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A review by akross
Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno
2.0
For being written by a creative writing professor, this book is overwhelmingly stereotypical. The rebel girl who dyes her hair pink; the twenty-something who can't get away from high school; the boy with his constant erections and lascivious thoughts who really just wants some confidence. And everyone hates their parents (who likewise have stereotypical issues). While I agree that we all go through a lot of the same things in adolescence, sometimes I just wanted to slap the narrator and yell get OVER yourself .
It's hard to write a book from a teen point of view. If you compare it to a book like the perks of being a wallflower- which is by no means the perfect YA fic- it falls so far short, it's absurd. Meno was trying to give the book an authentic voice by inserting the appropriate filler words- like, um, fuck, maybe- but he tries too hard. I wasn't against this book from the start, and each of the characters really does have potential to tell a good story, but Meno fails in delivering.
Big perk of the book for me? It's set in the neighborhoods I was born in, and also where I spent a good chunk of childhood at my aunt's house. Rainbow Cone? I'm so there.
It's hard to write a book from a teen point of view. If you compare it to a book like the perks of being a wallflower- which is by no means the perfect YA fic- it falls so far short, it's absurd. Meno was trying to give the book an authentic voice by inserting the appropriate filler words- like, um, fuck, maybe- but he tries too hard. I wasn't against this book from the start, and each of the characters really does have potential to tell a good story, but Meno fails in delivering.
Big perk of the book for me? It's set in the neighborhoods I was born in, and also where I spent a good chunk of childhood at my aunt's house. Rainbow Cone? I'm so there.