Customer Reviews

Puberty blues

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"Puberty Blues" can be read in a few hours. It's a short novel, written in simple, yet clever teenage prose. The Aussie vernacular used in this book is hilarious, and Sydney-siders will definitely relate to its setting (Cronulla). Two 13 year old girls, Deb and Sue, seek to get out of "Dickheadland" and into the Greenhill gang who are surfie and respected. Puberty Blues marks the journey of 2 girls from "nurd" to "cool", and speaks in detail about the sacrifices they make to get there. They manage to snare cool boyfriends, but they must go to desperate lengths to keep them around and not get "dropped". The girls experiment with drugs, sex and relationships throughout the book. Watching them willingly subordinate themselves to their older boyfriends is tough on the reader, who has probably been there at one stage in her early life. Infact, much of the journey of these precocious girls is familiar and therefore absolutely relevant to adolescent females everywhere, especially Australia. It's like the feminized answer to J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye". The ending is satisfying and ultimately life-affirming. Overall, a thoroughly worthwhile book.

"Puberty Blues" has got legs. First published in 1979 in Australia by two 18-year-olds, it was a scandal, since it was about sex and drugs and - if you count Pat Boone - rock 'n' roll. My copy is a 2002 reprint from England with new forewards by two of the few Australian lady celebs, Kylie Minogue and Germaine Greer.

The most shocking thing to me is that rebellious Aussie kids were listening to Pat Boone circa 1974. What's up with that?

Not the sort of book I usually read, I picked it up after seeing it extravagantly praised and because it promised a look into surf culture in Oz. Time passes. If 35 years ago, Cronulla Beach was a sort of paradise for working class yobboes and their wenches, recently it has been in the news more for a series of nasty racial-religious riots.

According to Deb and Sue, there was nothing to do. Hmmm. Never heard that from a 13-year-old before. Greer, by the way, is totally taken in by this confession of moral depravity in the suburbs, enhancing her reputation for cluelessness.

As a novel, it is not bad for being written by teen-agers, but it reads more like a transcribed diary, which I suspect is what it mostly is.

Certainly, Sydney was an very distant place 35 years ago, where rebellious middle schoolers (although in Australia, 13 gets into the first year of high school) cared enough to cheat on exams. Perhaps that was because back then, rebellious teens could still be sent to reform school. It seems practically Victorian. Rebellious American teens of that period and earlier would hardly have bothered to cheat.

Anyhow, Deb and Sue aspire to be top chicks, which means capturing the fleeting attentions of Sylvania's surfer dudes. They'll do anything.

The vapidity of the goal and of the performers makes it a good thing that the book is very short. In real life, Kathy and Gabrielle escape, but most of their pals end up ruined by heroin, which, according to them, came into Cronulla just about the time their group got old enough to experiment.

Lette has gone on to write successful novels (though I have not read any of them). It would interesting to see what would happen if she would go back and put some clothes on this tale. Inside this thin story is a fat story screaming to get out.

I bought this book while i was in australia in 1988 and I had never heard of it or the writer but I thought it was a wonderful book and the thing I liked best was that anyone who was growing up during those times attending school dealing with stupid peers parents pushing us around etc. could relate... i was 18 and found the thought of these girls trying for these guys to be sad but true... The appeal of the book for me was that the themes were "universal kid angst" (reminded me of the film "Over the Edge") and the ending is great! Worth a read for a bit of nostalgia of the 70s and 80s.

This book is the semi autobiographical account of two 13 year old girls Deb and Sue. Deb and Sue are DESPERATE to be in the "cool" crowd at school, namely with the surfers and they will do ANYTHING to get acceptd as part of this group. This book takes me back to my teenage years when I was geek who could never get a date on Saturday night .Deb and Sue experiment with drugs, alcohol and and sex and these two girls are not the type you would want to bring home to meet your family. Thankfully the book does have a happy ending. All of thge "cool surfer dudes " end up in Prison or dying from a Heroin overdose while all the Major League Geeks that Sue and Deb never had any time for all went on the become Computer Programmers earning $150,000 per year!!!Who says there is no such thing as Poetic Justice?

Well, its about teenages and everyday lifestyles and problems, like sex!! its a bit harsh and i recomend it to 15yrs and older!! i thought it portrayed teenage life very well