This book was amazing! I got it for Christmas randomly, and had never heard of the author, but after reading the back cover I learnt that he was only 20, and had already written 5 novels! Quite impressive.
Growing Up is about literally that - a 17 year old's experiences as he stumbles through teenage life with his friends, at school, at home and out partying. Because Ben Brooks is so young, the novel is written in perfect pubescent prose; including up to date slang and accurate details about sex and drugs, and this made reading it all the more believable, as not being too far off that age myself, I could really relate to the character.
This is also perhaps the book's biggest downfall though, in that it would only really appeal to the 16-24 age bracket; I can't imagine my mum enjoying reading about ketamine and teenage pregnancy!
There were some absolute gems of quotes in this book, I could honestly list at least ten, but I will pick out a choice few:
'They are his lucky socks, I think. I don't know why. Maybe he lost his virginity while wearing them to a girl that has done catalogue modelling.
I do not have lucky socks. I have an overwhelming sense of impending failure.'
'Sometimes, when I feel sad or ill, I play the old Avril Lavigne album and think about how happy I was in 2003, when kissing a girl who tasted of Panda Pops at a school disco was enough to make everything seem as though it couldn't get any better.'
It may not be everyones cup of tea, but I will definitely be handing this around my group of friends. If you too still hark back to the angst of your teenage years, I encourage you to give this a read, it will bring nostalgia flooding back!
Growing Up is about literally that - a 17 year old's experiences as he stumbles through teenage life with his friends, at school, at home and out partying. Because Ben Brooks is so young, the novel is written in perfect pubescent prose; including up to date slang and accurate details about sex and drugs, and this made reading it all the more believable, as not being too far off that age myself, I could really relate to the character.
This is also perhaps the book's biggest downfall though, in that it would only really appeal to the 16-24 age bracket; I can't imagine my mum enjoying reading about ketamine and teenage pregnancy!
There were some absolute gems of quotes in this book, I could honestly list at least ten, but I will pick out a choice few:
'They are his lucky socks, I think. I don't know why. Maybe he lost his virginity while wearing them to a girl that has done catalogue modelling.I do not have lucky socks. I have an overwhelming sense of impending failure.'
'Sometimes, when I feel sad or ill, I play the old Avril Lavigne album and think about how happy I was in 2003, when kissing a girl who tasted of Panda Pops at a school disco was enough to make everything seem as though it couldn't get any better.'
It may not be everyones cup of tea, but I will definitely be handing this around my group of friends. If you too still hark back to the angst of your teenage years, I encourage you to give this a read, it will bring nostalgia flooding back!
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