Deep Blue is a young adult novel by British children's author Jacqueline Wilson. It was originally published in 1993 and was the last of her books to be published by Oxford University Press. The nine OUP books are relatively little-known, all except one having been out of print for many years.
Barbara is a thirteen-year-old competitive diver. She has been coached by her father since a young age in the hopes of making it to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. However, since she started diving from the 10-metre board, she has been increasingly gripped by fear and anxiety. When she suffers a head injury after botching a dive at the pool one morning, she is rushed to hospital, where she meets fourteen-year-old Luke and his older brother Danny. While she recovers, she decides to use her time away from training to break free of her father's influence and look for new experiences.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Nickname: Barbara's dad calls her Baba and her mother calls her Barbie.
- Ambiguously Bi: Barbara is attracted to Luke and kisses him, but often thinks about how pretty her classmate Marnie is and admires Marnie's figure and short skirts - seemingly not just in the sense of wanting to look like her.
- Better as Friends: At the end of the book Barbara and Luke agree to stay best friends for now, since she's going through a lot due to her father's health problems; and Danny would be jealous if they began a serious relationship.
- Big Damn Hero: Barbara comes to her dad's rescue when he suffers a heart attack.
- Bittersweet Ending: Barbara decides not to go back to diving, since she's happy living a normal teenage life and could no longer do this if she had to continue her training. Her father is recovering well and seems to accept her decision, but she still feels like she has disappointed him. She decides to make him proud by performing one last perfect dive and recording it to show him. Meanwhile, she and Luke have decided to stay as just friends, but she will continue to spend lots of time with him and Danny.
- Caught on Tape: Barbara finally performs a perfect dive from the 10-metre board and has Luke record it so she can show her dad.
- Daddy's Girl: Barbara and her dad are extremely close. It's even referenced by Barbara's mother, who says she sometimes feels left out.
- First Period Panic: Barbara stresses out after getting her first period, partly because she wasn't expecting it and partly due to the situation (she's just suffered an injury and had a big argument with her dad.)
- Game-Breaking Injury: Barbara's father couldn't fulfil his own dream of being an Olympic diver because of an injury to his leg.
- Handicapped Badass: Danny has Down syndrome, but is very confident and outgoing, with lots of friends.
- Incest Subtext: Barbara's dad doesn't want her to get a boyfriend and often jokes that he is her boyfriend.
- In Love with Love: Danny adores the idea of being in love, and often declares various girls his girlfriend or asks them to marry him.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- Danny often comes across this way because of his disability - for example, not understanding that just because he has seen builders whistle at women doesn't mean it's okay for him to do it.
- Barbara's classmate Lisa is far too blunt and says insulting things without meaning to, such as telling her that others make fun of her behind her back.
- Kitsch Collection: Barbara's mother has a huge collection of Barbie dolls.
- Love Triangle: Played with. Barbara and Luke develop a romance, but Danny sees her as his girlfriend, and they humour him and sometimes go on "dates" with all three. Although Barbara likes Luke a lot and has her first kiss with him, she does get jealous when Danny shows interest in another girl. At the end of the book, she and Luke agree to stay friends (at least for now) partly because it would upset Danny if they started seriously dating.
- Meaningful Name:
- The character of Barbara is most likely named for the mythical Saint Barbara, whose father locked her in a tower to protect her from the outside world. Parallels are drawn between their experiences.
- Barbara's mother collects Barbie dolls and calls her Barbie for short. Barbara often compares herself to the dolls.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Barbara's father has a major heart attack, Barbara is intensely guilty and feels like she has caused it because her wish to give up diving was upsetting him.
- Non-Action Guy: Luke is a slim, bookish teenage boy. He mentions that his dad is disappointed in him for not showing stereotypically masculine characteristics like enjoying sports.
- Outdated Name: "Barbara" would've been considered a bit of an old fuddy-duddy name even in 1993.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Until she gets hurt, Barbara is extremely dedicated to her diving. She gets up at 5:55am every day to train before school.
- Recycled Plot:
- Barbara's struggles with her weight are similar to what Ellie goes through in Girls Under Pressure. Both books end with the heroine drinking hot chocolate after swimming to show that she has developed a healthier attitude towards food.
- Barbara's father having a heart attack plays out very similarly as Prue's father's stroke in Love Lessons.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Small, shy Luke and big, bold Danny.
- Sports Dad: Barbara's dad used to compete in diving too, until an injury ended his career. It's implied that his own lack of success is the reason he wants Barbara to make the Olympics so badly.
- Strong Family Resemblance: When she goes to a Christmas party at Luke's house, Barbara notes that Luke's mum has the same hairstyle and glasses as her younger son.
- Tempting Fate: Barbara has her accident right after her father says that she's not going to suffer any serious injuries from diving.
- Theme Naming: Barbara's dad is named Ken, and her mother calls her Barbie for short.
- Token Good Teammate: Out of the popular Jenny, Sharon, and Marnie, Marnie is the only one who makes a real effort to be kind to Barbara.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Lisa encourages Barbara to restrict her food, and makes her anxiety about her weight worse. Downplayed in that Lisa doesn't seem to realise that, since she is overweight and Barbara isn't, what might be a sensible calorie deficit for her is too much for Barbara.
- Uptown Boy: Working-class Barbara strikes up a romance with upper-middle class Luke, whose parents own an architecture firm and a gorgeous house.
- Wanted a Gender-Conforming Child: Downplayed. Barbara's mother doesn't openly criticise her, but does think that stereotypically feminine pursuits are more suitable for a girl than sports. She takes advantage of Barbara's break from training to encourage her to invest more energy in clothes, makeup, and shopping.
- Weight Woe: Barbara is distressed to see she's gained some weight after being out of training for a while. She then goes on an extreme crash diet and develops symptoms of an eating disorder.
- Wild Teen Party: Barbara attends one with three of her classmates. She gets horrifically drunk.
- Working-Class Hero: Barbara's parents are a taxi driver and a building society clerk. It's stated that the cost of her training means money is pretty tight.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Although Barbara is genuinely injured, she puts off going back to training a bit longer than she has to as she wants to see what else is out there.
