of her first foster home proof enough of that? So the scrawny, blond-haired, blue-eyed child of a heroin addict changes her name to Leshaya, decides that her unknown father was African American, and shuts down all feeling; only allowing the sorrow of her hard life to escape when she opens her mouth to sing. Raised by addicts and drug dealers, Leshaya trusts no one and loves nothing except her music: "Didn't need nobody else. I could make love to my own self with that sound ridin' the beat." Finally, after surviving several foster homes, a harrowing heroin withdrawal, and an unwanted pregnancy, 16-year-old Leshaya finds a band and ends up with a single on the radio. But can even that be enough for a girl so hungry for love that she looks everywhere for it except the one place she's sure to find it--within herself?
National Book Award recipient Han Nolan's fifth novel is an emotional stunner. Like Brock Cole's equally haunting The Facts Speak for Themselves, Born Blue is an unflinching look at a girl forced to grow up too fast in a callous world. Nolan's raw portrayal of Leshaya may hurt to read, but like a recently healed broken heart, it's a good pain. (Ages 14 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
From Publishers Weekly
Nolan (Dancing on the Edge) uses boldly honest first-person narrative to recount the saga of an emotionally disturbed teen, whose life-affirming passion for music constantly conflicts with her self-destructive tendencies. Abandoned by her mother, neglected by her foster parents and later kidnapped and sold by her mother to a drug dealer, Janie finds her only source of happiness when she hears "the ladies" Etta James, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan sing. Janie is lily-white, but she identifies more with the music, culture and rhythms of her African-American foster brother, Harmon. When, at a young age, she discovers her own remarkable singing voice, Janie (who changes her name to Leshaya) begins getting the attention she so desperately craves. Her talent proves to be both a blessing and a curse, however, bringing her opportunities and, at the same time, magnetically pulling her into a world where fellow musicians use drugs and sex to heighten their performance. The protagonist's serpentine narration often picks up characters then drops them just as abruptly, mirroring Janie's treatment of others. Some of the developing relationships her reunion with Harmon and her interest in a gifted songwriter, especially demonstrate Janie's inability to connect with others to chilling effect. But other examples feel gratuitous once her pattern of behavior is established. By the time readers reach the novel's conclusion, they will have gained an understanding of the tragic heroine's fears, desires and warped perception of family, but Janie herself remains hauntingly elusive, adding to the impact of the book. The question of whether or not Janie will break her cycle of abuse remains unanswered, yet young adults mature enough to bear the story's intensity will also likely recognize the characteristics of this deeply troubled girl from their own communities. Ages 14-up.
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