State Highway One

by Sam Coley

This is what I want to do. I want to go home. I want you to come with me.
'I want to go from here . . .'
Finger on Cape Reinga.
'. . . to here.'
Finger at the bottom of Stewart Island, right at the bottom of the map.
It's been years since Alex was in New Zealand, and years since he spent any one-on-one time with his twin sister, Amy. When they lose their parents in a shock accident it seems like the perfect time to reconnect as siblings. To reconnect with this country they call 'home'.
As they journey the length of State Highway One, they will scratch at wounds that have never healed - and Alex will be forced to reckon with what coming home really means.

Genres: Fiction, Family, Drama, Grief, Contemporary

384 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 2020

About the author

Sam Coley's two favourite things in the world are taking photos and dancing. Most nights, however, he can be found at his desk with a pen and a legal pad and a bottle of wine. He has called New Zealand, Australia and the UK all home at some point, and probably still would. His debut novel, State Highway One, was the winner of the 2017 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers.

Reviews

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three years after Alex left New Zealand, his parents and twin sister Amy for Dubai, Alex was returning after the shattering phone call. The funeral and what followed shook Alex to his core, but the reconnecting with Amy on a road-trip of two thousand miles, from one end of State Highway One to the other was a journey of healing, of trying to find peace, and of grief.

Alex only had thirteen days before he had to return to Dubai. Could he and Amy traverse the full length of State Highway One, do some sightseeing and get to know one another again in that time? Or would Alex continue to drift away from what he always knew as ‘home’?

State Highway One is the debut novel by Aussie author, and winner of the 2017 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers, Sam Coley. With plenty of booze, smokes, heartache and soul searching, along with anger and confusion, the two main characters attempt to come to terms with who they are and where they are going. Deeply troubled and grief stricken – what will the answers be? Recommended.

With thanks to Hachette AU for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

[Mandy White (mandylovestoread) · Rating 4 out of 5]

State Highway One is a highly emotional story of twins Alex and Amy. It has been 3 years since Sam packed his bags and left New Zealand for a job in Dubai. Now he is back to bury his parents who were killed in a car crash. After the funeral the twins find it hard to return to the family home so decide to travel State Highway One from one end of New Zealand to the other.

The learn alot about themselves on this trip. They were never close to their parents, who used to leave them home alone for extended periods of time while they went off on work trips. They only had each other. They are twins but very different. Alex doesn't feel that NZ is his home anymore, he is angry and confused in his grief. Amy is a wild child, up for anything. Together they navigate the roads and people of their country as they comes to terms with who they are and their place in the world.

This was a hard book to put down and it kept me reading way past my bedtime. The soundtrack was awesome too! I highly recommend this book for lovers of a good story with troubled characters.

Thanks to Hachette Australia for my advanced copy of this book to read.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s odd reading a story about a roadtrip at the moment.

Places that you used to go - the shop, the cinema, the office, a friend’s house - feel foreign and strange. So reading State Highway One, a book that takes its readers down the longest road from the top of New Zealand’s North island, down to the tip of the South island: it feels almost mythical.

Coley’s understanding of place is one of my favourite things about this book. With every scene, every stop, every twist in the road, the reader is faced with a different glimpse. The beach. The mountains. Sprawling cities. Small, forgotten towns. Scratched sunglasses thrown into the back seat of a temperamental Mirage. An old CD you’ve forgotten about in the glove box but still works*. Greasy fast food papers in the footwell. Memories you’d rather forget. Emotions you’re desperately trying to remember.

Every chapter is a postcard: wish you were there.

And it’s this depiction of the setting which really sets this book apart and allows Coley to really examine the book’s main question: what is ‘home’?

With considered and fresh prose, the author sets the scene of a splintered family, with Alex (grieving, angry, confusing, frustrating as hell - seriously, this boy!) picking his way through the wreckage. In Alex’s relationships with the people in his life, regardless of how permanent or how fleeting, Coley shows his skill in examining the relationships we form; dismantling them to see what is there and, ultimately, what we’re missing.

However, the main jewel of this book is the relationship between Alex and his sister, Amy. Gloriously bananas, Amy. But I’ll let you get to know her yourself.

You know those kinds of books that are so beautiful and sad that they give you a tummy ache? That’s this book. From the north island to the south. From the first page to the last.

