The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents) [Paperback]

Michelle Tea (Author), Brandon Stosuy (Introduction), Eileen Myles (Afterword)

Book Description

Series: Semiotext(e) / Native Agents | Publication Date: August 17, 2007

The critically acclaimed adventures of an ex-Goth, ex-straight-girl, ex-lesbian, ex-Catholic schoolgirl on the road in 1990s America.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Published by Semiotext(e) to critical acclaim in 1998, Michelle Tea's debut novel The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America quickly established Tea as an exciting new literary talent and the voice of a new generation of queer, bisexual, transgendered, and straight youth. The Village Voice called Passionate Mistakes "the legacy of thirty years of feminism," and Eileen Myles, writing in the Nation, hailed the novel as "a hunk of lyric information that coolly, then frantically, describes the car wreck of her generation."The too-smart, caustic, and radiant narrator of Passionate Mistakes is, at twenty-seven, an ex-Goth, ex-drummer, ex-straight girl, ex-lesbian separatist vegan graduate of vocational high school in the working class town of Chelsea, Massachusetts. Written with lyrical precision and charm, the novel describes a journey with no final destination, a fast-paced and picaresque road trip that yields a redemptive vision of an America that has nothing left to offer its youth. This new edition of a Semiotext(e) classic includes critical essays by Brandon Stosuy and Eileen Myles that describe Michelle Tea's achievement as a literary innovator and cultural icon. Michelle Tea is the prolific author of the Lambda Award-winning Valencia, the graphic novel Rent Girl, the "inspired queer bildungsroman" Rose of No Man's Land, and other books. She was a 1999 recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award for fiction. Her critically acclaimed books have appeared on "books of the year" lists in publications ranging from the Voice Literary Supplement to the San Francisco Chonicle. She lives in San Francisco.

"At 27, Michelle Tea is an ex-prostitute, ex-Goth, ex-drummer for Dirt Bike Gang, ex-straight girl, ex-lesbian separatist vegan, ex-Catholic schoolgirl, and ex-resident of Chelsea, Boston's working class slum. She is poised, with this breakthrough debut volume, to become the spokesperson for America's young queer girl mutant horde." New Books Weekly

"Dirty, sweet, pop, and poetic, Michelle Tea is like a twisted Spice Girl who can actually singand write."Mary Gaitskill

"Full of burning intensity." New York Times

"Sentences that snap, and pop off the page to create a wholly formed, gruesomely real universe between the book covers." Chas Bowie Portland Mercury

"The first time I read The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America, I thought, Yes. Finally. No book has gotten closer to describing my own experience as a teen American girl, even though I came of age on a different continent than Michelle Tea, and never slept with another girl, and never worked as a prostitute. She captures something so close to the core of contemporary female experience that I want to get trite about it. I want to gush. I want to call her the Voice of a Generation, the New Jack Kerouac." Bookslut

About the Author

"The legacy of thirty years of feminism.... Rollicking and blistering, pained and hilarious, wired and wild-eyed and smashingly good." Laurie Stone Village Voice

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Semiotext(e) (August 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584350520
• ISBN-13: 978-1584350521
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,285,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Coulda Been a Contender, May 15, 2000

By 

Jennifer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America (Native Agents) (Paperback)

This supposedly radical tale of adolescence, shallow political conviction, lesbianism and prostitution was a letdown. Tea's prose reminds me of those girls who will natter incessantly to anyone who will listen about their self-inflicted degradation with all the gory details but not a point to be found. Lacking introspection and only rarely showing flashes of wit, this one's a simplistic catalog of truly sad events. It is not helped by its affected prose style, featuring teen-girly exclamations, run-ons, and erratic capitalization. This is beneath Tea, who doesn't seem willing to write at her obviously high intelligence level. She does a great disservice to this material, which could have been incisive literature rather than the forgettable trash it is.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars worth a read if you like ms. tea, October 18, 2005

By 

just some "guy" (philadelphia, pa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America (Native Agents) (Paperback)

although this wasn't a life changing, earth shattering book by any means i thought it was worth my time. it was fun and personable. a good first attempt and worth a read when you consider the effect she has had on young, queer liturature. don't expect perfect prose or classic liturature, but if you're looking to kill a few hours with a "querky" queer gal or want to read the debut by the author of valencia, than give this book a shot.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Heard a lot of hype about this book, and I was disappointed., March 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America (Native Agents) (Paperback)

This book was mildly entertaining, especially since I could relate to many of the author's experiences. However, the book lost steam about halfway through. The writing is pretty shallow, and it seems like the author got lazy towards the end. Maybe her next book will be better.