|
At the
opening of Michelle Tea's Rose of No Man's Land, Trisha
Driscoll has just slept through her last day of ninth grade.
When she finally wakes up with a hangover she discovers that
1) her alarm didn't go off because her sister caused a power
surge with the stolen camcorder she's using to tape her application
to MTV's The Real World and 2) that her sister didn't
wake her up because she was filming the sleeping Trisha missing
her last day of school for her application.
Things
only go downhill from there.
With
a hypochondriac mother permanently fixated on daytime talk
shows' endless supply of new diseases and no father figure
beyond her mother's redneck boyfriend, Trisha is caught in
a downward spiral toward lower class oblivion. But missing
her last day of ninth grade gives Trisha her wake-up call,
and she decides to devote the summer to changing her life
for the better.
Rose
of No Man's Land is a vibrant and fast-paced first person
narration of one day and one night in Trisha's life. The reader
follows Trisha on a careening ride through her first day on
the job at the extremely popular Ohmygod! boutique
to her first cigarette to meeting her first new friend, Rose.
The story is told in real time and readers will find themselves
as exhilarated by the pace as Trisha herself. Moreover, Tea's
prose is stylized in such a way that readers will feel as
if they are truly entering Trisha's consciousness. For example,
Trisha's internal monologue incorporates dialogue from others
through the use of italics while Trisha's own interaction
with others is marked by all-caps. Readers may need time to
get used to this technique, but it is ultimately an intriguing
and accurate take on the teenage consciousness.
The
story is engaging, if stereotypical and even predictable in
parts. When Trisha first meets Rose, for example, it becomes
glaringly obvious that their interaction will drive much of
the action from that point on. Also, the characterization
of Trisha's family is particularly one-dimensional: There
is an absent father who earns a few passages of speculation
before disappearing altogether; the couch-bound mother on
welfare with her talk shows is a particularly glaring stereotype;
but the weakest character is by and large the mother's boyfriend,
Donnie, who shirtlessly shares a few beers with Trisha before
stumbling into white trash oblivion.
However,
the strengths make up for these weak moments. Though parts
of the story may defy believability, the fast-paced plot grabs
readers' attention and keeps them engaged for the duration
of the novel. The interaction between Trisha and Rose is equally
appealing. Their relationship begins with the charged excitement
of a little shoplifting and smoking and develops into Trisha's
first sexual experience with a natural flow that eschews the
stereotypes found earlier in the minor characters.
Rose
of No Man's Land would make a great read for an older
teen interested in reading a book with homosexual themes,
but it's not recommended as a first introduction to literary
homosexuality: The amount of drug use, illegal activity, and
what could be potentially misread as a judgmental outcome
make this a book for more sophisticated and discerning readers.
However, the book may have a limited grasp on older readers
who don't feel like reading a book about teenage angst. Readers
of Francesca Lia Block will find themselves at home in Tea's
creation—albeit without the literal magic of Block's
world. Though it has its weak moments and its limits, Rose
of No Man's Land is an intoxicating and guiltily fun read.
(October,
2007)
|
