Review : Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid

Posted by on August 14, 2014 12:44 am in 3.5 stars reads | 11 comments

let's get lostLet’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid
Pages : 416
Genre : YA, contemporary fiction
Stand alone
My Rating : 3.5/5

About the Book  :

Five strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost.

Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most.

There’s HUDSON, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And BREE, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. ELLIOT believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love.

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila’s own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth— sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you’re looking for is to get lost along the way.

My Thoughts :

Let’s Get Lost surprised me – in a good way. I went in knowing very little : that the story sounded interesting, that this was the author’s YA debut. My expectations were fairly neutral, and I was ready to be amazed… or not. But fortunately, I quite enjoyed my ride with Leila & company!

First I have to say, it was incredibly reminiscent of John Green’s Paper Townseven though the stories and the format were different. Leila, like Green’s Margo, has quite the “manic pixie dream girl” thing going for her, especially in the beginning, when Leila first meets Hudson. I guess you like it or you don’t. For me, it depends mostly on how it serves the story; I liked that, in Paper Towns, the main character actually realizes he had idealized Margo instead of knowing who she really was. I wouldn’t say Adi Alsaid pulls quite the same feat here (and I don’t think that was the point, either), but I still think it worked nicely for the story.

The construction is very interesting, too. In a way, Let’s Get Lost reads almost like a collection of short stories featuring a recurrent character. I sort of liked it, though I constantly felt like my reading was interrupted; as soon as I started to really know a character and get attached, bam! We left and started a completely new story. But if I try to think of a favorite story, I have a hard time picking one. In the end, they worked together nicely, gently drawing the portrait of Leila while still standing on their own.

The book is full of adventure and fun moments. Bonus points for road trip, though for most of the ride we are waiting for Leila at every stop rather than hopping in the car with her. It’s really a Carpe Diem kind of book, too, which each character being pushed by Leila to risk everything for their dreams. Even in its sadder chapters, the book is filled with hope, in a very “feel good” kind of way.

Let’s Get Lost was the perfect read for a summer day. Filled with great characters and a good story, it’s a YA debut I would happily recommend to readers of contemporary fiction. It has its little faults, yes; but they are greatly outweighed by all of its strengths.

11 Comments

  1. This sounds like fun to me!

    • It really was!

  2. Sounds like a fun YA novel – I enjoy reading about road trips.

    • I enjoy them too! This was a different kind but I still enjoyed it!

  3. Sounds like a wonderful read! I had seen it around but was unsure if it was for me… I think maybe it is 😉

    • It’s definitely a bit different from other similar novels, but worth it in my opinion. I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts if you do try it! 🙂

  4. I’ve been curious about this one. It sounds quite unique for a “road trip” book! I haven’t read Paper Towns yet, but I’ve heard the comparison before. I’m even more eager to read Let’s Get Lost now.

    • It’s a good read, and I’m not surprised it got other comparisons to Paper Towns! I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts on it.

  5. I absolutely love this cover, but some of the things you mentioned in your review made me wonder if I’d like this one!

    • I can definitely see why some would hesitate with this one, even though it was a good pick for me. I’d advise reading more reviews of it or maybe reading in excerpt? Sometimes if we connect or not with the writing, makes it easier to decide!

  6. Hm. Might be good, might not be. This sounds really interesting, but I’m not sure if the format would work for me. I’ll keep it in mind!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

%d bloggers like this: