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The Girl in the Road: A Novel Hardcover – May 20, 2014

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 433 ratings

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A debut that Neil Gaiman calls “Glorious. . . . So sharp, so focused and so human.” The Girl in the Road describes a future that is culturally lush and emotionally wrenching.

Monica Byrne bursts on to the literary scene with an extraordinary vision of the future.  In a world where global power has shifted east and revolution is brewing, two women embark on vastly different journeys—each harrowing and urgent and wholly unexpected.

When Meena finds snakebites on her chest, her worst fears are realized: someone is after her and she must flee India.  As she plots her exit, she learns of the Trail, an energy-harvesting bridge spanning the Arabian Sea that has become a refuge for itinerant vagabonds and loners on the run.  This is her salvation.  Slipping out in the cover of night, with a knapsack full of supplies including a pozit GPS, a scroll reader, and a sealable waterproof pod, she sets off for Ethiopia, the place of her birth.

Meanwhile, Mariama, a young girl in Africa, is forced to flee her home.  She joins up with a caravan of misfits heading across the Sahara. She is taken in by Yemaya, a beautiful and enigmatic woman who becomes her protector and confidante. They are trying to reach Addis Abba, Ethiopia, a metropolis swirling with radical politics and rich culture.  But Mariama will find a city far different than she ever expected—romantic, turbulent, and dangerous.

As one heads east and the other west, Meena and Mariama’s fates are linked in ways that are mysterious and shocking to the core.

Written with stunning clarity, deep emotion, and a futuristic flair,
The Girl in the Road is an artistic feat of the first order: vividly imagined, artfully told, and profoundly moving.

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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Byrne’s stunning debut tells the story of two women from different time periods who set out on quests across forbidding landscapes. In India in the latter half of the twenty-first century, Meena survives what she believes is an assassination attempt after discovering a snake in her bed. Fleeing this threat to her life, she decides to track down the woman responsible for the death of her parents more than a quarter-of-a-century ago in Ethiopia. Meena knows her journey won’t be an easy one. She intends to travel along the Trail, a bridge used to harness energy that runs across the Arabian Sea. Years before Meena sets out on her journey, ten-year-old Mariama smuggles herself aboard a truck bound for Ethiopia. The drivers take pity on her and allow her to accompany them, but it is Yemaya, a mysterious, beautiful passenger they pick up along the way, who captures Mariama’s attention and heart. More than a few surprises await Meena and Mariama and the reader as story lines converge in a surprising, gratifying climax. --Kristine Huntley

Review

“Sci-fi has long claimed to be the multicultural literature of the future. This is the real thing. . . . Described with verve and conviction. . . . A new sensation, a real achievement.” —Wall Street Journal

“Dizzying. . . . Primal and indelible. . . . Delivered with all the vivid, haunting poignancy of a vision quest.”—
NPR.org

“Vividly imagined.”
—Los Angeles Times

“[A] sci-fi smash hit. . . . Byrne crafts a gorgeous future world. . . . Elaborate and beguiling.”—
Duke Chronicle

“It’s transfixing to watch Monica Byrne become a major player in sci-fi with her debut novel: so sharp, so focused and so human. Beautifully drawn people in a future that feels so close you can touch it, blended with the lush language and concerns of myth. It builds a bridge from past to future, from East to West. Glorious stuff.”  —
Neil Gaiman, author of The Ocean at the End of the Lane
 
“Relentlessly kinetic. . . . [The narrative] captures the sheer surface speed and exhilaration of living in the changing contemporary world. . . . A ceaseless storm of matter and energy.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books

The Girl in the Road brims with ambition...Inventive… Fearless …[A] wild, hallucinatory ride.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“In unadorned, clearly descriptive prose, Byrne moves briskly from scene to scene. . . . A deeply felt, troubling and memorable story.”
Indy Week (Durham, NC)
 
“Engrossing, thought-provoking. . . . [Byrne] weaves the elements of science fiction and speculative fiction with myth, spirituality and philosophical speculation, all while creating a page-turning story.
The Girl in the Road is meant to be enjoyed, pondered, and re-read.” —Durham Herald-Sun
 
“Impressive. . . . The one thing no reader will doubt is Byrne’s place as a strong new voice in science fiction.”
—Shelf Awareness
 
“This science fiction tale of future Africa and Asia has all the escape you could want — new technology, a murder mystery, two interwoven narratives — plus the cultural commentary inherent in the best of speculative fiction. Byrne’s characters are complicated, a little lost, and well worth rooting for. With a debut like this, you’ll want to keep an eye on her.”
—Brooklyn Daily
 
“Byrne, whose creative life is clearly churning, has earned broad exposure for her debut novel, and with support from mentors such as author Neil Gaiman, she’s on her own journey – as a writer, defying literary convention and shaping worlds out of uncomfortable truths.” –
Raleigh News & Observer

“Gripping. . . . Easily one of my favorite books I’ve read this year.”
Bookish.com
 
“Stunning. . . . More than a few surprises await Meena and Mariama and the reader as story lines converge in a surprising, gratifying climax.”
—Booklist
 
“Spectacular and intriguing. . . . Enthralling on many levels. . . . The incorporation of evolving views of gender . . . propel this novel into the stratosphere of artistic brilliance.”
—Library Journal (starred)
 
“The most inventive tale to come along in years. . . . The writing is often brilliant, as Byrne paints wholly believable pictures of worlds and cultures most Westerners will never know. . . . Engrossing and enjoyable.” —
Kirkus
 
“Byrne is a science writer and graduate of MIT, but her insight into our near future is as much informed by her extensive travels as her grasp of science. . . . A book you will certainly be hearing a lot about in 2014.” —
Guardian (UK)
 
“Monica Byrne’s vision of India and Africa as an ever-changing maelstrom of language and culture, technology and sexuality is utterly captivating. As Meena and Mariama chase each other’s echoes, Byrne strips away their preconceptions (and ours as well) through that most dangerous of human impulses: our need to understand the past, and to decide our own future.  An electrifying debut.” —
Helene Wecker, author of The Golem and the Jinni
 
“Monica Byrne has written the road trip novel you didn't know you were waiting for. A genuine and extraordinary journey. Take it.” —
John Scalzi, author of Redshirts
 
The Girl in the Road is a brilliant novel, vivid, intense, and fearless with a kind of savage joy.  These journeys—Meena’s across the Arabian Sea and Mariama’s across Africa—are utterly unforgettable.” —Kim Stanley Robinson, author of 2312 and Red Mars

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown (May 20, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0804138842
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0804138840
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.45 x 1.12 x 9.51 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 433 ratings

About the author

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Monica Byrne
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Monica Byrne is an itinerant novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. You can support her work at PATREON.COM/MONICABYRNE.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
433 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the storytelling compelling and imaginative. They praise the writing style as beautiful, artistic, and masterful. The characters are described as rich and complex, with an intense psychological portrayal of two women. Opinions differ on the pacing - some find it fast-paced and almost like a thriller, while others say it's slow to unfold. There are also mixed reviews regarding readability - some find it enjoyable and easy to read, while others consider it disturbing and difficult to read.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

26 customers mention "Storytelling"26 positive0 negative

Customers find the storytelling compelling and intriguing. They describe the narrative as imaginative, satisfying, and a deep read set in a plausible near-future. The book has rich characters and subtle themes of spirituality that begin with a traumatic event.

"...The story begins with subtle themes of spirituality born of a traumatic event. A snake bite. Blood, pumping from the shallow between Meena's breasts...." Read more

"...The journeys are experienced (by narrators and reader alike) at multiple levels, and when the primary narrator finally resurfaced I experienced..." Read more

"...Byrne creates a vivid late 21st-century universe, and that universe helps propel and contextualize the momentum of each story till the painful..." Read more

"...many themes and ideas presented in the book are both fresh and welcome to any reader that is ok with issues of sexuality, abuse, and gender identity...." Read more

20 customers mention "Writing style"16 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the book's writing style. They find it beautifully written, literary, and artistic. Readers praise the author's skill in storytelling, describing her ability to draw them into the story with her clever formal structure and creative writing style.

"...Intricate and complex, author Monica Byrne's first novel is a deeply satisfying read...." Read more

"...don't often care about a narrative this uncertain, but the writing had a luminous quality that just pulled me in and wouldn't let go...." Read more

"...but the author's prose and the imagery she evokes is so beautiful, "The Girl", too, feels sometimes literary...." Read more

"...mystical, dreamy stories like this one, but this was a little too incomprehensible for me...." Read more

8 customers mention "Character development"8 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the intricate and complex character development in the book. They find the two female protagonists fascinating, unstable, and given to hallucinations. The novel is an intense psychological portrayal of two women on fascinating journeys. It uses beautiful metaphors, religious references to primarily female deities, and repeated imagery of female characters.

"...Rich layers of à and character development give her protagonist an impression of intimate familiarity, creating the illusion of personal..." Read more

"...in it, but that exists as little more than a trapping to tell this very human and very beautiful story... well, stories...." Read more

"...from the novel, but in the end the novel is an intensely psychological portrayal of two women, both on fascinating journeys and afflicted by forces..." Read more

"...descriptive, and filled with beautiful metaphors, religious references to primarily female deities and repeated imagery of female exploitation,..." Read more

23 customers mention "Pacing"14 positive9 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some find the premise interesting with lots of ideas and an engaging narrative that gradually unfolds. They appreciate the eurocentric perspective and descriptive writing style. However, others feel the true plot is slow to unfold and it's difficult to separate actual events from the author's imagination. The subject matter is tough and gritty, but the writing style is beautiful and precise.

"...Intricate and complex, author Monica Byrne's first novel is a deeply satisfying read...." Read more

"...It carries genre features that place it in a science fiction future...." Read more

"...This is an ambiguous story, in many ways. Not everything is laid out concretely, even at the end (though many things are)...." Read more

"...I choose the book for the interesting sci-fi concept of a connecting floating road across the Indian Ocean...." Read more

8 customers mention "Readability"3 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's readability. Some find it fast-paced and disturbing, almost like a thriller. Others find it difficult and tiring to read, not for the faint of heart.

"...It's a beautiful story, although also often gut-wrenching and disturbing, and told in such a self-assured way that it's hard to believe this is a..." Read more

"...It is fast-paced in certain ways - almost reading like a thriller. It carries genre features that place it in a science fiction future...." Read more

"Not for the faint of heart, this is a disturbing and rather dark novel...." Read more

"...to call it, but I found it utterly absorbing, fresh, stirring, and disturbing (in a good way)...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2015
    Ho-LY Sh*t.

    I LOVE it.
    I love it I love it I love it.

    Reading The Girl in the Road, I had not yet made it halfway through, its fast became one of my favorite books. Truthfully, just after reading the first few lines, I was hooked, with no possible way of escape. This title's publication date isn't set until May 2014, and even though I'm reading it in ebook format, I'm desperate to get my hands on a physical copy. I could EAT this book.

    The Girl in the Road is a book about death and dying, giving birth and new life.

    The story begins with subtle themes of spirituality born of a traumatic event. A snake bite. Blood, pumping from the shallow between Meena's breasts. White bandaging applied in the shape of a cross. All the foundational elements required for the building of a religion are accounted for.

    The surrounding scene in the midst of her exodus is dizzying; the day is the ninth day of Odem, a yearly ten-day festival honoring King Mahabali. Excitements peak and ceremonial flowers tower and reach their toppling point. An atmosphere of gaiety thins the barriers of caste and creed as participants make merry.

    Like the revered and beloved King Mahabali, so loved for his kindness and generosity that Lord Vishnu was provoked into a jealousy so severe, he pushed the goodly king off the edge of the earth, the character Meena draws the attention of an unknown assailant who plants a deadly snake in her bed, causing her to flee her hometown while around her, celebrants are wild with revelry as they prepare for a parade.

    The young woman, Meena, describes her state as both manic and sanctified. Leaving the heart of "the world," she walks past another parade; a long road lined with religious statues and icons to further embed the sensation of sanctification and to a degree, the day of her own birthing.

    Intricate and complex, author Monica Byrne's first novel is a deeply satisfying read. Rich layers of à and character development give her protagonist an impression of intimate familiarity, creating the illusion of personal investment in her quest. Escaping from an unknown assailant, Meena sets out across forbidden territory, an energy-harvesting bridge crossing the Atlantic Ocean in her crusade to piece together the puzzle of her mother's death, and soothe her longing for maternal love by gaining insight as to her mother's life. Seven meters below the surface of the ocean, Meena finds herself connected by an umbilical-like cord to the Trail. In underwater orb, Meena reflects on times she has longed for her mother. It is as if, in the black, rocking, depths of the ocean, curled, naked, in the fetal position within the womb-like confines of the orb, she enters into a season of mourning and self-evaluation, and always, visions of an unknown girl in the road.

    Written in a futuristic time of sexual and racial fluidity in which gender and ethnic identification are surgically reassigned and prejudices in that regard have all-but died off, the story veers into a sub-plot bringing a lavish complexity to Meena's pilgrimage. A young slave girl, Mariama, embarks in her own journey to Ethiopia hidden away in the back of a truck, also seeking to fill the vast space of being left motherless. The weaving of their individual journeys creates a place of unexpected intersect, leaving the stunned reader with the suggestion of the savory essence of a myth turned legend.

    THE GIRL IN THE ROAD is [author:Monica Byrne|1748829]'s first novel, an experience which she describes as, "a labor of love--two years of prep, four months of travel, three years of writing--and I really had no idea whether anyone would respond to it. The fact that people *are* is...well, overwhelming."

    I was overwhelmed reading it.

