Customer Reviews

The Aqua Net Diaries: Big Hair, Big Dreams, Small Town

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'll start with the good.

The author is a talented writer, adorable then and now, and certainly has a knack for taking us right down memory lane with the snippets of 80's nostalgia that made me say numerous times, "Ohhhh ya!!! I remember THAT!" Overall, I did enjoy this book and certain memories it evoked.

However, I also realize that money talks, and good looks talk even louder, especially in the social jungle called high school. The author appears to have been blessed with both, and that opened a lot of doors for her that didn't for countless other kids.

She has the social caste system nailed perfectly; however, doesn't see herself at the top of it which I found baffling.

She actually notes that she sees herself many times as an outsider trying to fit in, which I cannot understand at all....sure, there might have been one or two higher-ups like Rip or Tom who she seemed to want to be noticed by to the point of groveling; but believe me, if she could have been ME in high school for one week, no, one DAY - with my acne, shyness, braces, dressed in my older brother's hand me downs when Esprit was indeed the epitome of popularity, then she would have known what being an outsider really felt like. I had about 2 friends and certainly none of the parties, hi-jinx, fun-spirited teen mischief, different dates with the most popular boys every weekend, 4 hour long nightly phone calls with a male best friend, guys carrying her around like a wheelbarrow to classes and trying to steal her shoes, etc. All of those things in my high school were completely out of reach for those who didn't fit into a certain mold. Sure the nerds and the geeks hung around with each other, but were basically ignored by the upper caste, which the author certainly seems guilty of doing as well, noted by the complete absence of them in her book. ALL of the pictures she included of her friends, there is not one kid who looked any "less" than her in looks, popularity, style, hair, etc. She never mentions befriending ANY one of the less popular kids - I would have loved to have seen one story or picture of the author with a kid that was a nerd or one her friends didn't approve of, but there are none and this makes her seem shallow indeed. And the gay male best friend would have been bullied out of the stratosphere in my school by the upper caste kids but would have hung out with the nerds or geeks.

Another thing - although this was just an annoyance while reading - was she skipped around a LOT, senior year back to sophomore year, junior year back to sophomore year. This was very distracting.

I am happy that the author has such fantastic memories of high school, but for a lot of those who were totally ignored, not accepted, or sometimes even bullied by the upper caste in high school because we didn't have the proper looks or clothes, or were different in some way and otherwise didn't meet up to their standards, our memories are not quite as sweet.

This is a memoir about going to high school in Richmond, Indiana, where people are happy in a wholesome Midwestern way and nothing much happens. I got a little tired of reading about immature pranks involving trashing people's cars and passing notes about so-and-so's outfit, but every time I considered putting the book down, there would be a genuinely funny anecdote. So I found the book patchy and uneven but sometimes enjoyable. A one-time boyfriend of the author told her that she was so complicated, it was as if there were all these boxes and she wasn't letting anyone in, and this was a problem with the narrative too. I don't think there was enough introspection or depth.

A memoir can be written for many reasons. A famous person, well, that's easy. One who has endured remarkable or brutal experiences might pen a memoir to inspire or inform. A person who lived in a recently vanished word, like Flora Thompson or Laura Ingalls Wilder, shares a vision of what was, but no longer is. But Jennifer Niven has written a memoir because she is a self-absorbed person who loves to see her name in print and lives for praise, however empty and fatuous it may be. She has almost nothing worth sharing, and writes those boring reminiscences in a meandering and tedious manner. She reflects on none of her experiences, offering no insight, remorse, or meaning, but shambles on in a tiring stream of (vaguely) consciousness, much like an overheard cell phone conversation. "And then I said...Oh, and no one else did anything, so I HAD to take control...And oh, isn't he cute?...OH MY GOD! What does she think she's doing wearing THOSE shoes?....And then I made out with....God, I looked hotter than anyone at the dance....Ohhhh, guess who talked to me....And then I won...Oh my was he drunk..." How many pages of that would you like to read? Flee, prospective reader, flee!

