Rose of No Man's Land

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:50:00 +0000

The author of four memoirs—one of which being a graphic novel that has been optioned for cable—a book of poetry, and collected essays, columns, you name it, Michelle Tea’s first work of fiction, Rose of No Man’s Land is an absolute treat. And this goes for those you who haven’t been following her work for the past decade, too. You might call it a contemporary bildungsroman for the young, queer, working class female consciousness, or you might not. Any way you slice it, Tea has written a hilarious, grotesque, sometimes sad, but overall captivating story about a fourteen-year-old girl name Trisha Driscoll and what happens when she meets a girl named Rose.

Set in the here and now, Tea spares no detail of pop culture her highly accessorized audience could miss, which adds a great deal of color and vibrancy to the narrative. The setting, though, is the fictional town of Mogsfield, MA, just outside of Boston. Our mouthy and misanthropic protagonist Trisha takes us through what it’s like to have a couch potato/hypochondriac mom with an equally useless boyfriend, a sister whose ambition is to become a cast member on The Real World and friend like Rose who is wont to throwing used tampons at smarmy guys who sexually harass her. The novel’s plot culminates when Trisha and Rose have a long night of adventures resulting in Trisha’s first sexual experience and subsequent heartbreak, which Tea treats sensitively and without a contrived resolution.

Though you might find yourself reading some parts quicker than others to get to the more action-packed sections (Trisha’s narration gets a little long-winded at times, but usually in a good way), Rose of No Man’s Land is smart and entertaining, which is not always easy to pull off.

Written by: Heather Brown, March 16th 2007

Baby Remember My Name: An Anthology of New Queer Girl Writing

admin — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 13:38:00 +0000

Edited by Michelle Tea

Carroll & Graf

Upon discovering Michelle Tea had edited a new anthology of queer girl fiction, I completely lost my butch identity as I jumped up and down and squealed in excitement. Before I even glanced at the first few pages of Baby Remember My Name, I assumed that each short story would revolve around some lesbian in San Francisco doing too many drugs, drinking too much alcohol and pining away over the wrong girl with endless packs of cigarettes. It’s the San Fran queer girl writing that I just can’t get enough of, and I was thrilled to see what new adventures I would read about this time. The new anthology, however, surpassed any fantasies I had about queer girl writing, and opened my mind up into a whole new way of thinking about queer literature.

Let me tell you why Tea and her new anthology are so amazing. First of all, the writing is queer, not just lesbian or gay, but queer. Now what that means is that all of the selections embrace difference, challenge normative notions of what literature and story telling should be and influence the reader to conceive of the world in a different way. For example, one piece in this collection is about a young Hispanic boy who doesn’t understand why everyone insists that he is a girl. He compares his own situation to that of his flamboyant uncle and questions his parents as to why no one minds that his uncle acts feminine, but they all hate it if he acts like the boy he knows he wants to be.

Another reason why I’m in love with this book is because it approaches the idea of love from so many different perspectives. In one story, there’s a young girl living with her drug addicted parents in the government-issued trailers post-Hurricane Katrina, who gets butterflies in her stomach every time she helps her neighbor, Gloria, cook dinner for their families. Another perspective on love comes from a woman who witnesses the love grow between two loud and annoying pigeons outside of her apartment window. And finally, in the form of a graphic novel, there’s a story about a love/hate relationship that emerges when a group of roommates realize they have free cable.

And that brings me to my third reason as to why I am infatuated with this anthology; not only does Tea include different forms of fiction, memoir and a combination of both, but she also decided to bring graphic novel selections into the mix. In summation, there’s something in this anthology for everyone. You've got your hot lesbian sex scenes, a creative catharsis on drugs and love, drawings that depict the small insanities of life and a constant, political, pulse throbbing throughout each story. And if you’re jonesing for some new San Fran queer girl writing, look no further—there are a couple pieces included for you, too. Tea doesn’t leave any type of reader disappointed with her amazing selections.

Written by: Chelsey Clammer, February 27th 2007