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Hairstyles of the Damned (Punk Planet Books) (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: crimson ghost, iron maiden, joe meno, Stacy Bensen, Tony Degan, Brian Oswald (more...)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (43 customer reviews)

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How the Hula Girl Sings by Joe Meno
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Meno (How the Hula Girl Sings) gives his proverbial coming-of-age tale a punk-rock edge, as 17-year-old Chicagoan Brian Oswald tries to land his first girlfriend and make it through high school. Brian loves video games, metal music and his best friend, Gretchen, an overweight, foul-mouthed, pink-haired badass famous for beating up other girls. Gretchen, meanwhile, loves the Ramones and the Clash and 26-year-old "white power thug" Tony Degan. Gretchen keeps Brian at bay even as their friendship starts to bloom into a romance, forcing him to find comfort with the fetching but slatternly Dorie. Typical adolescent drama reigns: Brian's parents are having marital problems, he needs money to buy wheels ("I needed a van because, like Mike always said, guys with vans always got the most trim, after the guys who could grow mustaches"), he experiments with sex and vandalism. Meno ably explores Brian's emotional uncertainty and his poignant youthful search for meaning, both in music and in his on-again, off-again situation with Gretchen; his gabby, heartfelt and utterly believable take on adolescence strikes a winning chord. Meno also deals honestly with teenage violence—though Gretchen's fights have a certain slapstick quality, Brian's occasional bouts of anger and destruction seem very real. He's a sympathetic narrator and a prime example of awkward adolescence, even if he doesn't have much of a plot crafted around him.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School - Set in Chicago's South Side in the early 1990s, this novel follows a year in the life of high school student Brian Oswald. His friend Gretchen, a heavyset, fight-provoking, punk-music fan, travels with him through the adolescent world of shopping malls, music stores, and suburban streets. And Brian is madly in love with her. Unfortunately, Gretchen loves Tony, a 20-something white-power hooligan who hangs out in arcades to pick up impressionable high school girls. Brian spends the first half of the book trying to build up enough courage to ask Gretchen out. When he makes his feelings known, their relationship is severed. For a time, he moves on and away from her. Trouble between his parents and issues of peer pressure flesh out the skeleton of this work. Written as a first-person narrative, the novel brings Brian to life by making full use of those colorful expletives and sexual jokes that high school boys love so much. The teen is not a nerd or a jock, but lives in a space between those stereotypes. Yet he struggles desperately to find his niche, circulating from cliques as diverse as the D&D geeks to the hyper-violent skinheads. Meno plays with music in a fashion reminiscent of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity (Penguin, 1996). The story winds its way back to Gretchen, who inadvertently leads Brian to realize that punk, too, is its own form of a fabricated identity. In the end he learns that he is Brian Oswald - and he's okay with that. - Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: Akashic Books (September 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 188845170X
ISBN-13: 978-1888451702
Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (43 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #111,222 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category: (What's this?)
#26 in Books > Entertainment > Music > Musical Genres > Punk

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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
crimson ghost, iron maiden, joe meno, straightedge kid, wizard van, student council kids, separate proms

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Stacy Bensen, Tony Degan, Brian Oswald, Boston Strangler, Amy Schaffer, Glenn Danzig, Evergreen Park, Haunted Trails, Mike Madden, Ford Escort, Mark Dayton, Yogurt Palace, White Power, Operation Ivy, Kelly Connors, Red Balloons, Carrie Steeple, John Denver, New Kids, The Mole People, Black Sabbath, Aladdin's Castle, Motley Cr�e, Peter Tracy, Where Eagles Dare

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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	87% buy the item featured on this page: Hairstyles of the Damned (Punk Planet Books) 4.3 out of 5 stars (43) $6.81
	4% buy The Boy Detective Fails (Punk Planet Books) 4.1 out of 5 stars (22) $12.44
	3% buy Demons in the Spring 4.3 out of 5 stars (3) $18.96
	3% buy How the Hula Girl Sings 4.4 out of 5 stars (5) $11.92

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Customer Reviews

43 Reviews

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (43 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully jovial romp through teen angst and discovery, January 12, 2005

By	CreepyT "CreepyTendencies" (Colorado, United States) - See all my reviews

Brian Oswald is a junior at an all boys Catholic high school, and his best friend, Gretchen, is a slightly overweight punk girl with dyed pink hair. Brian's parents are going through a slow but steady separation while Gretchen's mother is recently deceased. Both live in a town in Chicago that is still dealing with fairly severe segregation issues. Both are attempting to find their way through the various labyrinthine perils that make up the high school experience for most kids. Both want desperately to belong and feel cared for, traipsing around wearing a fa�ade in order to be accepted, making sure they fit neatly into little niches. And yet both are also struggling to grasp their own individual identities.

Like most students, music is a huge part of Brian and Gretchen's lives. Brian loves metal and rock music, while Gretchen is "into" the punk scene. Brian's life unfolds in front of him like the meticulously arranged order of lyrical songs on a mixed tape. If only the events within life itself were so meticulously arranged...

Sounds like the typical plot for a plethora of novels based on adolescence, insecurity, and discovering what it truly means to be oneself, right? True enough. However, Joe Meno accomplishes this task with an incredibly authentic flair, drawing the reader back to when he/she was in high school and forcing his readers to take a trip down memory lane. From the music and clothing styles, down to the slang and manners of speech, Meno captures the true essence of what it meant to be a high school student in the 90's, and what it still means. However, the lessons presented herein are easily applicable, and the text easily accessible, to those of any generation.

There are many lessons to be learned in high school that go far beyond proper grammar, memorizing constitutional amendments, and how to be stylish within one's clique, and Meno reminds us of this fact with brutally accurate honesty. Hairstyles of the Damned is fun, witty, memorable, and at times subtly profound. The characters are astonishingly well-crafted and loveable. I don't often read books more than once, but this is one I just might find time to read again in the future. I loved this book! Very highly recommended.

"You think you're so individualistic, but you're not. You guys...you're like the anti-snob snobs" (Meno, 259).

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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Akashic Books Has Done it Again, September 27, 2004

By	Yongsoo Park (Harlem, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I hate to say this, but Joe Meno's Hairstyles of the Damned just might have surpassed Arthur Nersessian's The F____-Up as my favorite novel published by that greatest and gutsiest of small presses, Akashic Books. This is no small feat considering that Akashic also publishes two of my own books, Las Cucarachas and Boy Genius.

That said, (enough plug for me), Hairstyles is an utterly delightful riot and I'm so glad that my publisher recommended it to me to read (he mentioned that the book featured irreverent kids as does mine.) It's true the book doesn't have much plot in the conventional sense, but who cares when it can make you feel and care so much for its characters?

Not a single moment or character in this book rings false. What's more, even the tiniest supporting character is drawn with the perfect detail that captures who they are. This is especially the case for the adult characters in the book. Anyone who is interested in learning how to write novels can learn a great deal from this book. The book may appear to some to be just the ramblings of an adolescent, but boy is it well crafted.

Particularly memorable is Gretchen, the girl who is best friends with the protagonist. This book makes you remember just how intense everything feels when you are young.

It's quite a formidable book with a unique voice that forces you to read on. I so regret that I couldn't make it to Meno's reading in New York. This is a truly great and original book that makes other books by writers of Meno's generation seem tame and frivolous.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what it was like, August 26, 2004

By	George (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews

I picked up this book because the cover really appealed to me--but little did I know that what was inside was going to feel so much like my own life. From the language (spot on) to the places (so real) to the situations (just right), Hairstyles of the Damned reads like your high school experience. That is, if your high school experience was being the person that didn't fit in, and wanted nothing more than to do just that. There are parts in this book that are almost hard to read it's so much a slice of teen expereince. I think this book is perfect for those of us that lived through it AND for those that are just living through it now. If I was 16, I would read this book 1000 times and every time it would feel just right.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it. Then read some more.
Joe Meno has become my writer. I think every reader has at least one-- that if the author wrote bathroom stall graffitti, they'd want to take a look at it. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Frank Maciel

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable look back at confused, delusional and invincible youth
Being young has some great advantages: passion, belief in ideals and the ability to be inspired by heroes. Read more

Published 7 months ago by A. Whitney

4.0 out of 5 stars Sounds like Teenage Misery
January 6, 2009

In Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno, the damned are the teenagers and the hairstyles are just one more teen effort to define and find themselves... Read more

Published 10 months ago by Nina Sankovitch

4.0 out of 5 stars The Unwieldy Hammer of Thor!!
He's right -- that IS a great name for a metal band. This book is in some ways my own story, since the main character is a kid who is exactly my age -- a junior in high school in... Read more

Published 16 months ago by Theoden Humphrey

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredibly honest look at what goes on inside the head of a teenager.
In short, this book is fantastic. As I don't have time for a long review, and I also don't think I would do the book justice by stretching this out, but I'll say this - you won't... Read more

Published 21 months ago by Dustin Deckard

5.0 out of 5 stars Thick 'n Thin
It's a place you don't want to live. Brian Oswald is a snarky kid forced to live at high school where the goon squad live for a living. Read more

Published 22 months ago by clarie

5.0 out of 5 stars if you ever loved. if you ever hated.
i've read somewhere and on amazon too that if i'm not a white suburban kid i will have a hard time relating to this book. Read more

Published on July 20, 2007 by ariel harari

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend it
I absolutely loved this book I think for one because it reminded me so much of my own experiences in high school, the characters I could totally relate to, the state of mind,... Read more

Published on July 8, 2007 by T. B. Guinan

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for Everyone
If you don't listen to metal, rock or punk music this book is a little hard to relate to. If you aren't a white kid from the suburbs this book is a little hard to relate too. Read more

Published on July 5, 2007 by Janine Fiel

5.0 out of 5 stars Just nostalgic enough
A great read. I enjoyed almost every minute of it. maybe.

This book took me back. I felt both nostalgic and relieved. Read more

Published on June 12, 2007 by Dr. Charles Dillsworth III

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