Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook (Paperback)

by Todd Brown (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Mixing touches of the mundane and the melodramatic, Brown's confessional debut novel views the bittersweet first year of high school through the eyes of a 13-year-old who's just realizing he doesn't quite fit in. Ben Smith is the youngest in a family whose bonds are fraying. His alcoholic father has left his mother for another woman. His mother is too depressed to leave the house, much less get a job. Brother Jeff is the graduating basketball star in a town so small that no one outside the paper route notices his achievements. Grandma is a Holy Roller. And Ben is a typically confused teen who records his innermost thoughts in a hot-pink notebook, a place where he can unconditionally reveal himself without threat of reprisal. In his first few months at Chappaqua High School in rural Maine, he falls in love with his classmate Aaron and takes his first steps toward nonconformity. But the joy of first love ends abruptly when a jealous friend photographs the two boys kissing in the supply closet. Sent by his parents to summer camp to "beat this thing," he re-closets himself even though he has been "outed" in high school. By summer's end, though, he is able to come to terms with himself, and as he reflects on the last tumultuous year, he knows that he more than fills the bill of the sophomore, the "wise fool." Entries will appeal to those who want to reflect on the angst of adolescence from a safe distance as well as those embarking on the journey.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
Growing up gay in the Reagan years, Ben Smith struggles with a dysfunctional family, poverty, and his first year of high school, while searching for love and trying to make sense of his chaotic life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Washington Square Press (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671890840
• ISBN-13: 978-0671890841
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,382,667 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Books I've Ever Read!, February 19, 2000

By	Numan Parada (Tujunga, California United States) - See all my reviews

This is one of the few books I've ever read that had the perfect mix of good prose, thoughtfulness, and fun. It gives off a special type of suspense, powered by the continuous diary format, that keeps you from closing the book; you can't wait until you see what's going to happen next! There are tons of enjoyable and unusual surprises, as well as the interwoven subplots dealing with family, religion, school, romance (fake vs. real), and even some adventure that makes this book even more undeniable. I honestly don't think I'll ever read another book that can top off what Brown wrote. I even threw giggles out of pure enjoyment for it. "Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook" is a true change from meticulous and dragging prose that occurs in many other stories and should definately be both a classic and a must for any reader. I hope there's a sequel to Ben Smith's Hot Pink Notebook. It's THAT good!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it sooooooooooo much, March 15, 1999

By A Customer

I was trying to think of the highest compliment I could pay a piece of fiction, and here it is: this book is making me think about the way I live my own life -- that is, my decision to stay in the closet at work, to smile or laugh when someone says a gay "joke," etc. I had never heard of this book before stumbling across it on Amazon recently. That's a shame, because it belongs up there with "The Best Little Boy in the World" and other important coming-out stories. I wish so much that I had read this book when I was 14, I think my life would be a lot different now. I admire the fact that Todd Brown crafted a likable, human gay teenager, without falling into the trap of making him a deviant ("Mysterious Skin") or a too-beautiful-for-this-world martyr ("Dream Boy"). There aren't many novels about which I would say this, but Todd Brown: Write a sequel!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great story of teenage anxiety and coming of age, January 13, 2000

By A Customer

I started to read this book expecting yet another coming out story, but was pleasantly surprised to find the scope of Mr. Brown's book is not limited to a gay theme, but covers a wide spectrum of the protagonist's life. The subject of his father's alcoholism was handled with both sensitivity and realism. Parental and sibling relationships were written with the same aplomb. Having grown up in a small town, I found the reactions of family and peers to Ben's "outing" to be disturbingly authentic and the small romance that developed between Ben and Aaron is poignant with it's innocence.

The book started a little slow, but soon found, as many of the other readers reviewing this publication, that I could not put it down, and in fact would look forward to a sequel from Mr. Brown!