Synopses & Reviews
"
Rose of No Mans Land is both a riotously funny coming-of-age story and a poignant cautionary tale that smacks of there but for the grace of God heartbreak . . . Tea manages to balance Trishas snarky edge with moments of a sweetly sad, naive vulnerability that beautifully capture those mercurial midteen years."
The Boston Globe
Fourteen-year-old Trisha Driscoll is a gender-blurring, self-described loner whose family expects nothing of her. While her mother lies on the couch in a hypochondriac haze and her sister aspires to be on The Real World, Trisha struggles to find her own place among the neon signs, theme restaurants, and cookie-cutter chain stores of her hometown.
"Think Ghost World meets Catcher in the Rye with a little crank thrown in to keep it chugging along. We suggest you put it at the top of your list."Daily Candy
"A literary Molotov cocktail that is equal parts My So-Called Life, Thelma & Louise, and Twin Peaks . . . Tea takes the reader on a harrowing journey that highlights how truly terrifying and exhilarating it is to be a teenager."BUST Magazine
"A riotous coming-of-age novel
do[es] for working-class teenage lesbians what S. E. Hintons Rumble Fish and The Outsiders did for greasers and street-brawling tough guys."The New York Times Book Review
"What a miracle of a book."--BookForum
Michelle Tea lives in San Francisco, where she is beloved for her writing, her spoken word poetry, and her innovative arts organization that brought the world Sister Spit. Her published books include Rent Girl, The Chelsea Whistle, and Valencia.
Review
"Rose is balls-out from the start....Tea's writing is raw, funny, and tragic, but never forced. Her memoirist's eye yields fiction that reads true. (Grade: A-)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"A riotous coming-of-age novel about a misanthropic girl's sexual self-discovery...Tea is trying to do for working-class teenage lesbians what S. E. Hinton's Rumble Fish and The Outsiders did for greasers and street-brawling tough guys in the 1970s and '80s: to let them be heard and felt." Lenora Todaro, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"[B]oth a riotously funny coming-of-age story and a poignant cautionary tale that smacks of 'there but for the grace of God' heartbreak....What gives Rose of No Man's Land its power and resonance is that it is fueled by both anger and yearning." The Boston Globe
Review
"Gritty, animated, original, and disturbing, this allegorical tale of friendship and belonging is hard to put down. Recommended." Library Journal
Review
"[C]ompellingly honest and told with a voice so pure that it would be ignominious to overlook it....This focused and authentic narrative voice is what makes Rose of No Man's Land such a sincere achievement..." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Too much is predictable and too many characters are overly familiar. Nevertheless, flashes of brilliant writing and some scenes worthy of David Lynch remind readers of Tea's very considerable talent to shock and amuse." Booklist
Review
"Rose's persona can seem over-the-top....But she nevertheless is convincing as one of those intense, powerfully magnetic people who can readily suck the more passive Trish into her powerful and potentially damaging orbit." BookReporter.com
Review
"[I]mpossible to put down....Trisha is a raucous observer of everything from mall culture minutiae to her sister's reality TV dreams. Nothing gets by her." People Magazine
Synopsis
After being hired and abruptly fired from the most popular shop at Square One Mall in Mogsfield, Massachusetts, fourteen-year-old Trisha Driscoll finds herself linked up with a chain-smoking, physically stunted mall rat named Rose, in a love story between two weirdo girls who soulfully explore the emptiness of contemporary culture. Reprint. 44,000 first printing.
Synopsis
Fourteen-year-old Trisha Driscoll is a gender-blurring, self-described loner whose family expects nothing of her. While her mother lies on the couch in a hypochondriac haze and her sister aspires to be on
The Real World, Trisha struggles to find her own place among the neon signs, theme restaurants, and cookie-cutter chain stores of her hometown.
After being hired and abruptly fired from the most popular clothing shop at the local mall, Trisha befriends a chain-smoking misfit named Rose, and her life shifts into manic overdrive. A "postmillennial, class-adjusted My So-Called Life" (Publishers Weekly), Rose of No Man's Land is brimming with snarky observations and soulful musings on contemporary teenage America.
Synopsis
A whirlwind exploration of poverty and dropouts, Rose of No Man's Land is the world according to Trisha a furious love story between two weirdo girls, brimming with snarky observations and soulful wonderings on the dazzle-flash emptiness of contemporary culture.
About the Author
Michelle Tea is the author of Valencia, The Chelsea Whistle, and Rent Girl. She lives in San Francisco.