This book desperately needed an editor to ask hard questions, cut the sludge, and enhance what few things were worthy. Without that guidance, what is left is either lugubrious and exasperating or creepy and weird. She created a history team so she could sit on the warm spot on her couch left by the boy she wanted? Yuck. She dumped an apparently endless string of boyfriends so she could move up the status ladder with the next one? She fixated on who was admiring her? She drove around rural Indiana nightly looking for parties? Jennifer and the catty and loathsome Joey thought about no one but themselves, using everyone they wanted something from, asking for salvation whenever they were in a jam, and expecting someone else to pay the bill (there is no mention of jobs here; who filled the tank, bought those cute clothes, and paid the insurance?) They did all this while despising those from whom they could not benefit. This is one sad life, full of sad people. Not only could I not identify, I could not even imagine how they thought. (It was her job to make me care and understand, but because she has apparently never been aware of anyone or anything other than her wants, contemplating a potential reader was not ever a concern.) I have had more empathy and understanding reading anthropological texts about remote tribes in the Andes.

This book needed a point, improved organization, better writing, and central characters who were not repulsive. One of the things we do as we get older is wonder if there was a road not taken that might have yielded better results. Well, I was not popular in high school, and never really understood what was going on while I was there. If this is what was occurring around me, I'm grateful I didn't comprehend it. Frightening and pitiable.

Ehhh...not that great. It was mildly amusing at times, but just when you get to the point where you think it might be a good book you are once again hit over the head with a not-so-subtle reminder that Jennifer was a genius, drop dead gorgeous and was hilarious. Oh, and all the guys wanted her. Yawn. I didn't find her all that likeable, which made the book rather hard to truly enjoy.

A friend passed on his copy, after not liking it at all. He is 55, and I am 65, and neither of us represent the target audience for Jennifer's tale of high school in the early '80's. Yet, despite my prejudice going in, I found I wanted to finish this. I went to high school too, 25 years earlier than the author. I was much less popular than she was, less successful academically, and from a very low-income background with parents who had fourth and sixth-grade educations, instead of college degrees. I can recall only a handful of happy hours in the entire four years. So I was a bit jealous reading this, because while Niven was not in the very elite ranks of "popular" kids, she was way, way ahead of where I had been. Yes, the story is crammed with the shallow, the trivial, and the temporary dramas of teen life. But in those years, were not all of us pretty wrapped up in ourselves? She comments at one point that focusing on her feelings nearly every minute of each day was exhausting. I recall that fatigue, too. I don't know how much money this book can make for its publisher, but Ms. Niven, only approaching age 40, now has four published books, two of history and one comic novel and this memoir. Who am I to criticize her writing style or choice of topic this time out? It's obvious she is personable and is capable of scholarship, too. This one is just for fun. And I had many smiles reading it. I wish Ms. Niven would buy and read another high school memoir available on Amazon: "Cocky's Boy" by Bert Clayton. He was 40-plus years ahead of Jennifer, growing up in small towns in the Midwest. His family dealt with the Great Depression, and World War II began when his high school career was underway. His dad constantly searched for work and moved the family, and drank a little. Bert has a photographic memory for details of those years, much as Jennifer seems to show. His book ends with his time at the Battle of Iwo Jima, after which he went to college. It's not Jennifer's fault that between the time she was 14 and 19, the world did not intrude much on her life, but I think she would identify with a lot of what Mr. Clayton did and thought in his own adolescence.

High school in middle America in the 1980s: this is Jennifer Niven's memoir of high school in suburban Indiana. Like any other high school student Jennifer angsts over her weekend dates, spends hours on the phone, and is profoundly embarassed by her parents. She spends time dreaming up ways to cut school and acquire alcohol. In other words, this is the story of an entirely unremarkable high school experience. Most of us will find plenty in Niven's narrative that sounds familiar. Reading this book is quite a bit like reminiscing about high school with one's old friends at a reunion. That said, I'm not sure that there's anything more to this book. I absolutely loved Niven's novel, Velva Jean Learns to Drive, but I was disappointed in this memoir. The memoir was neither as deep nor as interesting as the novel. This is a light and entertaining read, but there's not a lot more to it.

