19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Holds up, still relevant and still touches a nerve, November 15, 2005
This review is from: Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia's Dead End Kids (Paperback)
I recently reread this book and was pleased, yet unsurprised to, see how well it's held up. The books easily stands on it's own merits, however I have been compelled to write a review after reading some of the bilge that others have written. Mostly along the lines of "I knew these kids or I'm from Jersey and she shouldn't have written that book", and other unintelligent nonsense and blindfolded provincial tripe. Comparing Dr. Gaines to the Taliban is about as clever as someone comparing homosexuals with the devil. If someone is that stupid as to make that comparison, they're in over their empty head just reading the word sociology, much less a book on the subject.
I read this book not long after it's release. I considered myself a graduate of a similar 'teenage wasteland' on long island, and approached the subject matter with the critical eye of someone with years of experience of suburban malaise, suicidal cohorts and punk and metal soundtracks. After completing the book I was genuinely moved not only by her obvious empathetic treatment of the subject matter, but for her logical conclusions pertaining the conditions that made the events in the book not only understandable, but also unavoidable. She never judged the subjects of the book, and thus gained their confidence. Her personal connection to the events she was writing allowed her a keen insight into the situation she describes without sacrificing clinical, reasoned objectivity.
Not long after reading this book for the first time, I wrote to the author, thanking her for her efforts regarding a subject that I knew well. Instead of receiving a corporate form letter reply or a brush off, I received a personal response from the author and an invitation to discuss the book in person. The author, completely without pretension or hidden agendas, spent time with myself and my friends discussing the ubiquitous dementations, absurdities, and the poignancy of suburbia. She did so without asking anything of us, and we were not exploited or maltreated, nor were the subjects of this book.
The fact that she took the time to give equal time to suburban dirtbags for no other reason than we liked her book... and knew where she was from... speaks volumes of not only her character, but her integrity as well. I highly doubt that the same could be said of the books' critics.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprising!, April 21, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia's Dead End Kids (Paperback)
I read this book for a class I was taking and I didn't expect much from it. But I was wrong. This is a very good book and the information is both surprising and relevant. I probably would not have read this book except for my class and I would have missed out on a lot.
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16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Conclusions accurate - but too much Donna, October 1, 2000
This review is from: Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia's Dead End Kids (Paperback)
As a baby-bust kid raised in Bergenfield, I found Ms. Gaines conclusions pretty much on the mark. However, her constant references to herself were not relevent to the topic. Growing up in the sixties in Long Island and having beach parties was nowhere near growing up in Bergenfield in the eighties even if you knew the names of heavy metal bands. Several points she failed to make well were: Reagan's trickle-down economics and not raising the minimum wage failed us completely. (I am still paying off college loans from 1988.) Also, she completely missed the connection that my generation's parents were fifties kids who idealized Ronald Reagan, bought the whole Father Knows Best thing and still truly believed in Camelot and the American Dream. How could we but disappoint? Many of our parents had cars when they were teens, got good jobs without college degrees, got married and had kids, and also bought a house all before they were 25. Hippies frightened the bejeesus out of them. And, they were in no mood to believe that hope was dead for those of stuck at $3.35 an hour. Ms. Gaines religifying music was a little much as well. Being a musician, I know that kids as well as adults need to have a good time, blow off steam, to escape. The energy of rock, heavy metal, thrash, etc. appeals to them often on a visceral, not always intellectual level. Kids out there often enjoy music when they don't even have clue what the lyrics are. Also, her slang to sound cool was a little much. On the topic of the kids feeling worthless, she was dead on. There was another name they were given, not even mentioned in the book which breaks my heart when I think of it. Dregs.
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