State Highway One is a fantastic and assured debut and I’m so, so thrilled that people will - finally - be talking about Sam Coley and this book.

Tummy aches for all.


[Also, it was blurbed by Melina Marchetta so you know it’s going to be good.]

* The soundtrack to this book is A+.

[Full disclosure: the author is a writing partner of mine so, possibly a little biased, however - I’d 100% tell him if his book was pants.]

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love a good twin novel, love a good NZ novel, love a good sad novel and this one ticked all these boxes. State Highway One has all the makings of an NZ great. It’s deeply located in place and is full of those NZ gothic vibes that I love so much. I loved that this was an authentic, gritty story about the hard things in life, and what it’s like when important relationships are broken suddenly and for a long time. There were brief moments where I felt like I wasn’t holding all the threads together, but it comes together in the end. A great read.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

“They say you can never go home again, except here I am at nine in the morning, still a bit drunk, still in the suit I wore yesterday, gunning one-forty up Sate Highway One, headed north, headed for the Cape, home again and getting away.”

After three years working in Dubai, Alex Preston has returned home to New Zealand to bury his estranged parents after their death in a car accident. Reluctant to return to his childhood home in Auckland following the funeral, Alex, accompanied by his twin sister, Amy, impulsively decides to drive to Cape Reinga, New Zealand’s northernmost point. On reaching it he is reminded of a promise made to Amy to one day travel to Stewart Point together, and with only two weeks til Alex must once again leave, they recklessly decide to follow the State Highway One all the way to New Zealand’s southernmost point.

Sam Coley presents a poignant journey undertaken amid a miasma of grief, confusion and anger in his remarkable debut, State Highway One. It’s a story that explores the themes of home, family, identity, and dispossession as the close confines of the car gives rise to reminisces, recriminations and regrets.

Though the focus is on the emotional progress of the twins, as is common to many a road trip, particularly spontaneous ones, the siblings experience unexpected obstacles, unplanned detours, and breakdowns during their adventure.

Coley, it seems, knows New Zealand well. As the twins travel south, we are given glimpses of the island nation - sprawling cities and tiny towns, dense bushland and fallow farmland, rugged coast side cliffs, and raging oceans. Alex’s iPod provides a carefully curated virtual soundtrack (which you can listen to on Spotify).

With evocative writing, superb characterisation, and tender insight State Highway One is a deserved winner of 2017 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers.

[Craig and Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have just taken the trip from the top of New Zealand to the very bottom of the South Island via State Highway One.
Governed by an edgy writing style capturing the audacity and pain of a millennial who is lost and grief stricken.
Reflecting arrogance, a sassy attitude and a history that needs reconciling.
Alex returns to New Zealand to bury his parents after many years of being away abroad.
A twin, that does not have the typical closeness to his sister and an estranged history with parents, makes him a complex yet compelling character.
The deaths are an opportunity for Alex to reconnect with his sister and his home country.
The epic journey south pushing them in more ways than the geography.
Diary entry formats punctuating his return for the present day journey and flashbacks through out his childhood and adolescence indicative of the sharp and evocative style of the author.
Fundamentally the lack of love and guidance from self centred and obnoxious parents, battling self discovery and the lure of the party lifestyle shape both the twins.
A modern family noir that both challenged and enthralled me.
A revelation towards the end was unexpected and upon reflection gelled the discrepancies.
Cleverly and intelligently written it has taken me a day to determine if I liked this and I can say I did.

[Mr Oliver P Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who moved away from where I grew up at 18 the concept of what ‘home’ mean particularly resonated with me, also having an unapologetically queer character whose friction with his family didn’t stem from sexuality but universal (neglect, resentment) issues was refreshing.

