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The Blue Star: A Novel

Tony Earley
Little, Brown and Company (2008)
ISBN 9780316199070
Reviewed by Audrey Larson for RebeccasReads (3/08)

The title of the book, “The Blue Star” refers to the window hanging of a star during WWII, indicating a member of the household was serving the military or had died in the war. 

Jim Glass is a high-school-aged boy growing up in North Carolina early in the WWII years.  His three uncles have given him a car, which he names “The Major.”  His uncle paints the name on the side of the car, under the window.  With gas rationing during WWII, Jim doesn’t get to drive the car much.  The car is a one-seater with a rumble seat in the trunk. 

In 1918, during WWI, Jim’s uncle Zeno was engaged to Nancy, who broke their engagement because she was ashamed that Zeno would not enlist to serve in the war.  It turned out to be a bad decision, as she later married unwisely, had one daughter, Chrissie, and had to move back to the area when her husband robbed a bank and ran away from the law and his wife and daughter.

Nancy and her daughter, Chrissie, had a difficult life, and Jim and Chrissie went to the same high school.  Jim fell in love with Chrissie, but she was “promised” to the son of her grandparents” employer, and she feared if she broke off with him, her grandparents, mother and she would all suffer. 

The intensity of the teenagers’ feelings is apparent throughout the book.  Jim has three uncles, and his uncle Zeno obviously has never stopped caring for Nancy over the years, despite her long marriage to the absentee husband.

Jim loves Chrissie, and tries to win her even though she says she will have to marry Bucky.  But she obviously does not love Bucky.  There is much play-acting back and forth, pretending to be an old couple in an abandoned farmhouse, jealousy on Jim’s part, and eventually Chrissie does come to love Jim.

When Bucky dies in the war and Nancy’s long-absent husband dies, things look promising for both uncle Zeno and Jim.  But then, after Jim’s high-school graduation, he enlists in the army, and he will be sent to fight in WWII.  It is a bittersweet time, as the book ends; just as Jim and Chrissie declare their love for one another, Jim heads off to the unknown during WWII. 

Jim Glass was featured in an earlier book by Tony Earley, “Jim the Boy.”  This book, “The Blue Star,” is a continuation from that earlier age of Jim, however, it does stand alone.  Earley’s writing is smooth and the characters are well developed.  


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