I was immediately drawn to "Aqua Net Diaries" by Jennifer Niven, partly because of the fun cover art (a can of hairspray) and the words "Big Hair, Big Dreams, Small Town." This subtitle seemed to succinctly describe my high school experience. From the first story, I discovered that the author and I share the same graduation year. Although unlike the author, my high school memories did not unfold in a "small town" in Indiana (which I looked up and found was over 35,000 in the late 80's as opposed to my actual small town of about 4,000).

When I was a few pages in, I realized that the author went to a school that was at least three times bigger than my own in rural Washington. Surprisingly, the more I read, it seemed that the similarities between the two schools, and the archetypal cast of characters (i.e. the jocks, the brains, the rich kids, the b-listers), was striking. Perhaps that means that high school is a universal experience independent of everything but time. But my working theory is that the similarities exist because Niven lived in the Midwest, where cities, no matter what the size, have the unmistakable patina of "small town living." (Yes, I'm an East Coast snob now.)

All in all, it was a fun, easy read. For those of you who were in high school in the late 80's, you would find yourself nodding your head and laughing (or perhaps wanting to bury your head in your pillow and crying). At times I did feel that the writing was a bit self-indulgent, but it was also entertaining, so I forgave the author this. There was one area I felt lacked some credibility--the remarkable insights the author described her teenage self as having. I really think this was revisionist on the author's part. I'm sure the sometimes mature perceptions of the teenage Jennifer in the book are significantly informed by Ms. Niven's adult knowledge and experiences, which for me made some of the content not quite ring true. But again, this book is a series of fun little tales and most people, regardless of where they went to high school, will find plenty within these stories to relate to.

This book was a fast, interesting read about a big high school in a small town. Very accurate and humorous.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, although I really wanted it to be better than it was. I liked Jennifer's narrative voice which was truly authentic at times. It reminded me of my own high school experiences--sometimes really fun and meaningful, but overall, left me wishing there was something more to it. Like the other reviewers, I found many of the vignettes not very interesting or funny, but I did enjoy her descriptions. I found it hard to relate to her ultra-close friendship with Joey and complete lack of meaningful female friendships. She would mention some girlfriends from time to time but there was a real lack of depth to them. I was also frustrated and bored by her and Joey's unrelenting desire to get out of Richmond. She describes it as a small town, but really it is a small city. I remember in high school it never seemed like there was anything to do, even though I did grow up in an actual metropolitan area, so I understand that it would seem that way almost anywhere. As for her feeling outside the popular crowd even though she dates the most popular boys, I think that is a common trait of adolescence, never quite knowing where you belong. Overall, Jennifer Niven comes off as self-absorbed, spoiled and narcissistic, with just enough vulnerability shining through to make you like her. I would say this is a good beach read, but don't get your hopes up.

Like Jennifer Niven, I experienced high school in small-town Indiana in the 1980s. As someone who hailed the dawn of the MTV era and longed to live somewhere more cosmopolitan than my small, rural town, this memoir spoke to the heart of my own high school experience. I found myself laughing when reading about her experiences trying to be the "good girl gone bad" by ditching class or joyriding in cars and felt as if I were looking in a mirror when Niven writes of her dreams to move beyond the Midwest and not feeling like she totally fit in with classmates content with their small-town lifestyles. Yes, the stories included here are often superficial, but so is much of high school. Niven includes a good mix of funny anecdotes and deeper reflection to balance out the trivial stories. As a high school teacher myself, I can assure that Niven has managed to truly capture the essence of high school life, which hasn't changed all that much from the 1980s. I've read excerpts of the memoir to my high school journalism class, and they beg me to read more, as even though the hairstyles and technology have changed since then, they identify with Niven's insight into the high school experience.

Additionally, the sheer volume of notes, photos, and tapes that Niven saved from those years to be able to compile this memoir is commendable. Niven created a book that gave me one of the most enjoyable summer reads I've had in years, and I felt as if I were reading the work of a kindred spirit.