Sam’s characters are beautifully written leaving enough space in the reader’s imagination to create one’s own picture of what the characters look like without being force fed every detail. There is a style to his writing that feels new and exciting – extremely engaging and at times completely heartbreaking. I couldn’t put it down. Even after I finished it I found I just couldn’t put it down.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the book indicates, this one is about family, relationships and finding your way home. While it was slower than other books I’m used to I did enjoy the diversity and the way the author revealed the family relationships. This novel is in the category of contemporary fiction and it was the Winner of the Richell Prize for emerging writers. I would recommend it to friends who enjoyed The Weekend by Charlotte Wood.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

State Highway One (Hachette 2020), by writer Sam Coley, won the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers in 2017 and from the opening pages you can immediately see why. The entire book is basically a road trip (both literal and emotional) for protagonist Alex and his twin sister Amy after the sudden death of their parents in a tragic accident. Set in New Zealand, the pair travel from the very northern tip of New Zealand, Cape Reinga, all the way along State Highway One (with a few detours along the way), to Stewart Island in the very south. It is a journey that makes no sense – they undertake it with little planning or resources, or without even really a motivation or goal. It is a profoundly emotional decision to embark on the road, sparked by the loss of their parents, and fuelled by their crazy, inexplicable (even to themselves) justification for doing it.
Alex had escaped from New Zealand to work overseas three years earlier, and plans to come home for only a few weeks, for the funerals and to finalise the estate. But his sister persuades him to undertake this journey, together, as a final mark of … something … respect? Friendship? Their relationship? Honouring their parents? Closure? As the road trip continues, the motivations shift and the balance between the twins changes, although it has always been Amy who is ‘the boss’ and Alex who goes along with her decisions.
Despite poor (or practically no) planning, they travel the road, experiencing various dramas and tests of character along the way. They fight, they make up. They recall childhood experiences. They reconnect in a way perhaps neither thought possible. As it becomes increasingly obvious that they will probably not reach their objective with enough time for Alex to still catch his flight back to his new work and home overseas, they must make some tough decisions. Alex particularly must ‘reckon with what coming home really means’.
If every good action book includes a car chase, this road trip is one big, tense road trip with rising tension that never lets up. The narrative arc is clear in terms of setting – a map at the beginning of the book plots points (towns etc) that they reach along the way, and the reader has a clear sense of how far they have travelled and how far they have yet to go. There is no going back, emotionally or physically.
Both the main characters are intensely drawn and compelling, each with a sparkling sense of humour and wit that balances the depressing nature of the reason for their trip, and their recent terrible loss.
The trip occurs around February 2015 and each chapter is dated. There are flashback chapters included (also dated) that broaden the sense of history and backstory for each character and their shared family circumstances. Themes of loyalty and betrayal, love and loss, grief and forgiveness, adventure, risk-taking, self-belief and self-doubt all feature.
There is something very special about this book. Something that I cannot even name as a literary device because to allude to it in words would possibly alert the reader and act as a spoiler. So I will simply say that when I reached the end of the novel, I wanted to go back and read it again from the beginning, knowing what I did not know then. The ending is spectacular.

[Lily Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, tbh, this had me at ‘twins’, just like every book about twins, ever. But on the real, this book offered so much more than that.

I’m always kinda surprised when first novels manage to get their pacing right, but Coley’s pacing is masterful. As the narrative progressed and the characters and their pasts began to unravel, Coley’s grip on his reader becomes tighter and tighter. This is a particularly clever trick, considering that’s he’s weaving multiple timelines and layers of exposition together. Amy & Alex leap off the page, and by the time we left Dunedin, I knew Henry better than I wanted to.

Anyway, grab your iPod and Lucky Strikes. You’re going on a road trip, and you won’t be the same when you’re done. Take a deep breath, & don’t stop til you can see Antarctica.

FULL DISCLOSURE: this book made me shed actual human tears

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super beautifully written! Also, very sad so prepare yourself.
I can't wait to read everything Sam writes in the future! :)

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a journey- for both the main character and the reader. A journey through grief, memory, perception, reality, landscape, soundscape and identity.

So many layers to process. Hedonism/conscience, love/hate, good/evil, care/neglect, risk-taking/caution, letting go/holding on, trust/betrayal, past/present and a tiny sliver of future. All with a soundtrack of music that evokes times and feelings. Eloquent, magical and harsh all at the same time.

Congratulations Sam Coley. The NZ version of Trent Dalton? 5/5 from me.

[Kiwiflora · Rating 4 out of 5]

A road trip! Who in New Zealand does not love that idea, especially now when we can't go anywhere else. Explore your own landscape, and with state highway running from the tip of the North Island at Cape Reinga to the bottom of the South Island at Bluff, and then taking in Stewart Island, why would you not?
Unless you are in a deep state of grief, trauma and despair. Which Alex and his twin sister Amy are, having lost their parents in a terrible road accident. The twins are young, about twenty, but already have complicated lives. Alex has lived in Dubai for the past two or three years, having fled NZ after a personal crisis which is carefully disclosed as the novel goes on. He works in a very high pressure role for an advertising/media sort of business. Lucky he is young in body and soul to cope with the stress and lifestyle. Amy meanwhile has been pretty directionless in her life, going to university, drifting. They grew up with what we would call an entitled existence - their parents very successful film producers, so away from home a lot, leaving the twins - what we call benign neglect parenting. Hardly surprising that Amy and Alex have a difficult relationship.

As expected the mode of travel is a pretty clapped out car that struggles with the distances and the roadways that the two of them take. Plus no money. Amy is the navigator, Alex the driver, the ultimate goal being the far side of Stewart Island, and only 3 weeks to do it in, as Alex has to be back in Dubai. So much happens on this trip, so many sibling dramas and wounds opened up. There is a near death crash, drugs, a typically ghastly Cook Strait ferry crossing, grim accommodations, but they make it. And Dubai? Well, that would be telling if Alex makes it back there.

This is such a surprising novel, perhaps a little long, but there is lot of ground to cover. Like most fiction set in New Zealand, the landscape, the sea, the mountains and hills are all heavily featured, characters in themselves, contributing to the mood of the twins, reflecting their inner turmoils and special sibling relationship. Revealing, intimate, insightful moving towards an unexpected and satisfying conclusion. More from this writer please.

[R.W.R. McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading STATE HIGHWAY ONE yesterday and am still processing, I think I will be for a while to come. I can see why this won the 2017 Ritchell Prize, STATE HIGHWAY ONE has the makings of a contemporary classic. The writing is razor sharp, the observations and characters spot on;

“I try to think of something nice and understanding, but before I can think of anything, Amy looks Jennifer/Jessica dead square in the eyes.
‘Get rid of it while you can.’
Me on the stairs, Mum in her office talking to her assistant.
Her words coming out of Amy’s mouth.”

STATE HIGHWAY ONE captures the expat experience of home, family separation, grief and growing up. An incredible debut- 2020 must read.

[Tara Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Think Invisible Monsters, but in NZ, and with empathy.

Cleverly structured character study about home and road trips and running away from oneself.

I could say more but spoilers.

[Helen - Great Reads & Tea Leaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was enticed by this novel for two reasons. Firstly, it takes place in New Zealand and I love that country. So in these days of lockdown, it would be a perfect escape to take a road trip from the top to the bottom of these great islands. Secondly, it was the winner of the Richell Prize for emerging writers and I have respect for what they recognised. In essence this is a journey, a pilgrimage one might say, where the main character reminisces about the past in their search for answers or at least an understanding of what has taken place.

The main character, Alex, returns home after the tragic death of his estranged parents in a car accident. Finding it difficult to fly back to his workplace in Dubai, he makes the decision to travel with his twin sister, Amy the length of New Zealand. The story follows the State Highway One from NZ northernmost tip to the southernmost locale.

‘How many kids our age get to do what we get to do, you know? They’re all slamming doors and fighting with their parents, and us? We’re free.’ It never really feels like that to me. I’d rather be fighting with someone who’s actually here.’

The author has written a truly poignant tale - one of reflection, grief and even anger - as Alex embarks on a physical and reflective journey after his loss. Chapters jump about (keep track of the dates) from previous years to the present day. This is a tale of family, identity, loss and regret as the outcome of this pivotal event. Along the way there will be obstacles to overcome, detours and breakdowns (both literal and figurative). A definite plus is the author's knowledge of NZ and the glimpses he gives of tiny towns to sprawling cities. Even the Playlist is a careful selection that I believe is available on Spotify.

‘Do you really think everything happens for a reason?’ .... ‘Dunno. But I think you have to tell yourself something.’ The truth is I don’t know what to say in reply. Every word, the start of every sentence trails off in the space between my brain and my teeth, withers and dies on my tongue ...’

The ending, well ... I was hoping for something special and Sam delivered. This is a book with a rather remarkable, unique writing style and presentation. At times it is slow, events and characters are frustrating, but overall it is very cleverly written and most worthy of its award. A deeply moving tale about family and dealing with childhood scars and overcoming grief in its many forms.

