Rose of No Man's Land
by Michelle Tea
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 509)
Read in October, 2007
Funny and profane account of teenage Trish's first few days of summer, starting when she misses the last day of ninth grade because her family doesn't care enough to wake her when her alarm clock shorts out. With a couch-ridden mother who diagnoses herself with every disease discussed on TV, an aggressively optimistic sister angling to get on MTV's Real World, and a long-departed dad who is probably getting high in the Louisiana swamps, Trish seems headed for a summer of loneliness and closet ...more
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My opinion on this book is pretty much the opposite of the rest of the reviews here. I found it at the library & thought it looked interesting, which it definitely was. It was disturbing. I thought the 1st 10 or so chapters were great, reading about what Trisha's life was like & trying to figure out where she fit in, & reading about the mall, plus the writing is really good. The names the author gave the stores were pretty obvious which ones she meant (she called Hot Topic "Dar...more
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Read in May, 2006
Trisha's life is not exactly thrilling. Her mother is a hypochrondriac on disability, and her father is a junkie and is rumored to be in Louisiana somewhere. The best thing that can be said for Donnie, her mother's boyfriend, is that he doesn't try to molest Trisha or her older sister, Kristy. Kristy's the only one who has any ambition -- and her main ambition is to get on MTV's "The Real World" by documenting how screwed up her family is. Trisha feels like she's ready for something --...more
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This book was great on a few levels.
Level One: I am a sucker for people who are generally younger (teenagers, if you will) who don't know what the fuck their life is all about and who have no idea who they are (you know, inside) finding out over time the answers to these questions via a series of usually wacky adventures and hard-to-learn lessons. And sometimes drugs and sex. Bildungsroman.
Level Two: It was pretty hilarious, and I especially loved the scene involving the tampon used as a ma...more
Level One: I am a sucker for people who are generally younger (teenagers, if you will) who don't know what the fuck their life is all about and who have no idea who they are (you know, inside) finding out over time the answers to these questions via a series of usually wacky adventures and hard-to-learn lessons. And sometimes drugs and sex. Bildungsroman.
Level Two: It was pretty hilarious, and I especially loved the scene involving the tampon used as a ma...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
my friends
At the moment, I am only on Chapter 3 of Rose of No Man's Land by Michelle Tea, but it's so far great! After having read only one other Michelle Tea book, Valencia, about a gender-bending lesbian moving to San Francisco in the early 1990s, I really wanted to check out more. Rose of No Man's Land is the story of Trish who is from small-town New England growing up in a working-class family. Her mom sits on the couch in her nightgowns, mom's boyfriend eats ham salad directly out of the jar, and ...more
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Read in July, 2007
This book is a crazy wild spinning ride, the story of three days in the life of Trisha, the young protagonist. From a family living on the margins, Trisha hasn't done much in her life until she meets Rose. The two teenage girls run around having adventures that include nude photos, drug use, tattoos, and hot girl/girl bathroom sex.
I laughed out loud a lot while reading this book, somthing that I always makes me feel good, and I enjoyed the imagery the author employed to describe her charac...more
I laughed out loud a lot while reading this book, somthing that I always makes me feel good, and I enjoyed the imagery the author employed to describe her charac...more
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Read in August, 2007
Read this book last summer after finishing the author's memoir "Valencia," which I had found intriguing, repetitive, and pretentious. "Rose" stayed with me much longer. It painted a very realistic picture of the low-rent suburbs (malls, fast food joints, chain restaurants, apartment complexes) as simultaneously banal, cartoonish, depressing, and dangerous. The narrator seems both painfully aware and oblivious of how grim her life is... and of what's happening to her in the co...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
queer youth (particularly girls)
This book had a slow start. It wasn't until I was over 150 pages into it that it really started picking up for me (and were I not such a devoted Michelle Tea fan, I most certainly would have set this book aside).
That said, I'm glad I stuck with it. The last bit of the book was certainly exciting.
This book would be better suited for young queer readers. The protagonist, Trisha, is a youthful loner just starting to figure herself out. The naivete and immaturity of the narrator can b...more
That said, I'm glad I stuck with it. The last bit of the book was certainly exciting.
