Runaway Train

by Lee Matthew Goldberg

Overview

They told me I was an out-of-control train about to crash...

Everything changed when the police officer knocked on the door to tell me - a 16-year-old - that my older sister Kristen had died of a brain aneurysm. Cue the start of my parents neglecting me and my whole life spiraling out of control.

I decided now was the perfect time to skip town. It's the early 90's, Kurt Cobain runs the grunge music scene and I just experienced some serious trauma. What's a girl supposed to do? I didn't want to end up like Kristen, so I grabbed my bucket list, turned up my mixtape of the greatest 90's hits and fled L.A.. The goal was to end up at Kurt Cobain's house in Seattle, but I never could have guessed what would happen along the way.

At turns heartbreaking, inspiring, and laugh out loud funny, Runaway Train is a wild journey of a bygone era and a portrait of a one-of-a-kind teenage girl trying to find herself again the only way she knows how.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781953944047
Publisher:	Wise Wolf Books
Publication date:	04/29/2021
Pages:	294
Sales rank:	1,085,776
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.73(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

Editorial Reviews

06/07/2021

Goldberg’s (Orange City) emotional coming of age story mixes 90’s nostalgia with a rebellious teenage protagonist on the verge of hitting rock bottom. Nico Sullivan worships Kurt Cobain, constantly skips school, and spends her time getting wasted with her friends. Her secret desire to become a singer stalls out due to severe insecurities stemming from continual comparisons to her picture-perfect sister, Kristen. But Kristen unexpectedly dies, and Nico makes a hasty decision to run away, taking off on a turbulent road trip, with the hopes of fulfilling her bucket list.

Nico is a relatable teen who pumps up the radio to drown out her pain and struggles to express her emotions in healthy ways. Alcohol and drug use are prevalent themes as she grapples to come to terms with the loss of her sister, and the characters she meets on the road steer her path towards self-discovery, though some fall into neat stereotypes. Goldberg doesn’t shy away from heavy topics such as addiction, abortion, and suicide; however, some readers will feel the topic of suicide (described by Nico as “the easy way out”) and Nico’s distaste for therapy could be presented to a young adult audience with more compassion and empathy.

Just as the title evokes Soul Asylum, each of Goldberg’s chapters is named for a vintage rock cut, and the manuscript is divided into “Side A” and “Side B,” a welcome motif for readers who spent their formative years rocking out to grunge. Nineties references pepper the story, from Nico’s “MAC Viva Glam Taupe Lipstick” to her Sony Sports Walkman to the Liz Phair classic that closes a chapter with an emotional punch. Goldberg’’s storytelling is heartfelt, assured, and polished. Readers wanting to relive the alternative rock scene of the era will immediately bond with Nico as she struggles to step out of her grief and into the light.

Takeaway: A heartfelt story of a teenager on the verge of a breakdown discovering her strength on a 90s grunge roadtrip.

Great for fans of: Elizabeth Keenan’s Rebel Girls, Meagan Macvie’s The Ocean in My Ears.

Production grades Cover: A- Design and typography: A+ Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A+

BookLife Reviews

2021-03-25
A 1990s California grunge girl mourning the death of her sister sets out on a road trip of self-discovery in this YA novel.

Sixteen-year-old Nico Sullivan has been having a rough time since police came to her door to tell her that her sister, Kristen, died of a brain aneurysm during her morning jog through Laurel Canyon. That was Halloween 1993, the same day River Phoenix overdosed across town at the Viper Room in West Hollywood. No one in Nico’s family is dealing with it well, and six months after Kristen’s death, the teen comes home to find her mother in flagrante delicto with a neighbor. Nico’s been keeping a bucket list since her sister died: “Sometimes I take it out” and pore over “its wild contents that ranged from surfing, to climbing a mountain and facing my fear of heights, to kissing a boy I really had feelings for, to getting up in front of an audience and singing my heart out.” Faced with the prospect of her parents’ divorce—and egged on by her two friends also facing burnout—Nico decides to take her teal blue Hyundai Excel up the West Coast, knocking things off the list and coming to terms with her grief. The last thing on the list: driving to Seattle and knocking on the door of her favorite singer, Kurt Cobain. What could go wrong? Goldberg brings Nico to life with a narration that, save for a few anachronisms (“hella,” “muffin top”), is unabashedly 1994: “While I’m hella jealous of Courtney Love because of who she gets to lie next to every night, Hole’s music actually rocks. As I drive, I sing ‘Miss World’ until my throat is red, knowing I should support female musicians that are part of the Riot Grrrl movement rather than tear them down.” Nico is equal parts angst, humor, and longing, a compelling combination that invites readers into all manner of memorable (and often inadvisable) situations. She doesn’t always sound entirely like a 16-year-old girl, but she embodies the grunge ethos enough to make the constant music references feel like more than just a conceit.

An engaging ’90s pastiche with an earnest heart beating at its center.

Kirkus Reviews