Grow Up by Ben Brooks - Revision history

Sue at 15:44, 28 September 2020

2020-09-28T15:44:03Z

Sue at 15:41, 16 March 2018

2018-03-16T15:41:38Z

Sue at 17:59, 27 December 2014

2014-12-27T17:59:38Z

Jill at 15:20, 22 July 2011

2011-07-22T15:20:12Z

Jill: Created page with '{{infobox |title=Grow Up |author=Ben Brooks |reviewer=Jill Murphy |genre=Teens |summary=Very funny. Very funny. Very funny. This story of teen life in 21st century Britain will m…'

2011-07-22T15:18:09Z

Created page with '{{infobox |title=Grow Up |author=Ben Brooks |reviewer=Jill Murphy |genre=Teens |summary=Very funny. Very funny. Very funny. This story of teen life in 21st century Britain will m…'

New review

{{infobox
|title=Grow Up
|author=Ben Brooks
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Teens
|summary=Very funny. Very funny. Very funny. This story of teen life in 21st century Britain will make parents eyes water. There's little in the way of narrative progression, but it's worth it for the belly laughs.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|paperback=0857861875
|ebook=B0051OFKZA
|pages=180
|publisher=Canongate
|website=http://www.anineffableplayforvoices.blogspot.com/
|date=July 2011
|isbn=0857861875
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857861875</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>0857861875</amazonus>
|video=BpCakIgk9-M
}}

Jasper is seventeen. He spends his time pretending to revise for his AS levels, fantasising about sex with Georgia Treely, hanging out with self-harming best friend Tenaya watching cheesy TV shows, and taking ketamine and mephedrone with his friends. When he's at a loose end, he goes to sex chatrooms in a quest to see how far he can get without going private (paying). He's also convinced that his step-father, Keith, is a homicidal maniac whose next victim is likely to be Jasper's mother...

... and this is a snapshot of his life. I say snapshot, as there's little in the way of narrative progression in ''Grow Up'' - a great deal happens but nothing much ''happens'', if you see what I mean. There's a sweet little bit of semi-fourth wall breaking at the end that serves as a denouement but I shan't spoil it for you by giving it away.

In essence, the book is a series of set pieces, a la ''Inbetweeners'' or ''Skins'', to give some humorous insight into the lives of twenty-first century British adolescents. It's crude, rude and funny, and has the energetic combination of hyperbole and honesty that I see from the two male adolescents living in my home almost every day. It must be said that my personal pet adolescents don't have anything like the comic timing Ben Brooks has, though.

I'll be honest: I ''love'' this kind of book. I find adolescents funny so I like reading about their misadventures, and my sense of humour is not sophisticated so I laugh at the same jokes. So I found ''Grow Up'' hilarious. Eye-wateringly so. Other parents may find it eye-watering for entirely different reasons as it depicts unsafe sex, misogyny, drug-taking and just about every no-no they could possibly imagine.

And you do really have to read it for fun - while Jasper is endearing in almost aspie kind of way, the Keith-as-axe-murder business is just plain silly and the plot doesn't really go anywhere. There isn't anything more to it than ''this is what it is like to be us''. But it's done with great vitality and energy and with a good heart. And there are plenty of belly laughs along the way.

(PS: Ben Brooks is nineteen. He wrote ''Grow Up'' at seventeen. I realise this is worth mentioning. But making a big point of it would be such a no-no with the pet adolescents in these 'ere parts I'm going with a footnote in order to avoid filial censure. Over and out).

My thanks to the good people at Canongate for sending the book.

[[Apples by Richard Milward]] treads a very similar path but takes a more artsy approach. Oliver, in [[Submarine by Joe Dunthorne]] reminded me very much of Jasper. And [[My Side Of The Story by Will Davis]] adds coming out as gay into the mix with even more eye-watering eye-watering moments.

