A review by booksbecreads
Puberty Blues by Kathy Lette
3.0
A sort of comming of age novel set in Cronulla in the 1970s.
What first got me about the book was the two forwards - one by an ex Australian sopie star come pop star and the other a aging Australian feminist author, neither whom really fit the bill of what I expected this book to be - not that i had expected much, I don't recal every hearing about it and it was definately never required reading in school (understandably). I would be surprised if this book was never a "banned book", but asume the fact that it was Australian and being read by Australian teens it was never in a position to become a largely talked about inappropriate for teens book.
So while the areas have changed (the sterotype backgrounds of Cronulla and "Banksie"), the activities and perseption of both "groups" haven't much. Its all about fitting in at school, belonging to the cool group and general peer aceptance. It covers drugs, first time sex (at 13 mind you), gang rape and school. I think if I had read it during my teens half of the content would have gone over my head - Forever by Jusy Blume has nothing on this book.
A quick read (or listen on the audio) if you want to give an Australian cult classic a try - just have an open mind and take yourself back in time.
Audio = 3 CDs of 3 hr
Narrator - great "occa" accent
SBC: Based in city I live
What first got me about the book was the two forwards - one by an ex Australian sopie star come pop star and the other a aging Australian feminist author, neither whom really fit the bill of what I expected this book to be - not that i had expected much, I don't recal every hearing about it and it was definately never required reading in school (understandably). I would be surprised if this book was never a "banned book", but asume the fact that it was Australian and being read by Australian teens it was never in a position to become a largely talked about inappropriate for teens book.
So while the areas have changed (the sterotype backgrounds of Cronulla and "Banksie"), the activities and perseption of both "groups" haven't much. Its all about fitting in at school, belonging to the cool group and general peer aceptance. It covers drugs, first time sex (at 13 mind you), gang rape and school. I think if I had read it during my teens half of the content would have gone over my head - Forever by Jusy Blume has nothing on this book.
A quick read (or listen on the audio) if you want to give an Australian cult classic a try - just have an open mind and take yourself back in time.
Audio = 3 CDs of 3 hr
Narrator - great "occa" accent
SBC: Based in city I live