A road-trip, coming-of-age novel that takes us across America. Many issues are explored so well as Mother and child set off abruptly after a row with Father. It is narrated by Alex who remains genderless through a difficult adolescence as the pair pursue an old friend of the Mother called Laura. A lyrical, unusual read that makes you think and question.

This is a road trip novel that takes the reader along for a wild ride through America along with the narrator, Alex, and her mother, who is seeking to revisit pivotal people and places from her past. Both Alex and Ma have not had the easiest lives. Ma comes from a family of tumultuous Italian immigrants and spent much of her childhood in and out of foster care, and Alex also has a fair share of trials and tribulations due to lack of identification with any gender (I use the feminine pronoun because Alex's voice just felt sort of female to me). I really enjoyed both characters. Both are badasses with a strong voice, and their relationship is a little odd, but full of love and Ma never holds Alex back from anything or expects her to conform to society's expectations. I found that endearing. The writing is excellent as well.

I had heard lots of good things about The Lauras but unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.

I just found the whole book slow and tedious.
Some of the situations did not sit comfortably with me and could certainly give people nightmares.
It was definitely over descriptive.
Not for me.

This was a weird book in a lot of ways. The story start with Alex being woken up by her mother in the middle of the night. This starts a whirlwind trip through a number of towns, and the reader keeps on reading to find out why, what happened. Entertaining.

Alex is thirteen years old when their mother pulls them out of bed in the middle of the night after a row with their dad, and takes off. Ma has had a bag with both their important documents packed for the whole of Alex's life, and now it's time to use them. As the two make their way through America, sometimes staying overnight and sometimes staying for up to a whole school year, Ma tells Alex about the Lauras, all the friends she made with that name, and plenty of other friends she had along the way too. She had somewhat of a chaotic childhood and throughout the novel we get to know her story.

Alex is agender, and identifies as neither male nor female. We get to know their sotry too and see them growing up from quite an immature teen to a young adult. For the first half of the novel I didn't feel like I knew Alex well enough and felt like the novel was just a vessel for Ma to tell her stories with a sideline of Alex. However, that changed and by the end I really loved them as a character; I felt like they'd been through a lot of growth and emerged a better person. I really liked the ending, too.

I kept saying this was a weird book and I stand by that - its narrative structure is unlike almost anything I've read before. But I really enjoyed it. I would definitely read something else by the same author.

I've seen that this is categorised as an adult novel but I really disagree. I think it is a perfect example of a Young Adult novel, in fact. Both Alex and Ma are teenagers when things happen, and both are really kickass people while things are happening. While there is sexual assault, sexual violence, and a few other nasty things, they're no worse than in some other YA novels - although, of course, take care of yourself for triggers. Definitely one for discerning YA readers and older readers who like YA.

This is a really beautiful story with relationships and identity at its core. Alex, the narrator, is a complex and incredibly well-drawn character – leaving home in the middle of the night with Ma as the story begins, and embarking on a journey that will explore not only the places they stay during their journey, but Ma’s past and their relationships – with each other, with Alex’s father and with their wider family as a whole.
The book makes the reader think about identity and what makes you who you are. It is about Ma, and her feelings about not belonging, her rootless and disjointed childhood when she was moved from pillar to post; her need to be on the move, held in check while Alex is too young, until she just can’t stay anymore. And it’s also about Alex, and being a teenager, and being confused, and sometimes wanting to fit in, and sometimes wanting to be different – to be you, and for other people to allow that, and to not question it.
On their travels they meet people from Ma’s past, and Alex gradually learns about that past. There are moments of real beauty and honesty here, and this is done without sentiment. The descriptions of the places they travel through, the places they stay – for an hour or for months – are beautifully done, as are the depictions of the people they meet and the people in Ma’s past that Alex learns about.
This is a really different book, with really unusual and complex characters. It’s about coming of age, and about coming to terms with the past, about accepting who you are. Evocative, complex, and moving – I highly recommend it.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

"The Lauras" just didn't hold my attention. I found the story line quite slow and i have given up with the story. Sorry Netgally

This book starts with Alex's ma pulling her out of bed in the middle of the night and telling her to get in the car and that is the beginning of a two year trip crisscrossing the country. On this trip Alex learns many things about her mom's life as she grew up in foster care. They go all over the country sometime to visit, sometimes to pay a debt, or once to burn down a house. They sometimes stop for a while so ma can work and Alex can go to school but when they get enough money they always leave again. This is a coming of age story about Alex who claims to be neither boy or girl and this causes some problems for her/him at one of the schools that she/he attends along the way. I really liked this story and the fact that it is so unusual earns it points from me. It is not like any coming of age story that I have ever read before and I highly recommend it.

The Lauras is another book I received from Netgalley, and I am grateful to them and the publisher Random House. This does not influence my review/opinion of the novel.

I'm not sure how I ended up with The Lauras on Netgalley. It's honestly one of those books that I just suddenly had and couldn't remember why it appealed to me in the first place. So I started The Lauras with a completely open mind and kept that for the whole crazy roller coaster ride this book took me on.

Alex's mother wakes her up one night, puts her in the car and drives her away from her father and family home. With no explanation given, Alex suddenly lives in motel rooms and eats junk food every day, while her mother focuses on getting them further and further away from their home. Where are they going? That's not clear to Alex, but she slowly figures out that they're following a trail of Lauras. Her mother has met several Lauras in her life - all different, but equally important, and she wants to revisit some of them and takes Alex along for the ride.

I have complicated feelings about this novel. It was original in the premise of a journey that basically consisted of people instead of places and I also really enjoyed the focus on the mother - daughter relationship. Alex is a young teen when they leave and basically grows up in the car with her mother, which leads to the expected trouble in communication. I think this combination of a mother going through a crisis and a daughter going through puberty is not explored often and I throughly enjoyed the ups and downs of their connection.

