Puberty blues

by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey

Book Overview

Kathy Lette's first novel, written with her surfie chick friend Gabrielle Carey, when they were eighteen. Written twenty years ago, PUBERTY BLUES is the bestselling account of growing up in the 1970s... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0872237680
• ISBN13: 9780872237681
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: Wideview Books
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

bought this book in Brisbane

I bought this book while i was in australia in 1988 and I had never heard of it or the writer but I thought it was a wonderful book and the thing I liked best was that anyone who was growing up during those times attending school dealing with stupid peers parents pushing us around etc. could relate... i was 18 and found the thought of these girls trying for these guys to be sad but true... The appeal of the book for me was that the themes were "universal kid angst" (reminded me of the film "Over the Edge") and the ending is great! Worth a read for a bit of nostalgia of the 70s and 80s.

Don't Bring These Two Chicks Home To Meet Your Mother!!!!

This book is the semi autobiographical account of two 13 year old girls Deb and Sue. Deb and Sue are DESPERATE to be in the "cool" crowd at school, namely with the surfers and they will do ANYTHING to get acceptd as part of this group. This book takes me back to my teenage years when I was geek who could never get a date on Saturday night .Deb and Sue experiment with drugs, alcohol and and sex and these two girls are not the type you would want to bring home to meet your family. Thankfully the book does have a happy ending. All of thge "cool surfer dudes " end up in Prison or dying from a Heroin overdose while all the Major League Geeks that Sue and Deb never had any time for all went on the become Computer Programmers earning $150,000 per year!!!Who says there is no such thing as Poetic Justice?

Timeless Aussie Humour

"Puberty Blues" can be read in a few hours. It's a short novel, written in simple, yet clever teenage prose. The Aussie vernacular used in this book is hilarious, and Sydney-siders will definitely relate to its setting (Cronulla). Two 13 year old girls, Deb and Sue, seek to get out of "Dickheadland" and into the Greenhill gang who are surfie and respected. Puberty Blues marks the journey of 2 girls from "nurd" to "cool", and speaks in detail about the sacrifices they make to get there. They manage to snare cool boyfriends, but they must go to desperate lengths to keep them around and not get "dropped". The girls experiment with drugs, sex and relationships throughout the book. Watching them willingly subordinate themselves to their older boyfriends is tough on the reader, who has probably been there at one stage in her early life. Infact, much of the journey of these precocious girls is familiar and therefore absolutely relevant to adolescent females everywhere, especially Australia. It's like the feminized answer to J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye". The ending is satisfying and ultimately life-affirming. Overall, a thoroughly worthwhile book.

IT WAS GREAT

Well, its about teenages and everyday lifestyles and problems, like sex!! its a bit harsh and i recomend it to 15yrs and older!! i thought it portrayed teenage life very well