Overall, I felt a little let down by Michelle Tea's Rose of No Man's Land. I probably ought to preface that statement by saying that I have unreasonably high expectations of young adult literature, at least when judged against the common standard these types of books are held to, but that notwithstanding I still felt let down - the kind of let down that can only come from an experience that was decent but had the potential to be so much more.First off, the characterization. Michelle Tea crafts the emotionally vacant, commercially washed out characters in a way that is at once unique and interesting while remaining true to the heavily-appropriated, soulless commercialism that pervades their lives. You have to give her props for that.Second, any book that's willing to look at things that are considered culturally taboo is worth a look. In particular, an exchange in which the title character, Rose, wards off a group of horny teenage guys by removing her bloody tampon and throwing it at them is spectacular - the passage describes one young man as looking betrayed by this action, an absolutely perfect way to some up how Rose's taboo scandalized a young man who probably looked at himself as badass and scandalous due to his mainstream-culture-driven perception of himself. That sort of thing is excellent.And, third, I'll admit there's a little nostalgia thrown in here. Tea's fictional town of Mogsfield, and the Square One Mall and the various attractions on Route 1, are populated by fictitious places, but all fictitious places that are based on actual ones - for instance, the Chinese restaurant with the river running through it, Weyloon, is based on a restaurant called Kowloon. I knew these places growing up as well as I lived fairly close to that part of Route 1. That the novel's narrator, Trisha, describes these places with exactly the same reverent scorn I used to attribute to them - due to them being so obviously soul-sucking and shitty yet still homey, as they're what we knew - definitely tickled me.But, unfortunately, there are some issues with Rose of No Man's Land that can't be ignored.The biggest issue is the pacing. The first half of the novel or so takes place at a pretty moderate pace. Days go by between chapters, things are spaced out. Then, after the narrator meets Rose, everything goes kind of nuts - the second half of the book is the continuous narration of a single night. While that night is fully worth describing in this much detail, it feels extremely disjointed from the rest of the novel; the first half and second half don't seem to have a whole lot to do with each other. The slower, evener pacing of the first half made the second half feel like it was rushing to get a whole range of emotions into one night. I felt kind of cheated - it felt like there should have been more to the story than what was there. Maybe the problem isn't so much with the pacing as with the ending - the book should have kept going.There are couple of other issues, too. While I overall enjoyed Trisha's narratorial voice, her penchant for scatological references eventually crossed the line from interestingly unique to annoyingly repetitive. And, finally, Trisha's voice gets a little melodramatic near the end - while her ironic transformation into someone as petty as the people she'd despised could have been golden, it never got to develop fully. You could perhaps lump that in with the pacing issue described above, but it felt important enough to mention separately.Rose of No Man's Land was definitely, overall, a letdown, but it's still worth attention, if for nothing else than for the fact that it's the closest thing to transgressive young adult fiction I've ever encountered. The casual manner in which drugs and lesbian sex are embraced by Trisha as means of getting beyond the hopelessly banal existence around her are refreshing changes to the usual round of preachy, moralizing tripe you typically see in young adult fiction. While the book itself isn't great, what it represents - young adult fiction which is willing to break the mold of what is acceptable in way that is meaningful - could lead to some really great things.