However, Sara Taylor's writing didn't really do it for me. I felt like Alex, who is the narrator, told me a lot. She told me about her background and her family and I didn't really get to see any of it in the way she communicated with other people or reacted to situations. The pieces of her mother's journey are not really puzzled together, but consist of her mother just telling her things. I wish there was a little more nuance in this novel in the way characters could show the reader how they feel instead of just telling them, which made the story feel juvenile at certain points.

There were also certain scenes that, like with The Roanoke Girls, seemed to be put in there to shock for the sake of shock. They didn't really push the character or plot forward enough and the traumatic aftereffect seemed smaller than I would expect. I would have liked to have seen more character development from certain things Alex experiences.

Taking all that in though, I still really enjoyed The Lauras. It's an original book and over time Alex really grew on me. Hopefully other authors will see how complex and beautiful mother and daughter can be together and they will write other novels focussing on it too.

Wasn't really my cup of tea. Would have liked to know a bit more about Alex.

This is different from books I've read before, but equally as enjoyable. It is narrated by Alex who at 13 years old is taken by Ma away from Dad to travel across America. You learn of the problems that Ma had growing up, and also how Alex is gender less and the problems this also causes. Sara Taylor has a great way of describing the countryside in her book too so that you feel you know what each place is like. An interesting read.

The Laura’s is a bit like a hazy humid summer day, not in any rush and quite heavy at times but something you can’t help but immerse yourself in. This is a book though that I think you have to be in a particular mindset to read as it is slow going, if you’re looking for a fast paced novel then look elsewhere, but what this book does is take you on an exploration and it’s really rewarding.

The story is about Ma’s journey of which Alex is along for the ride. As they travel across America to different destinations starred on Ma’s map, she starts to reveal why they are heading in that direction. Usually to see someone or do something, each time revealing a part of Ma’s past that Alex hasn’t been privy to before.

With every journey, you learn more about Alex and Ma. We get to see where Ma has come from and how her younger years have shaped the person she is now. You see as Alex starts to grow from a child into an adult, become more comfortable in themself, starts to push boundaries and is opened to new experiences. Which in essence is what this book is, a journey to discover yourself and it is wonderful to read.

However, I feel like even though I was enjoying hearing from Ma and why she was returning to these places I was far more enamored with Alex and I would have been interested to hear even more about Alex.

For me this book isn’t so much plot focused, there is a plot but it feels like the main thing that the author is trying to get across is the experience of the book, what we can draw from Alex’s observations and how it makes us think and feel rather than just what’s going on.

The writing is beautiful, the kind that evokes amazing imagery so you are able to easily imagine any of their surroundings. It flows very well even with the story switching between Alex in the present, Alex’s recollections of the trip and telling Ma’s stories. Even the little details seem to come to life in this author’s style.

The Laura’s is a wonderful book that makes you feel, I can’t specify what because I think it’ll be different for each reader but it’s one that has stuck with me since reading it.

The Lauras is a road trip and coming of age novel, but while it has many of the characteristics of a YA novel (age of the protagonist, deals with family relationships, includes a hot topic (transgender identity), ends with a sense that the story is only beginning) I think its complexity means it is aimed at a more general audience. Taylor is a skilled writer, and the gradual revelation of both character and plot details worked well to keep me interested, but I didn't find it a particularly enjoyable read as it's quite dark in places.

Finally, the transgender issue is not overdone, but I did find it a distraction from the actual story - it seemed like Taylor wanted to write about an issue which is v current, but for me, the story didn't need this hook.

Thankyou so much for the copy of this book, whilst I thought that it was well written and plotted I really struggled to connect and engage with it and was unable to finish it. I really feel this was a personal thing and not an issue with the book itself. Thankyou again for the copy.

I love Sara's writing, but I didn't enjoy this book as much as The Shore. Her prose is raw and unique, but the ambiguity at the heart of this story caused frustration for me (don't want to say more due to spoilers). Still a great read though.

It is too simple to think of this as a mother-child road trip. Ma (her name is almost never used) grabs Alex from bed and hits the road. Alex doesn't really know what is happening but goes along with it. Soon it becomes apparent that Ma is setting old wrongs right and steadily going through a life's list of people she needs to see. Alex is enrolled in school when they stay in a motel for long enough and Ma works to get enough money to leave again. The entire trip lasts two years until Ma has found the original Laura and stops running, and Alex goes back across the country and home. Alex's gender is deliberately never disclosed; I don't know if s/he is trans or the author didn't want to complicate the story by saying. It is this reason that I have given the book four stars instead of 5, as the endless insistence that Alex is genderless seemed a conceit. However, the story is told from Alex's point of view many years later as s/he relives the trip through Ma's childhood and foster homes and endless restlessness. Thank you to NetGalley for my advance copy.

A mother bundles her teenager into the car and they set off across the States, half escaping a relationship that has run its course, half in pursuit of the women called Laura who mattered to the mother when she was young. Raw at times, this is a moving, lyrical novel about life as it’s lived, in all its unevenness, and about forging your own identity. It’s also a wonderful novel with a very distinct atmosphere and it leaves an impression.

A non binary protagonist. Just what some of my students have been waiting for. Very interested and adeptly structured. I really enjoyed this journey.

It wasn't only the fanciful writing paired with the straight out story telling, or the lure of the need to find out how it all ended, but the overall draw of taking off into the wide world; righting a wrong, getting revenge, and helping someone escape a life they no longer wanted. It was like following along on a bucket list road trip that coincided with a coming of age journey. From the mother's restless need to find home with one of her 'Lauras' to the frustration of puberty and never really knowing if Alex was male or female (and not caring either way by the end), I think there is something for everyone to identify with on some level in this book.