"The Blurry Years" by Eleanor Kriseman
Review by Chris Schnarr, Divsion Manager at Country Hills Library
This novel packs a lot of punch in nineteen short chapters. Set in Florida, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the surroundings are vividly described. This is not a tale of fun on sun-drenched beaches, but a story of a floundering child who grows up in various sand-dusted places to become a survivor, full of grit herself.
We meet young Cal, short for Callie, at age six. She grows up out of a suitcase, hungry for both food and a sense of home. Cal lives in limbo, sometimes sleeping in the car or hauled from trailer park to a boyfriend’s couch by her alcoholic, single mother, Jeanie.
As the years pass, the two are often stuck in situations with few options. Jeanie uproots Cal time after time, leaving friends behind. When the plan to return to Oregon to stay with Grandmother June sinks, the duo appears unannounced on the doorstep of Starr, Jeanie’s best friend. For a fleeting time, Cal feels stable and happy. She becomes attracted and attached to Starr. Before long, Jeanie is restless again and Cal is forced to leave Starr.
Back in Florida and in high school, tired of goodbyes, Cal desperately wants to feel loved. She gives herself to an older boy. Later, she recalls other regretful times in filthy bathrooms, bedrooms and backseats and everything she has done there. Cal learns from these encounters and thinks about how dangerous it can be to set your value at what you think you might deserve.
At eighteen, Callie has matured enough to know that there is the family you are born into and the family you can choose to live with for the rest of your life. Although Callie comes of age too quickly, her traumatic upbringing does not drown her. She does surface for breath, and readers are left with a sense of hope.
"The Blurry Years," a memorable book by first-time novelist Eleanor Kriseman, can be borrowed from Kitchener Public Library in print format.