Release date: 1st August 2014
Series: n/a
I got it from: NetGalley
Goodreads summary:
Five strangers. Countless adventures.One epic way to get lost.
Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most.
There's HUDSON, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And BREE, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. ELLIOT believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love.
Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth— sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.
My review:
I've decided I love road-trip books. I don't know what it is about them - whether it's down to my love of travelling, the shifting scenery and new places, the opportunities for mischief, or the way they enable new and interesting characters, but I love them.
Let's Get Lost is a great road-trip book. It wasn't quite what I expected, but somehow it was all the better for it. At first I thought it might just be a series of barely-connected stories, a set of experiences along the way, meeting different people and changing their lives in some small (or big) way. But as Leila went on her journey and gradually revealed little pieces of herself, it became something more than that.
Alsaid's writing reminds me of Maggie Stiefvater's, which is a glorious thing. He has a similar way of painting a scene so that you really feel it, using very particular details and wording to create a mood as well as a picture. When He describes his characters, he doesn't give a run down of hair/eye/skin colour + height/weight + clothing. We all have eyes, is it really necessary to know the colour of everyone's? Not unless they are particularly startling or remarkable. Instead he gives bits and pieces that matter, that are pertinent to the person. I think I know more about the way Leila's car looks than the way she looks, but that's more than okay, as that car is in fact an extension of her, a piece of her personality.
Leila's road-trip is full of wacky adventures, heart-felt stories and incredible people. It's a perfect example of why it's sometimes okay to run away to find yourself. People scoff at the whole 'finding yourself' thing, but sometimes it's easy to drift through day to day life and lose track of who you really are. Sometimes you need to put yourself into out-of-the-way places and talk to strangers to either get back the person you were, or find the new person you need to be. Let's Get Lost is a book that can make you think, or a book to simply enjoy, or both. It's a special thing, and I can't wait to see what Alsaid comes up with next. No pressure!
Just had to edit post as I went on twitter to follow Adi and discovered she is a he! Oops! Sorry Adi, though you have to admit your name is a bit ambiguous, and the majority of YA authors are female, so perhaps I can be forgiven for assuming? I shall endeavour not to make such assumptions in the future.
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