‘Back to being me. Back to being the boss of my own life - not this kid in an old car who’s angry and sad all the time. But every time the sun comes up, that’s one more sunrise since I left - since I ran out. It's one more sunrise since the last time I saw my parents. And every sunrise, the number grows by one. I can’t stop it. I can’t even slow it down. I can’t do anything. I can drive like an idiot, sleep on beaches, fuck strangers, die on the side of a cliff in the middle of the night, but nothing I do is going to change the fact that every day that goes by is another day without them.’

[Michelle Barraclough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam Coley has written a wonderfully captivating debut novel with State Highway One. Sam won the Richell Prize for Emerging Authors with this tender story of homecoming, identity and family dynamics.

Alex has been working in Dubai for several years but is called home to New Zealand following the death of his parents in an accident. Despite a fractious relationship with his twin sister Amy, the siblings decide to deal with (or avoid) their grief by taking off on a road trip from the northern tip of the country, all the way down to the southern-most point of the south island.

Sam Coley does a wonderful job of evoking all the feels of a road trip - the grotty fuel stops, cardboard motels, random people who give or take, fast food containers in the footwell and the discovery of long lost CDs. His descriptions of New Zealand are beautifully rendered and made me immediately want to go back to those majestic ridges of impossible green overhanging wild seas.

But the power of this novel is the gradual peeling away of Alex and Amy's history to reveal the dark underbelly of their childhood and the reasons why Alex is finding it hard to cope. I felt his despair, his grief, his anger. I wanted to give him a hug and somewhere to rest awhile (and a bath and a new car, but that's another story!)

An impressive debut about what it means to come home, and whether past hurts can ever really be overcome.

PS. I absolutely LOVE that Sam has created a playlist on Spotify to go with the novel. Excellent listening and brought back so many memories of both the novel and my own road trips. Well played Sam! (see what I did there?? ;-))

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first casual look at this made me think it was a bit muddly and would be hard to read. When I started from the beginning and read it properly I was hooked. The time period moves around, and some realisations dawn slowly, so it is muddly in this sense but it has a ring of 'real' about it and I found I just wanted to keep on reading. It's sad, though there's also an element of hope.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not what I was expecting at all. I don’t know that I liked it, and didn’t have a lot of sympathy for the main character but it was very compelling. And I do feel like I’ve traveled the length of NZ in a car full of smoke which is probably testament to the writing. One of the selling quotes on the cover referred to ‘a gorgeous sense of humour’ - no idea what book they read, but I don’t think it was this one! This is more about a journey of reckoning with yourself when you can’t go back and fix things.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a beautiful tale. It gave me a real sense of movement and memory. Such well developed characters with so many flaws. I loved this and would read it again for the warm hug I felt it gave me. Seriously. It's good. I cant want to see what else Sam writes in the future.

[Angelique Simonsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

God this was a good read! I got sucked into being a passenger in the car all the way along the rocky ride. Emotional towards the end.
One of my favs this year and written by a New Zealander!

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me miss NZ.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the premise of this - driving all of State Highway 1, something my friends and I talked about doing years ago that never came to fruition. I loved the setting (of course I did, it's New Zealand). I was in Hamilton Gardens for the first time only three months ago, so reading even just a brief description of that was incredible.

This was a lot cruder than what I'd normally read, and I did find aspects of it a tad hard to follow at times - there are still things that I'm trying to straighten out in my head. I was hooked though, and super interested to see where things ended up.

[Trish Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of you will know that Thrillers are my thing. I love fast-paced, quick and easy reads. Every now and then I mix it up and lose myself in a romance novel.
That being said I really don’t know why I loved this book as much as I did.
It was a slow burn, totally character driven book but OMG - it caught me unawares!
Here’s the premise taken from Hachette:

‘It's been years since Alex was in New Zealand, and years since he spent any one-on-one time with his twin sister, Amy. When they lose their parents in a shock accident it seems like the perfect time to reconnect as siblings. To reconnect with this country they call 'home'.
As they journey the length of State Highway One, they will scratch at wounds that have never healed - and Alex will be forced to reckon with what coming home really means.’