I enjoyed this queercore coming of age book from Michelle Tea. Tea explores the life of a working class, gender bending teen who discovers her sexuality/sexual orientation in one crazy day during the first week of her summer vacation. All in one day, Trisha gets hired at the mall, steals, lies, assists others in stealing, gets fired, does crystal, loses her virginity, hitchhikes, gets drunk, rips off a child pornster, and wreaks havoc on the glittering oceanfront strip filled with gawdy, neon-glowing bars and restaurants. There's no 'resolution,' no lessons really, no moment of queer enlightenment, no lightbulb going off moment where Trisha, the main character, says, "All my life, I've been queer. I was born this way!" What's really great about this book is that you aren't given any morality plays about what it means to be queer. No finger-wagging about the heterosexism that every character exhibits, no insistance that one's first queer experience is, for a women, some sort of romantic, fall in love forever and ever moment. At the end, you return to Trisha's family, even more broken than it was when you first opened the book. You are left hanging, but in a good way, not sure what's going to happen. Which is fitting since Trisha is just entering 10th grade and, of course, has a lifetime of learning who she is ahead of her. It's a good beach novel. It was labeled 'Romance' by the local library, which I found amusing as I had to cart this book around with a little pink heart on it and the word, "Romance" -- a book that is decidedly not cut from the typical "Romance" mold.5 stars to the cover which is of a mannequin, dressed in pink and bright lipstick, hitchhiking. Spoiler: The title comes from the nickname of a tattoo men used to get during WWI and WWII. When nurses saved their lives by tending to their wounds on the battlefield, they'd commemorate their survival and honor the nurse with the tattoo. Again, the nice thing about Tea's work is that she tells you the history of the tattoo, weaves it into the experience of the character, and then leaves it totally up to you as to what meaning(s) to inscribe on the expression, "Rose of No Man's Land." http://www.mnrose.com/history
What do You think about Rose Of No Man's Land (2007)?
Following on the heels of her graphic novel Rent Girl (2005), the award-winning Valencia (2001), about San Francisco prostitution, and The Beautiful (2003), a collection of poetry, Rose of No Man's Land is Tea's first novel. Critics describe it as raw, honest, confident, hilarious, unpretentious, cynical, and poignant__and agree that among coming-of-age novels, Tea's voice rings true. Narrated by Trisha, the novel takes place over one day, which stretched credibility for some critics. Yet Tea's first-person narrator and defiant sidekick, as well as her fantastic observations of pop culture, won critics over. Notes the San Francisco Chronicle: "Trisha refuses to become a poster child for what is wrong with youth today, and instead becomes what is most important of all, herself."This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.
—Bookmarks Magazine
Wow, this book is quite a trip. The first half is mostly just gearing up for the second half, in which our protagonist, Trisha, goes on an adventure with an exciting girl she's just met, Rose. There's alcohol and heavy drugs, there's stealing, there are creepy men, there's trespassing and tattoos. and there's some romance between the girls, of course.But the thing is, I liked the first half of Rose of No Man's Land better than the second half. Did I mention that these are fourteen year old girls?? Maybe I'm just too old and boring to find this stuff entertaining anymore. but it wasn't fun or exciting for me. I wanted them to go somewhere safe to have their self-discovery.Trisha's slow realization that she might be a lesbian is interesting - but that part of the story made me uncomfortable because it's so tied to the drugs.So, yeah, this book was pretty disappointing. The first half is an authentic-feeling picture of a poor family's dysfunction. When I thought the story was going to take off into something great, it turned into a mess.But despite its weak second half and its vague ending, Rose of No Man's Land does have a beautiful and engaging narrative voice. I'm sure Michelle Tea is capable of some amazing writing. this one just didn't do it for me.EDIT: Slutever is a band with a really gritty vibe that complements the I-need-to-take-a-shower feeling that I got from this book.
—Steph
Young, but I had expected that. I wanted to pick up Valencia in anticipation of the film, but this is what the Free Library of Philadelphia had, so this is what I got.Michelle Tea's writing style is always a treat, but I can't help but wonder how many books she can write about teenaged lesbians doing drugs and discovering their sexual identities. There are a lot of gems in here (particularly the bathroom scene with Trish and Rose... ahhhhh I understand completely how that feels!), but it fizzled out for me in the last 40 pages or so. It was as though this smart, coming-of-age queer girl story switched into nothing more than a dazed recounting of the Most Depraved Night Ever. In particular, the inclusion of the tattoo shop scenes reminds me of when you are painting and you try to add one final detail on a whim but it ends up ruining half the picture.Rose of No Man's Land is basically Catcher in the Rye for baby dykes. I just want to wander the hallways of some high school, search out all the closeted girls with weird families, slip them a copy of this book, and promise them that everything's going to end up ok. That is what this book is for.Fun Fact: Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth fame endorses this book on the back of the dust jacket.
—Heather
