"Let's Get Lost" Reading Response

            The novel “Let’s Get Lost” by Adi Alsaid tells the story of four teens, all going through very different struggles, whose lives end up being connected by one girl. 18-year old Leila is a friendly girl with a mysterious past who embarks on a road trip across the west coast in order to find her roots. Through this crazy trip, Leila ends up making friends with four people in unexpected ways and places. She meets Hudson, Bree, Elliot, and Sonia; all very different people with very different problems and situations. Leila talks and listens to each of them. She becomes their friend and helps them make it through their difficulties. She comes in, changes each of their lives, and then heads back on the road to try and figure out her own problems. Throughout “Let’s Get Lost” there is a recurring theme that sometimes taking a wild chance and seizing the day can end up changing your life.

            The main example of this theme in the story is how each person who met Leila in a random or bad situation took a chance on her and ended up being a lot happier than they were before. The first example of this in the story is when Leila meets a boy named Hudson while going through Vicksburg, Mississippi. While Hudson repairs Leila’s broken down car, he talks with her and they immediately click. Hudson ends up spending “the greatest night of his life” with Leila, but when they fall asleep on the grass, he misses an interview for a scholarship that would get him out of Vicksburg. At first Hudson blames Leila for what happened, but Leila makes him realize something. She tells him that “You let us fall asleep on the oxbow because this is exactly where you want to be. You’re afraid of leaving Vicksburg, of leaving your dad.” By taking a chance on Leila and spending an amazing night with her, Hudson realized what he truly wanted in life.

            The second place this theme comes up in the story is when Leila meets Bree, a runaway girl with a sad past. Bree teaches Leila to seize the day whenever she can, and always look for adventure.  Bree and Leila bond over adventures and feeling alive, and Bree gets Leila to help her shoplift at a convenience store, and then steal and drive around in a car for an hour. Bree explains to Leila how her mother and father died and she got so mad at her “controlling” sister that she ran away. Bree also explains how she likes to “seize the Tuesday,” or living life to the fullest every chance she gets. Despite this philosophy, Bree and Leila still end up getting arrested for the night because of the car stunt. Leila soon makes Bree call her sister, Alexis, is order to bail them out. After a failed reunion between Bree and her sister, Leila once again makes Bree seize the day and go back and find Alexis so that they can make up. By seizing the day, Bree is reunited with her sister and feels a lot better.

           “Let’s Get Lost” by Adi Alsaid is an interesting story of adventures and friendships that teaches readers that taking crazy chances can many times result in life changing and great events. The author showed that both seizing the day with people, opportunities, and adventures can lead to new relationships and discoveries. It is important for people to read this story so that they know that getting out of your comfort zone and seizing the day can sometimes be the best thing to do and can change life for the better.