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| Aussie 2004 cover |
Isn't it the *most* magnificent cover you have seen?
The girl on the car in her boots and dress and scarf.
The road lines into the sky...
The gorgeous title.
Us cover (circa 2006) VERSE original Aussie cover (circa 1997)
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| in lieu of pasting the blurb, read the actual blurb ;) |
Guitar Highway Rose by Brigid Lowry is one of my most favourite nostalgia books <3
it came out when I was 17 and in my final year of high school.
i loved it.
my mates loved it.
i carried it around with me.
i wanted to be Rosie. i crushed on Asher.
i doodled all the little icons out of it into my journal.
i answered some of the profile-y parts in my journal, too :)
it's such a perfect teenagery book.
it's about crushes and first love. running away. a road trip. a kombi van. hippies.
it sweet and quirky. funny and gorgeous. and very zen-alternative-byron-bay-esque.
it's gorgeously Australian.
it is experimental in structure: the story told from all POV's: Rosie and Asher and a narrator and their parents ...
Asher is all stream-of-consciousness with no punctuation.
other parts are all the little tidbits of their lives.
how much do i love it now? it was an ultimate favourite for me 14 years ago. it's still gorgeous and addictive and makes my heart swell when I flick through it. it reminds me of myself, as a teenager (not necessarily the characters, but how i felt and how i felt reading this book for the first time). i LOVE how different and arty it is (i do not know many books like it). it's still 5 stars from me ~ for being everything i wanted a book to be and more when I was younger.
i re-read this last month. i just got it back on my shelf ~ yesterday~ after loaning it to two sisters: 11 and 13 years old who LOVED it. i recced it to an adult friend of mine (in the US) last year, and she adored it too <3
i think you should check it out, it's an Aussie YA cult classic kind of book :)
(it's also available internationally, and locally, of course)
this review is much more informal and chatty (although, it is my blog and i'll chat books in whatever format i like ;).
as a bonus, i took some pics of random parts of the book so you could see how it is a little bit different ...
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| asher has dreadlocks :D rosie tries to make them ~ by putting wax in her hair O.o |
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| lily is rosie's mum. she is having her own little freak-out due to what lily has gone and done... |
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| this is what asher and rosie did while they were on their road trip (for part of it. for the bliss part... ;) |
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| top of page: asher sending a post card to his byron bay friends middle: a slice of character profiles, very awesome bottom: a wednesday diary for rosie |
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| more of how the story moves forward in it's own funky/cool way including: snippet from LIVING WITH TEENAGERS (which rosie's mum is reading. her and rosie are getting all rock in their relationship) what asher packs to run away sightings at the local bus station strange signs they see on the way rosie's thoughts while on the bus <3 (also ~ this is a typical-looking page spread. not written in the usual narrative) |
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| what rosie and asher talk about, under a tree, while on their road trip (next section, we see all their answers to the questions) |
have you read it?
are you intrigued?
do you have favourite nostalgia books?
which cover is your fave?
oh, i love this book so
and i am extraordinarily happy to have it here on the blog &lt;3
Guitar Highway Rose @ Allen and Unwin (including look @ first chapter)
