Map

by Audrey Beth Stein

As a late-blooming, sexually-confused college senior, Audrey Beth Stein was looking for love, but she never expected it to arrive via email, from someone she first knew only as catrina at juno dot com...

It was 1996. A time when the Indigo Girls had just performed their first explicitly gay songs, Ellen DeGeneres was preparing to come out on national television, and Tinder and OkCupid did not yet exist. A time when being queer was just a little bit easier than admitting you'd met someone through the internet.

Offering layers of introspection and insight reminiscent of Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep and Cheryl Strayed's Tiny Beautiful Things, this coming-of-age memoir combines the page-turning exuberance of falling in love for the first time, the disorienting clarity of loss, and the triumph of letting go of the training wheels.

**Lambda Literary Award Finalist**

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Audrey Beth Stein is the author of the memoir MAP, which was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, as well as the picture books LOOK AT ME, BEAR AND DRAGON CAT, and THE DAY MY BEST FRIEND AND A MIGRAINE SLEPT OVER. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and is a two-time national prizewinner in the David Dornstein Memorial Short Story Contest. She taught creative writing workshops for a decade at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

Reviews

[YA Reads Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn’t like anything we’ve ever featured on yaReads before. Map isn’t a work of fiction; it’s an actual account of Audrey’s life experiences. Because of that, I feel that talking about her in a way I would normally discuss a fictional character’s motivations and actions is inappropriate – she’s a real person with real feelings who bravely decided to share her story with the world. But this is a review, so I’ll comment on those things that are appropriately open for comment and discussion.

Map reads a lot like fiction. So much so, in fact, that unless you noted the word ‘memoir’ on the cover, it could easily be mistaken as so. This is a credit to Audrey, as it is so often the case that biographies, or true and factual stories are often dry, written without the engaging dialogue and internal monologue that we all love so much about young adult fiction. It deals with Audrey’s sexual self-discovery and her journey into the world of bisexuality with class, poise, and honesty. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that her process of coming out (to herself and those around her) was all smooth sailing, it was refreshing to hear a coming out tale that wasn’t completely and totally heart breaking.

Map is so much more than just a tale of coming out, though. It’s a story of first love, first heartbreak and loss, growth and personal development. I was especially interested in the online relationship that developed between Catrina and Audrey. Audrey’s account detailed a different kind of falling in love to what we’re used to reading about. With online relationships, it’s less about the physical, and more about the emotional – her take on these issues is refreshing, and a joy to read in an era where so much is placed on physical sexuality.

This is an easy one to read, folks, and I’m sure most of you out there could knock it over in no time. So if you’re looking for a left of center read about a young girl’s journey through sexuality, then I’d say Map is a must read for you. If you’re looking for a queer read that wont totally crush your spirit and burn your soul, then I’d say Map is for you. If you’re looking for something full of action and suspense, perhaps steer clear of this one. This one is more about the mind and the heart than the actual goings on of the plot.

This one has the yaReads stamp of approval.

[Gregory Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fascination with Map, by Audrey Beth Stein, was not so much with the story of two women in romance, but rather in the relatable emotions of a young person searching for identity and guidance -- conveyed so subtly in some excellent writing. Stein takes us down the path of falling in love for the first time with a post-modern twist: her intended is virtual. She tosses out complex concepts with an apparent ease: for example, she mentions that she doesn't want to be in the cool crowd at school, but she longs for the 'spoils of coolness.' I love it.

Stein has a dry wit woven through her text that I sincerely enjoyed. A master of humor is a master of emotion, IMHO. Well done!

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remember how awkward your first love was?  This is a realistic, sometimes funny story of the roller coaster ride of that first love.

[Taylor Sumner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure I liked this book in the first few pages, but then I started to realize that it was maybe too similar to my own thought patterns and I hadn’t read a book that could verbalize my thoughts and struggles with growing up and falling in love and your first real heartbreak, but MAP did that. It was nice to feel seen to know queer women before me have existed and have felt all the feelings of not enough. I feel such a kinship with Audrey now, like I have an older sister to act as a guide, to tell me everything will fall into place.
*I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Up front disclaimer -I received Map for free through Goodreads First Reads. That being said, I really really liked this book. As a lesbian, I often found myself identifying with Stein throughout the book and it took me back through many of my coming out moments.

While sexuality & sexual identity is certainly theme in the book, there's also things that anyone, regardless of their sexuality, can identify with. One thing that I really connected with was how email created and affected Stein's various relationships. Stein's discussion of how deeply people share via virtual worlds is a great reflection on how much our lives have changed since the introduction of electronic communcation.

Overall, Map was great. It made me nostalgic while I was also laughing outloud. Highly recommended!

[Bobbie]

Haven't read the book yet but hope i win it. I too graduated from the U of P!