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Book: “You’ve Got the Map Backwards” by Brian Usobiaga
Publishing Info: Self Published, April 2024
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an epub from the author.
Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon
Book Description: A year removed from high school, lifelong friends Aisha Kinseya and Sarah Piedmont find themselves lost in different places. Struggling with depression, Sarah’s growing dependency on alcohol lands her in rehab. Aisha, in the midst of her second year of college, finds herself increasingly isolated as a crippling anxiety begins to overwhelm her.
Finding solace in familiarity, the two girls reunite only to have their friendship fracture. As they search for answers, Aisha and Sarah discover how relationships can change. How knowing someone your entire life doesn’t mean you know them forever, and how, if you want to grow, there are certain things you must leave behind.
Review: Thank you to Brian Usobiaga for sending me an epub of this novella!
We are starting to wind down 2024, with Thanksgiving next week and then the whirlwind of the holidays kicking into overdrive. I had such an anxiety filled year that I’m actually kind of behind on my reading goals, if I’m being honest, and usually that means that I’m not really taking chances or risks in genres outside of the ones I love. But that said, when author Brian Usobiaga reached out to me with his novella “You’ve Got the Map Backwards” a few months back, even though I KNEW that I was going to be going outside my genre, I was so intrigued by the premise that I wanted to give it a go! So let’s depart from horror, thriller, cozy mystery, and graphic novels to take on a coming of age contemporary novella!
This is, quite obviously, not the usual kind of fare that I spotlight on this blog, but I was intrigued by the story as someone who has had falling outs with close friends once we hit a certain age and different paths in life (not due to any addiction issues or anything like that, however). And I liked that Usobiaga decided to focus the story on both Sarah’s struggles as well as Aisha’s struggles, and how sometimes friendship can be complicated when both people in the relationship are going through things, even if those things are quite different. We follow both of them through their own perspective moments, with Sarah dealing with being fresh out of rehab and teetering back towards alcohol, and Aisha trying to adjust to college while also taking on Sarah in hopes of supporting her and helping her after rehab. Usobiaga is pretty frank about how difficult Sarah’s path is, as she is in a very vulnerable place and not equipped to deal with trying to stay sober after her program has completely. Sarah is an interesting character because I found her to be incredibly maddening, but I also really felt for her. I also liked Aisha’s perspective as she is trying to hold her own in school as her connection to her father is distanced and somewhat strained, while also feeling a loyalty to Sarah even though Sarah is a mess and bordering on taking advantage of Aisha’s kindness. Their friendship is very complex and I really liked getting both of their perspectives to be able to see both sides.
I think that the only hangup I had was that sometimes the time shifts were confusing. There were definitely headers that lets the reader know that we are now in a different place in time, sometimes a decade behind even, but I found myself having to go back and remind myself when a certain moment was taking place because it felt a bit like the other moments in time that we were seeing play out. I’m someone who really likes structured time jumps that follow a pattern, so ones that are a bit more creative tend to confuse me, and this may not be a problem that translates to all readers.
I found “You’ve Got the Map Backwards” to be an emotional and quick read, with characters whose pain felt very real and who we hope will find some healing. I’m happy I took a chance on it!
Rating 7: Shorter and to the point, “You’ve Got the Map Backwards” is a story about addiction, friendship, and a crossroads between two people who mean a lot to each other.
Reader’s Advisory:
“You’ve Got the Map Backwards” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but if you like friendship dramas with some honesty and a little bit of hope, this would be a good match for you.
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