{{amazontext|amazon=0857861875}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=8458605}}

{{commenthead}}

[[Category:General Fiction]]

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 (PS: Ben Brooks is nineteen. He wrote ''Grow Up'' at seventeen. I realise this is worth mentioning. But making a big point of it would be such a no-no with the pet adolescents in these 'ere parts I'm going with a footnote in order to avoid filial censure. Over and out).
-My thanks to the good people at Canongate for sending the book.
+My thanks to the good people at Canongate for sending the book.  We also have a review of [[The Impossible Boy by Ben Brooks]].
-[[Apples by Richard Milward]] treads a very similar path but takes a more artsy approach. Oliver, in [[Submarine by Joe Dunthorne]], reminded me very much of Jasper. And [[My Side Of The Story by Will Davis]] adds coming out as gay into the mix with even more eye-watering eye-watering moments.
+[[Apples by Richard Milward]] treads a very similar path but takes a more artsy approach. Oliver, in [[Submarine by Joe Dunthorne]], reminded me very much of Jasper. And [[My Side Of The Story by Will Davis]] adds coming out as gay into the mix with even more eye-watering moments.
 {{amazontext|amazon=0857861875}}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{infobox
+{{infobox1
 |title=Grow Up
 |author=Ben Brooks
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 |date=July 2011
 |isbn=0857861875
 |video=BpCakIgk9-M
 }}

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 |buy=Yes
 |borrow=Yes
 |pages=180
 |publisher=Canongate
@@ Line 36: / Line 34: @@
 [[Apples by Richard Milward]] treads a very similar path but takes a more artsy approach. Oliver, in [[Submarine by Joe Dunthorne]], reminded me very much of Jasper. And [[My Side Of The Story by Will Davis]] adds coming out as gay into the mix with even more eye-watering eye-watering moments.
-{{amazontext|amazon=0857861875}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=8458605}}
+{{amazontext|amazon=0857861875}}
 {{commenthead}}
 [[Category:General Fiction]]

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 I'll be honest: I ''love'' this kind of book. I find adolescents funny so I like reading about their misadventures, and my sense of humour is not sophisticated so I laugh at the same jokes. So I found ''Grow Up'' hilarious. Eye-wateringly so. Other parents may find it eye-watering for entirely different reasons as it depicts unsafe sex, misogyny, drug-taking and just about every no-no they could possibly imagine.
-And you do really have to read it for fun - while Jasper is endearing in almost aspie kind of way, the Keith-as-axe-murder business is just plain silly and the plot doesn't really go anywhere. There isn't anything more to it than ''this is what it is like to be us''. But it's done with great vitality and energy and with a good heart. And there are plenty of belly laughs along the way.
+And you do really have to read it for fun - while Jasper is endearing in an almost aspie kind of way, the Keith-as-axe-murder business is just plain silly and the plot doesn't really go anywhere. There isn't anything more to it than ''this is what it is like to be us''. But it's done with great vitality and energy and with a good heart. And there are plenty of belly laughs along the way.
 (PS: Ben Brooks is nineteen. He wrote ''Grow Up'' at seventeen. I realise this is worth mentioning. But making a big point of it would be such a no-no with the pet adolescents in these 'ere parts I'm going with a footnote in order to avoid filial censure. Over and out).
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 My thanks to the good people at Canongate for sending the book.
-[[Apples by Richard Milward]] treads a very similar path but takes a more artsy approach. Oliver, in [[Submarine by Joe Dunthorne]] reminded me very much of Jasper. And [[My Side Of The Story by Will Davis]] adds coming out as gay into the mix with even more eye-watering eye-watering moments.
+[[Apples by Richard Milward]] treads a very similar path but takes a more artsy approach. Oliver, in [[Submarine by Joe Dunthorne]], reminded me very much of Jasper. And [[My Side Of The Story by Will Davis]] adds coming out as gay into the mix with even more eye-watering eye-watering moments.
 {{amazontext|amazon=0857861875}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=8458605}}