Sam Coley’s writing is truly emotive and had me fully immersed from beginning to end. I loved Alex and Amy and their crazy, complex relationship. Actually, I loved everything about them.
The story flashes back and forth over a 3 year span during which we learn a lot about how these twins got to be who and where they are today. So emotional! You’ll need your tissues.
This is one of those books that I really struggle to review as it’s so unique and my words just can’t do it justice.
I guess what I want to say is....add it to your TBR!!!!
Also, as I’m typing this I’m listening to the playlist on Spotify. So cool!
A huge thank you to Hachette for gifting me this book. It’s a gem.

[ao_always_reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

State Highway One is close to my heart because I know the areas referred to and the route travelled. It is always nice to be able to picture those things in your head as you read.

Alex left New Zealand a long time ago and hasn’t looked back. He hasn’t spent any time with his twin sister, Amy, in years and on the death of their parents he returns to attempt to reconnect with her and the idea of “home”. Following the funeral Amy tells Alex she doesn’t want him to go yet and instead wants the pair to travel the length of State Highway One together, from tip to tip of NZ, and maybe heal past wounds. Alex reluctantly agrees and the pair set off.

They say you can never go home, and that, for so many, is true. It is particularly true where you never felt you had a “home” in the first place. Which is exactly what Alex and Amy feel about theirs. They were born to parents who weren’t probably particularly interested in having them in the first place. They were often ‘neglected’ for the shiny bright lights of bigger and better things and with that independence came estrangement, from their parents and each other. And the ‘big betrayal’ of Amy created a chasm which left Alex (in his mind) no choice but to leave.

State Highway One is well-written and the Alex character rang true to me. He hid who he was when he was younger and then has to hide who he is later, when paired with the feeling of neglect by his parents and feeling ostracised from his sister, eventually those feelings will reach a boiling point, and the journey is one needed to be taken to resolve everything left unsaid.

I had predicted the ‘twist’. For me, at the time of reading, there were some implausible timeline and character issues which, on reflection, were put in as clues, but left me with only one choice about where the story was going.

Ultimately though, for me, this is a deeply reflective and moving story. It’s about the ties that bind, about how we deal with the scars of our childhood, about nature versus nurture, about the ‘what ifs’ and the grief of things left unsaid and unattended. I recommend giving this one a read and thank Hachette Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity.

[Deb Egan]

I very rarely abandon a book, especially very early on, but I just couldn't work my way past the clunky language and grammar choices e.g. 'It's still morning but the sun is already threatening the country I used to call home with another scorchingly high chance of sunburn and skin cancer.' The country is going to get skin cancer? Further on - 'My (polarised) Ray-Bans come off too ...'. Sorry, there are too many books on my shelf that I'm itching to get to.

[Sharah McConville · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars. I didn't expect to like State Highway One as much as I did! Sam Coley's debut novel made me think about my own road trip around New Zealand when I was young. Alex returns to NZ after his family are involved in an horrific car accident. Alex get the first flight he can out of Dubai, his new home, but finds that his parents have died and that his twin sister Amy is in intensive care and fighting for her life. After his parent's wake Alex goes on a crazy trip from the North of NZ to the Southern tip of NZ with Amy by his side. State Highway One is a sad story about family, relationships and growing up. Thanks to NetGalley for my digital copy.

[booksweread · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well this book took me completely by surprise!
Did I predict the ugly crying, I did. And boy did I ugly cry.
And that twist, if you didn’t predict it...when it hits you, you’re like, what?! No?! How?! 😭😭😭😭😭

The prose, the reflective narrative, the pain, the grief, the frustration and the confusion....oh my goodness.
And the road tripping itself, an actual journey, a travel brochure with heart and all the emotions and now I want to go on it too.

Thanks to Hachette Australia for a copy of this gem.

[Jarmby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Struggled to page 139 and thought, no, I am trying to get into this but it ain’t happening
The lead characters are uninteresting, in fact annoying. The sort of person who once you’ve spotted you actively avoid, but deep down really wanting to give them a bit of a slap
I developed no interest in their past there present ( a ludicrous journey) it their future
The author seems intent on making every sentence one of great meaning and import.
As such it is hard work to read and offered little prospect of award for effort

[Karen Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

A first time effort and a prize winner as well. It was interesting reading this on the back of Dead People I have Known the backgrounds are different, one fact one fiction, but both have distinctly Aorearoa elements easily recognised. The good the bad and the ugly.
A sad tough tale.