Lost at Sea

(In this review I'm going to quote the novel. In the quotes there is profanity. I don't know who reads this blog, but if that bothers you... well, that why I'm warning you.)

Title: Lost at Sea

Author: Bryan Lee O'Malley

Publication date: 2003

Book's setting: Modern California. (Possibly Oregon.)

Random facts: I read Lost at Sea in Target because it was quiet and I was turned out of the house due to kitchen renovations.

Plot summary: "Maybe all these desperate clashing feelings I'm feeling are just random brain activity. Maybe I'm just delusional. But there are things that I miss, and things that I feel like I should be seeing and feeling every time I turn around, and I just keep turning and turning and turning, and there's nothing." Raleigh is stuck in a car, on a road trip from California to Vancouver (home) with three kids she never really got to know from high school. She was in California visiting her dad. Except she wasn't- she was there visiting him. Or maybe she was there looking for her soul- the one that her mom sold for success, the one that's locked in a cat somewhere.
It's sort of a coming of age story, but it's also a story about fear and how to break free.

Favorite aspects: I have never (do I need to say that again? NEVER.) read a book that more accurately summed up what it's like to be us. Girls in the highschool/college years in the 21st century. Our worries and emotions and problems and circular thinking and failed romances. One of the most brilliant scenes is when Stephanie wishes she was tall, and Raleigh says she hates being tall and Stephanie says, "Anyway, of course you hate being tall. That's how it works." Also I love how Raleigh's "gifted class" bubble was burst in highschool. Sometimes I think that happens to homeschoolers in college. Basically Bryan Lee O'Malley has an incredibly grasp on reality. Other than maybe Ghost World, it was the most realistic thing I've ever read.

Least favorite aspects: I'd like to know if she ever read the letter. (Also, are her sisters really cats?)

Other works it reminded me of: Ghost World by Daniel Clowes; Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley.

Sadie's merciless breakdown: It's been a long, long time since I read something that struck me personally like this did. Atonement and Good Omens and Siste Viator were magnificent and cut me to the core, so to speak... but Lost at Sea was for me. I guess it's for every lost, lonely girl, but it does not mean it was not also for me.
I guess I'll just leave this rather offensive but incredible quote. It's incredible because everyone I know had made some version of this speech to me, and I've done it to others too.
"I'm an anti-social monster. I'm suck a fuckup. I'm- I'm a mediocre fuckup, even. I'm not even good at fucking up! He might not love me? That's cause for a fucking breakdown?! What is this? I'm stupid! I feel stupid! I'm horrible! I'm dead, I think I'm dead. Seriously."

Recommendation rate: If you're an old guy or if you're 12 or something then you might not like it or get it. But if you're a girl and you've ever felt a feeling you should read it.