Solo

by Alyssa Brugman

'Solo drew me in, and involved me totally. Alyssa Brugman breaks your heart and makes you smile - almost at the same time.' Maureen McCarthy

'Mackenzie's voice is tough, but poignant too. You want to hang around to the very last word to make sure she's okay.' Melina Marchetta

I thought about Callum first. I imagined his face from every angle. Him smiling at me over some shared joke, one that I'd instigated, shocking him into a delighted laugh - tipping the balance in my favour just for an instant.

Then ugly, perverse thoughts barged in like bullies. All those thoughts I'd pushed aside, dammed, saw their opportunity to attack with renewed vigour. Out here there wasn't a thing to distract me. That was the whole idea of going solo, wasn't it? I wondered if isolation could send you mad. But I was already nutty, so maybe it would send me sane.

After yet another outburst, Mackenzie is sent to a Wilderness camp - 24 hours alone in the Australian bush - to confront her past, her family and her demons. That's when things start to unravel. . .

Genres: Young Adult, Australia, Realistic Fiction, Teen

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

Alyssa Brugman was born in Rathmines, Lake Macquarie, Australia in May 1974. She attended five public schools before completing a Marketing Degree at the University of Newcastle.

Alyssa has worked as an after-school tutor for Aboriginal children. She taught management, accounting and marketing at a business college, worked for a home improvements company and then worked in Public Relations before becoming a full-time writer.

Reviews

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful reflection on the depth and fragility of the human psyche.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too raw and disturbing for me but well written. I think what bothered me the most was that it gradually got darker and darker so I felt like the proverbial frog in a pot of boiling water. I was expecting a survival story, which it was, but it was a psychological survival, not physical. The ending was positive and hopeful.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite painful and difficult to read, the author really managed to get inside the head of a girl who's been badly mentally damaged by a history of abuse and abandonment from her drug-dealing addict parents, but it's not a nice place to be. It was actually quite scary at times.
I spent a lot of the book not understanding what was going on - when I got to the end and everything was explained I had to go back and read some bits again so I could make sense of them.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solo is an incredibly breathtaking novel of second chances and family truths. Mackenzie is trying to lead a better life for herself and trying to control her rage. When that fails, she is sent to a wilderness camp for troubled teens. There, she begins to remember her shattered past and reflects on the ways she can begin to fix things to start a better future.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh? Not nearly as awesome as Walking Naked.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good book for teenagers

[Katrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was hard to follow in some bits but at the end I was saying oh is that really the end of the novel?

I love alyssa brugman's horse books and thats why I chose to read this, but i just didn't enjoy it

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. As always, Alyssa Brugman's characters are amazing. Well written, original and with a great narrator.

[Clare Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story seared my soul, one of my all time favs