Customer Reviews

It's Complicated: The American Teenager

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'It's Complicated' is a fabulous book that provides magnificent insight into teenagers in this day and age. It is not only unique in that it combines candid interviews with candid yet beautifully composed photographs, but also because it takes you through walks of life you have never experienced (or never knew existed). The book presents everyone from a young woman who spends her mornings catching lobster with her father for a living to a group of girls from New Orleans who discuss the role of class and money in their school. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to take a journey with Robin Bowman through the heart of America. Robin Bowman is a modern day Jack Kerouac, using candid moments to craft a history of an era sprinkled with differences in views all over America. You will step away from the book with not only a newfound appreciation for the art of photography and the impact it can make but also with a newfound appreciation for your own adolescence, and for people like Robin Bowman who go out and interview people you have only dreamed of meeting.

"It's Complicated: the American Teenager" is a compilation of photographs taken in a five year exploration by Robin Bowman of the largest generation of teenagers in American history. Consisting of a series of 415 'collaborative portraits', a diverse range of teenagers are showcased by in pictures and in their own words. The photographed teens represent every region of American and every socioeconomic group from Texas debutantes to New York City gangbangers. Offering visually reinforced insights into the diversity of individual personalities and attitudes, "It's Complicated" is an impressive and unique photographic journal, making it a very highly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library American Photography reference collections.

My 15 year old received this book as a Christmas present. It has remained out and open since then. All of her friends have picked it up and found entries that they found interesting and compelling. The book truly represents the cross-section of the teen experience in America. The author's compassion and concern for the teens as individuals is evident throughout the profiles, allowing it to speak to the universal truth about making it through those teen years. "It's Complicated" indeed.

Although my teenagers are in their 30's now-I read this with much interest. The photography was beautiful and captured the spirit of these people. You could see that they really trusted Robin and her camera. A wonderful idea. A wonderful book for me to share with my children-who have children and for friends who are wondering who their teens really are! Thanks to Robin and Robert and to Umbrage who let them tell and show their story!

I sat down with this book with the intent to peruse, but found myself totally absorbed for the entire evening. The photographs are amazing on their own, but the coupling with interviews opens up the experience - I found myself wishing I had been in that car with Robin as she explored the teen world. Robin has left me with wanting more... I'll be sharing this book with my teenage daughter to offer perspective on her life in this day and age.

This is such an extraordinary collection. The kind to be viewed over and over again in different moods and for different insights. In particular I recommend this collection for libraries and other resource rooms where teenagers roam - my own high school students have been glued to it since it arrived and I love hearing them reflect on what they see. Thank you Ms. Bowman for providing us with this entry into our past, present, and future, and for those young people who are young right now - for giving them insight into their peers - near and far.

Honesty....you know it when you see it. Robin Bowman's photography is as authentic as it gets.Captivating black and white potraits of teenagers telling their own story through Robin's lens. The respect she pays her subjects and their journey is so plain to see, it's hard to avert your eyes from the potraits. You get the feeling there is some of us in each of them.

Robin has so skillfully found the the soul of the American teenager. There is not one soul, but for her, 419 souls. Each is rich and diverse and she captures each of them not only with her insightful photos that find the soul of each of her subjects, but also in the heart felt and honest answers she is able to get in her interviews. Thank you Robin for capturing our children so well. We are truly a diverse nation and that is our richness.

It's Complicated: An American Teacher is a very profound and powerful book, but in a more subtle way than most. The photography in this book is amazing and is just as important as the writing. This book shows America. Over 400 teenagers, all with different backgrounds, lifestyles, ethnicities, cultures, etc. Sometimes the teens views are naive and childish. Other times they blow you away with their insight and all that they've had to overcome. All very different and yet somehow similar. I highly recommend this book.

"It's Complicated" is simply amazing. As a parent of two teenage boys, I often wrestle with ways to understand my teenagers and to help them understand the world around them. In this book, Robin Bowman has captured the essence of being a teenager; their thoughts, their dreams, their fears, and most importantly, their maturity. Robin Bowman, through pictures and honest dialog has provided a unique glimpse into understanding today's youth. I highly encourage all parents and all teenagers to read this book.