Guitar Highway Rose: A Novel

by Brigid Lowry

Overview

My name is Rosie Moon. I am nearly sixteen. I'm hungry for a juicy life. I lean out the window at night and I can taste it out there, waiting for me.

Popular and smart, fifteen-year-old Rosie Moon is the quintessential good girl. She also wishes she could be someone else for a while, someone more interesting. Asher Fielding is the mysterious new boy at school who has dreadlocks and a love of Jim Morrison. On the first day of tenth grade, Rosie develops a crush on Asher, and when the two pair up for a poetry assignment they quickly form a bond. When Asher is falsely accused of stealing a wallet at school, he and Rosie decide to escape it all—their families, their school, their ordinary town—and hitchhike up the Australian coast. They know they shouldn't, and that is exactly why they do. Part road story, part love story, Guitar Highway Rose is a thrilling ride for anyone who has ever dreamed about escaping everyday life, even just for a little while.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312342968
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/24/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.47(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Brigid Lowry is the author of award-winning poetry, short stories, and young adult novels. She is well-known in Australia, where Guitar Highway Rose was a runaway success with young readers and a finalist for or winner of numerous prestigious awards. She spent much of her life in Australia but now lives in New Zealand, where she was born and raised.

Editorial Reviews

Lowry's Australian lingo, lyrical descriptions, likeable characters, and creative format are sure to be an instant hit with teens.” —Kirkus

“This Australian import has a delightful tranquility that persists all the way to a realistic, satisfying ending. An unassuming, charming book.” —Booklist

“Lowry describes Australian land- and seascape in colorful detail. Her prose is crisply observant in some places, stream-of-consciousness in others, and full of British/Aussie humor and one-liners. This is a romantic, entertaining, and thoughtful novel.” —School Library Journal

“[An] artfully constructed novel…readers will likely be captivated by Lowry's playful narrative style, and they will easily empathize with most of the characters, from the free-spirited protagonists to the parents who worry over them.” —Publishers Weekly

“A quirky kaleidoscope of skilled writing…[a] special book.” —Voya

From the Publisher

PW called this novel about a 15-year-old who develops a relationship with the new kid at school when they pair up for a poetry presentation on Jim Morrison an "artfully constructed novel." Ages 12-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 7-10-Rosie Moon, 15, is waiting for life to happen-school is dull, her mother won't let her get a nose ring, and her parents seem to be breaking up. Along comes Asher Fielding, transplanted with his mother to Perth from New South Wales after his parents separate. He has dreadlocks, loves Jim Morrison's poetry, and gleefully defies the school's dress code. When Asher is accused of stealing a teacher's wallet, he and Rosie hitchhike up the coast and take up with two hippies and their young daughter. Instead of presenting a predictable object lesson about the danger of the road, Lowry allows the pair to discover themselves and one another as they play on the beach, sleep outdoors, and marvel at the workings of a happy family. The story is told in cleverly titled vignettes in the voices of the characters, including parents, teachers, Rosie's younger brother, and occasional words from the omniscient narrator. The language and format-ample space between the short monologues-are simple and engaging. The narrative, however, is far from simple. Lowry describes the Australian land- and seascape in colorful detail. Her prose is crisply observant in some places, stream-of-consciousness in others, and full of British/Aussie humor and one-liners. What starts in choppy, snappy sentences, la Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones' Diary (Viking, 1999) or Louise Rennison's Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging (HarperCollins, 2000) grows into more fluid, emotional prose. Although the ending is a little too neat, this is a romantic, entertaining, and thoughtful novel.-Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Multiple narrators and diverse narrative forms, including stream of consciousness, lists, and excerpts from Living with Teenagers, all tell the engaging story of Australian 15-year-olds Rosie and Asher. Rosie tests new boundaries with her parents, especially over the issue of a nose ring, and becomes exasperated over frequent confrontations with her controlling mother. Asher, a dreadlock-sporting product of former hippie parents who are now split up, enters a new, repressive school and is soon falsely accused of stealing a teacher's wallet. Both teens hunger for a taste of freedom and set out on a hitchhiking adventure that leads to romance and self-discovery, not only for the teens themselves but the parents left behind. Portraying the adolescent experience from many sides, the author reveals growing up and fitting in not only as a universal, adolescent event but a life-long achievement. Lowry's Australian lingo, lyrical descriptions, likable characters, and creative format are sure to be an instant hit with teens. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews