Notebooks of a Naked Youth [Paperback]

Billy Childish (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998

Fiction. By daring to give everything of himself, his most painful and secretive thoughts, Billy Childish has broken through to a whole new expression never before seen in English writing. Highly personal and uncompromising, NOTEBOOKS OF A NAKED YOUTH is narrated by one William Loveday, an acned youth, possessed of piercing intelligence, acute self-loathing and great personal charm. Haunted by sexual desires, William Loveday leads us on a naked odyssey from the "rust belt" of industrial North Kent to sleazy sex clubs of Hamburg's Reeperbahn--a twilight world of murderous pimps and tattooed hermaphrodites--and a final descent into an expressionist hell. Childish's "fantastic biography" achieves what only the most foolhardy would ever attempt: the unholy union of punk rock, Knut Hamsun and Celine. The result is a hilarious, drunken, un- English voyage into the human shadow--the ultimate antidote to the Oxbridge pretenders and mindless hype of drug culture. One thing separates Childish's voice from all those of his contemporaries: he can write like the devil!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

In a twenty year period, Billy Childish has published over 30 collections of his poetry, recorded over 75 full-length independent LPs, and produced over 1000 paintings. His records with his many different bands, including Thee Headcoats, have been released in this country by Sub Pop among others. He has a major cult following in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Sun Dog Press (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941543218
• ISBN-13: 978-0941543217
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,995,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Billy Childish writes an honest book about youth., April 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Notebooks of a Naked Youth (Paperback)

Billy Childish an "underground" legend, has emerged as one of the true renaissance men of his, or any other, generation. His dedication to poetry, music, and painting has been astounding, and now he has managed to produce two novels, of which this one is the second. Childish's prose style, while contemporary, also will remind the reader of Knut Hamsun, the great Norwegian writer, and Dostoyevski's Notes from the Underground. This novel enters the pain of youth, taking you right into the middle of an anguished young misfit. However, there is sly subtle humor which constantly runs through the undertones of the book, sometimes inducing out and out laughter. And, as with all of Childish's work, Notebooks of a Naked Youth leaves one with a sense of, despite bitterness, a search for something more than the mundane, something perhaps beautiful.

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anything but Childish, January 7, 2003

By 

ed plum (los angeles, california United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Notebooks of a Naked Youth: The Continuing Saga of Chatham Jack (Hardcover)

Due to an almost overwhelming hyper-valor indicative of a pure creative artist's soul, one that most certainly wouldn't have been shared with us had the author experienced a relatively stable upbringing, this novel has to rank among the dozen most
courageous and paradoxically depressing works of the 20th Century. No doubt whatsoever: Mr. Childish has been attacked by some hideous spirit-killing insect, the result of which has been the rotting away of that which shielded his innards from hordes of those tire-kicking readers among us. No doubt this was an exceptionally difficult and painful book for him to
birth. And as necessary for him to get out of himself as was D-DAY so painful and critically needed more than a half century back.

More than anything, Mr. Childish displays with this work a quite possibly terminal case of the sad sads. It's up to readers not to shirk, not to shy away from exceedingly depressing books which are in every other sense magnificent triumphs of a delicate, sensitive, and very alive artist. Presently, Knut Hamsun Billy Childish is not. But he's on the way. Hamsun had to write for Nazis. There is a rightist tendency in some of Mr. Childish's finger pointing prose. May he grow out of this, manage his burning anger better in future volumes.
He's a fierce talent who needs to guard against rash judgments of others and their own works. Dig a little deeper before hating so fast and full. He'll discover the golden rule not so simple-minded after all.