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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Sometimes humiliatingly honest. Bit cliché. Hasn’t aged the best. Yet somehow a bit endearing. Maybe if I’d read this when I was a bit younger it would mean something special to me..
definitely not what i was expecting - i had started with meno's 'demons in the spring' which i *loved*; it was so quirky and original. this, however, was far more normal, though still enjoyable.
confession: i am a music dunce. truly. i grew up on disney and used to know all the words to the songs from 20,000 leagues under the sea. ("i've got a whale of a tale to tell you lads, a whale of a tale or two... 'bout the flappin' fish and the girls i've loved...")
so, most of this book was totally lost on me. in many ways, i just could not relate at ALL to the characters who identify themselves through metal and punk music. i've only recently (last 6 yrs) started expanding my musical horizons beyond disney and rex harrison musicals so i can't relate to the misfits or the dead kennedy's or punk in any fashion. and when friends (i'm looking at you megan!) reference meg white, it takes me a few minutes to think, "meg white... meg white... uhhhh... white... OH YEA! from the white stripes. got it. yeaaaaaa!"
despite never being a smoker, never doing drugs, not really drinking (except legally in paris on a graduation high school trip) or having sex or doing much of anything underage, uh... i suppose i found this book fascinating - like a cultural study on a subset of teenagers in america. just not one that i was a part of.
confession: i am a music dunce. truly. i grew up on disney and used to know all the words to the songs from 20,000 leagues under the sea. ("i've got a whale of a tale to tell you lads, a whale of a tale or two... 'bout the flappin' fish and the girls i've loved...")
so, most of this book was totally lost on me. in many ways, i just could not relate at ALL to the characters who identify themselves through metal and punk music. i've only recently (last 6 yrs) started expanding my musical horizons beyond disney and rex harrison musicals so i can't relate to the misfits or the dead kennedy's or punk in any fashion. and when friends (i'm looking at you megan!) reference meg white, it takes me a few minutes to think, "meg white... meg white... uhhhh... white... OH YEA! from the white stripes. got it. yeaaaaaa!"
despite never being a smoker, never doing drugs, not really drinking (except legally in paris on a graduation high school trip) or having sex or doing much of anything underage, uh... i suppose i found this book fascinating - like a cultural study on a subset of teenagers in america. just not one that i was a part of.
It definitely says something if I read it in less than 24 hours last night, this morning, and then when I got off. I couldn't put the damn thing down.
God, I love this book! Totally captures my 90's high school experience, and is funnier than all getout!
Really remarkable only in the sense of how realistic it really is. Meno is hilarious.
My girlfriend (born in '81) said that it is entirely reminiscent -- from gutter punks to social awkwardness to making out on couches at parties where PBR is the beverage of choice -- of her own (and many others') adolescence.
My girlfriend (born in '81) said that it is entirely reminiscent -- from gutter punks to social awkwardness to making out on couches at parties where PBR is the beverage of choice -- of her own (and many others') adolescence.
So Joe Meno was my professor at Columbia which is why I picked this book up (that and it being about punk kids in Chicago sparked my interest.) But I wanna make it clear, although Joe was a fantastic professor, I had no bias when going into reading this. I’m judging it 100% fairly.
That being said, this is a fantastic f*cking book. I felt several emotions reading it— sadness for Gretchen, sadness for Brian, annoyance at Brian, excitement for Brian, anger at all the stupid poser a$$ punks, etc.
Look. This book came out in 2004 and was about teenage white kids on the south side in the 90’s. So there’s some stuff, words mostly, that came up that weren’t great. But you see the change throughout the book. You see Brian growing and giving a middle finger to that bs.
The best part, or at least the biggest turning point for me, is when Brian tells the priest to shave his head. THAT was the moment Brian became punk. And everything that followed was just more evidence that this kid had it in him all along. That realization of the inequities between the white kids and the black kids, the moment it dawned on him that all these kids are just posing— trying to fit in, trying to be accepted… that was the most punk rock of it all.
Man. Meno really captured the feeling of highschool. The seasons in Chicago. The southside. The music. What being punk actually means.
I knew he was a great writer, but somehow he turned a coming of age story about highschool wannabe punks into something I’ll remember for a long time, if not forever.
That being said, this is a fantastic f*cking book. I felt several emotions reading it— sadness for Gretchen, sadness for Brian, annoyance at Brian, excitement for Brian, anger at all the stupid poser a$$ punks, etc.
Look. This book came out in 2004 and was about teenage white kids on the south side in the 90’s. So there’s some stuff, words mostly, that came up that weren’t great. But you see the change throughout the book. You see Brian growing and giving a middle finger to that bs.
The best part, or at least the biggest turning point for me, is when Brian tells the priest to shave his head. THAT was the moment Brian became punk. And everything that followed was just more evidence that this kid had it in him all along. That realization of the inequities between the white kids and the black kids, the moment it dawned on him that all these kids are just posing— trying to fit in, trying to be accepted… that was the most punk rock of it all.
Man. Meno really captured the feeling of highschool. The seasons in Chicago. The southside. The music. What being punk actually means.
I knew he was a great writer, but somehow he turned a coming of age story about highschool wannabe punks into something I’ll remember for a long time, if not forever.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked it like a three-star review, but as a mid-Western dork-metalhead-cum-punk from the late 80s, the nostalgia factor gave it an added star. Also, a great excuse for a Spotify playlist!
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced