Love, Ghosts, & Facial Hair (Paperback)

by Steven Herrick (Author)
Key Phrases: Megalong Creek, Physical Education, Narrowneck Road (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up--Teenaged Jack thinks about sex (a lot), love, Annabel (sex again), nose hair, and his mother, who died of cancer and whose ghost haunts him. His memories--weekend trips with his father and sister, a photo of his mother, science class--are well drawn in first-person free verse. Most of the poems are narrated by the 16-year-old, with some selections by his father or sister. The switch is quick, without warning, and some readers might not realize that the voice has changed. By the end of the book, through numerous growth experiences and a burgeoning relationship with Annabel, Jack is ready to "tell the ghost no more visits/It's not that I don't need her/or want her to stay,/I'm just too old to believe in it anymore…." He's come to terms with the past, ready to face the uncertain future, stronger. In A Place Like This, also written in free verse, Jack, now 18, and Annabel have decided to put off going to university and set out on their own. They enjoy one another, sex, and their freedom. Life leads them to a job at an apple orchard, where Jack realizes, "This is not what I planned./I wanted lonely beaches with Annabel/and bush camping beside a river…." Instead, the two pick apples for 10 hours a day, sleep in a shed, and get entangled with their employer's pregnant daughter. Jack is drawn to help Emma because of a secret in his past. The story is tied up a bit quickly, and not entirely satisfactorily, but readers remain confident that Jack will survive wherever life takes him, and Annabel, next.--Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Reviewed with Steven Herrick's A Place Like This.

Gr. 9-12. In publishing these novels by an Australian poet as original paperbacks, Simon Pulse combines the slick packaging of series fiction with rich, layered verse reminiscent of works such as Sonya Sones' Stop Pretending (1999). The narrative rotates among several characters, but the primary speaker is Jack, who is 16 at the start of Love, Ghosts, & Facial Hair. Jack is an aspiring poet who falls in love with another soulful teenager, Annabel. Their intense connection, as cerebral as it is lustily sexual, soothes Jack's grief over the loss of his mother seven years earlier, a loss Herrick captures in shifting, raw emotion--from nihilistic bitterness ("They said it was a harmless lump / it wasn't") to brooding melancholy ("There's a ghost in our house / in Mum's / red evening dress"). A Place Like Thi s follows Jack and Annabel on a postgraduation road trip, tapping into a Kerouacian fantasy that will resonate with many teens. This novel lacks the immediacy of the family tragedy found at the heart of Love, focusing instead on the pregnant, 16-year-old daughter of the apple farmer who gives Jack and Annabel a job. Both books, however, speak with sincerity and sensitivity to the "quiet revolution in every family." Billed as "companion novels," this pairing evidently does not represent the beginning of a Jack-and-Annabel franchise, though YAs touched by the couple's sweet, redemptive relationship may wish it were otherwise. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse; 1 edition (February 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689867107
• ISBN-13: 978-0689867101
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,697,221 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars I Enjoyed It, January 3, 2009

By	Shelly (Delaware, USA) - See all my reviews

I enjoyed this book very much. I am a fan of Steven Herrick's books in general, but I have to say this one is not my favorite of his works. If you are new to Steven Herrick I would recommend "The Simple Gift" which is my favorite. What I enjoy so much about all of his works is that while he writes in verse, the story unfolds quite clearly and naturally. The plot line isn't told directly, rather the story unfolds slowly through small scenes and images and thoughts from the characters. One snippet might be about one of the characters looking at herself in the mirror, but so much is said about the characters, their history and their emotions. The issues in all of his works, including this one, are very real to life, and in some ways very heavy, but they are not really depressing because the story is told in such a light simple way. This is such a different and refreshing way to read a book, please read this and other Steven Herrick stories because they are always beautiful.