    <i>A digital copy of this book was provided by the publisher for purposes of review.<i/>
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2015
    Do you like William Gibson? How about Ursula Le Guin? If you love them both, even (maybe especially) when they leave you confused and head reeling, you'll love this book. I don't often care about a narrative this uncertain, but the writing had a luminous quality that just pulled me in and wouldn't let go. Pretty much every "content warning" you can think of applies - you've been warned. I found it rewarding in very strange ways. I loved the feeling that I was listening to someone(s) from countries and cultures that are strange to me. It becomes increasingly clear even early on that our narrator is "unreliable" - she is experiencing reality in ways that probably don't line up with objective reality. When our second narrator appears, she has her own set of similar-but-different ways of interpreting reality. In both cases I held my own notion of "objective reality" loosely and left it to the narrator to share her experiences.

    The title warns you this will be a "journey tale", and so it is. The journeys are experienced (by narrators and reader alike) at multiple levels, and when the primary narrator finally resurfaced I experienced quite a sense of relief myself. This is an ambiguous story, in many ways. Not everything is laid out concretely, even at the end (though many things are). I typically prefer my stories pretty concrete, and with a satisfying resolution at the end. This one didn't match either criterion, but I'm still rating it highly because I think the experience was worth the time I put into it.
    17 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2015
    Set in the near future the main character has chosen to cross a pontoon bridge to travel from one country to another. It was difficult for several reasons: following the character from her past back to the present, name changes, and the actions of the character. You start to get comfortable with a section then you are tossed into a different time frame. Descriptions of the journey on the bridge appealed to me the most, but the mental state and actions of the character were unsettling.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2016
    I don't think I've read a book like this before. It is fast-paced in certain ways - almost reading like a thriller. It carries genre features that place it in a science fiction future. It is loaded with cultural and sexual commentary, making it progressive though ethically inconsistent (and thankfully not didactic), but the author's prose and the imagery she evokes is so beautiful, "The Girl", too, feels sometimes literary.

    Ultimately, it is the twisty-turning of the two parallel plots, the way they align, diverge, converge and finally collide, that captivated me throughout. I have never been good at predicting outcomes, so I enjoyed guessing again and again about each character's relationship to the other.

    Byrne is fearless in her explorations of cultures, social systems, and particularly sexuality. I'm pleased I read this book after recently complaining about the misplaced and meaninglessly graphic sex scene in another book, because "The Girl" is FAR more sexual - and graphic - than prior books I have derided. What's different is the sexuality in this book feels organic to the characters and their narratives. The story doesn't "stop" for a forced scene. Sexuality is embedded, for good and evil - or maybe neither.

    I can't recommend this highly enough, though it is not for the faint of heart. Byrne creates a vivid late 21st-century universe, and that universe helps propel and contextualize the momentum of each story till the painful through generally satisfying end.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Grylla S. Noab
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brave and fantastic book about a possible, if rather scary future
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2015
    Marvellous story set in some distant and rather scary future. Brave, imaginative and compelling. Addresses issues including the nature of love and hatred, violence, survival, cultural and gender identity in an increasingly confusing world; the mix and meaning of languages; nature vs huge corporations, India vs several African countries, and the sea in between, which is being exploited to generate power.
    Puzzling in parts, due to a highly unreliable narrator, but still resonates with this reader months later. Some incredibly effective descriptions of materials and substances; I'd love to have one of those water-tight pods one can slit open with just a finger and then close again as easily.
    Very well edited, too. One of the rare books in which I've found not a single typo.
  • Bibliomage
    4.0 out of 5 stars Girl not getting the end
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2014
    There is much to love about this novel. Some highly original takes on the future, strong narrative voices and beautiful, unobtrusive descriptions. Sometimes the inevitable sex scenes seem a little forced and gratuitous, but not so greatly that they disturb the flow of the story. I'll happily change my rating to 5 stars if anyone can explain the end to me though.
  • Andrew
    3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing in places...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2022
    I actually enjoyed quite a lot about this book. The world in which it was set is quite intriguing - technical marvels abound. However I also found the whole thing a bit too confusing and the jumping around in time difficult to follow in places. The frequent references to sexual topics was, frankly, a bit boring - don't want to sound prudish - it's just that it kept getting in the way of the story. Ultimately I am not really sure who did and did not do what. However that's probably me more than the story.
  • Kalyn Wilson
    5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely stunning.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2014
    I inhaled this book in just two days. The world Monica Byrne has created is deep and rich and challenging, and I just had to keep going, to find out how the stories of Meena and Mariama would converge. I was not at all disappointed when they did.
  • Mr Jonathan J Will
    2.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't really go anywhere
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 6, 2015
    I was tempted to stop reading halfway into this book but decided to keep going. The ending explains the story but I'm not sure it's worth the time.