This book would be better suited for young queer readers. The protagonist, Trisha, is a youthful loner just starting to figure herself out. The naivete and immaturity of the narrator can b...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Teenagers on the brink of snapping
A compact, entertaining book where almost all of the action takes place over the course of one crazy-assed day. Although it is told from the viewpoint of a lower-class teenage girl in Mogsfield, Massachusetts, the language is tight, the slang and dialect is used effectively (not just for style), and there are some surprising and refreshing lines throughout. Michelle Tea manages to feed off stereotypes without resorting to complete clichés. By the end of this gritty tale we can’t help but be c...more
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Read in January, 2007
Usually I avoid YA novels like the plague (I'm probably the only person in the world who has never even touched a Harry Potter book) but I read this on the recommendation of a good friend and it's pretty amazing. Michelle Tea is a good writer, and she sticks to what she knows best (growing up poor and lesbian) but she was able to bring the main character to life in this book in ways she hasn't before. I felt like I knew Trisha, and although I am neither poor nor lesbian, the character really spo...more
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Read in November, 2007
this was one of the best novels i read last year. i swallowed it whole. i read it in record timing- two days. brilliant and funny. i can't get the part of the book out of my mind when the main character, Trisha, has just snorted drugs off a key that Rose has handed her. suddenly she thinks about what her hypochondriac mother, laying on the couch in her bathrobe, would have to say about this..."the nose, trisha, is the body's first line of defense against a cold. i can't believe you would st...more
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Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
the kids
michelle tea is why i no longer say "i hate poetry". this woman has The Touch when it comes to words. i mean, she touches them and they go all funny and giggly and wind up just floating around following after her in a daze... er, maybe that's just me. young and a little high, our unnamed protagonist teen meets the infamous Rose and they embark on one of those life-changing nights in suburbia. this book is a sort of young-adult fiction. it's easy to read, and i drank it down in an after...more
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I'm still trying to figure out if there is a point to this book. I'm also still trying to figure out if there was a need for this in the literary world. I kept waiting for this book to get better, to get something really. It was boring and went no where. I was really surprised since Michelle Tea's other books are usually really good. I'm thinking maybe she was just trying to get something out there with this one. I think the world could have done without this something.
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michelle tea came to speak at swarthmore. she was f*cking amazing.
aside from that, i had been reading her poetry before she came and it had always struck me as poignant, witty and honest.
this somewhat autobriographical book is filled with captivating descriptions of the mundane life on route 1 in massachusetts.
it's a quick read. you'll laugh out loud. and find a bit of yourself, or at least your teenage-hood in the insightfully pathetic protagonist.
aside from that, i had been reading her poetry before she came and it had always struck me as poignant, witty and honest.
this somewhat autobriographical book is filled with captivating descriptions of the mundane life on route 1 in massachusetts.
it's a quick read. you'll laugh out loud. and find a bit of yourself, or at least your teenage-hood in the insightfully pathetic protagonist.
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Read in January, 2006
One of my proudest moments in my many years working at Teen People magazine (RIP) was sneaking in a plug for this book:
“Trisha Driscoll has more adventures in one day than most of us do all year. When the 14-year-old vows to make a friend, she never imagines it’ll be Rose, a chains-smoking mall rat who introduces her to the scary world of hitchhiking and first love.”
(Not, it must be said, my proudest moment as a writer. But that's OK.)
“Trisha Driscoll has more adventures in one day than most of us do all year. When the 14-year-old vows to make a friend, she never imagines it’ll be Rose, a chains-smoking mall rat who introduces her to the scary world of hitchhiking and first love.”
(Not, it must be said, my proudest moment as a writer. But that's OK.)
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Read in August, 2007
The first 100 pages of this book are slow ... but once Rose (and some drugs, alcohol and sex) enter the picture it reads like what it is: an exhilerating - if not somewhat shocking and painful - night of adventure for two teenage girls in the middle of nowhere Massachusetts. Its sort of a clever and charming book version of The Jerry Springer Show. And if you know Massachusetts the North Shore backdrop rings true.
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recommends it for:
fun, openminded women
This is a fun read....The main character is a 14 year old girl with a disfunctional family, few real friends and some gender identity issues. She meets another young woman named Rose, and has one heck of a wild night with her...These young teenagers are portrayed with sensitivity & realism, and there are a lot of witty observations from Trish's point of view, which culminate in a good, easy summer read.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in March, 2007
Forget all the good reviews. This book is just annoying to read. I spent the whole book waiting for something to happen. And, I guess the end is a little better, but just not worth what you have to go through to get there. The back of the book makes it sound way more exciting than it is. I would only recommend it to people who have already read and liked something else by Michelle Tea.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in March, 2007
I read this while I was in the hospital waiting for my dad to come out of surgery. It definitely helped me to stay distracted and sane. On the back of the book a review says that this book is a mix between Catcher in the Rye and My So Called life- I would have to say that is a pretty accurate description. It's got that teen angsty self discovery feel- but with a queer twist.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
girls, lesbians, feminists, etc.
so, although the beginning of this book was nice, but not amazing, it quickly picked up speed, then landed what is my favorite scene of a book ever (on page 191), and i promptly fell in love with the characters here, which, I admit would probably not be so close to my heart did they not remind me of myself and my friends when I was that age.
You girls are trouble.
You girls are trouble.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.45 (408 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.46 (347 ratings) number of reviews: 78popular shelves
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"Maybe if everyone walked around being in touch with each other's hidden pain it could work out and even be beautiful, but it doesn't fee safe to be the only compassionate person on the planet.
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