I deadset wanted to read this book, yeah totally reckon, before they showed it on the television, rite? Those slackarse molls Top Chicks (who live on the good side of Cronulla Goodreads, so not dick'ed authors) - Mandee, Belle, Zoe and Jess, said k'niver ave a go wid ya and I thought perf! Bloody oaff we 'ad an unroole time. I wore me new angora jumper (just off layby from Grace Brothers - 'ave a feel wudya?) and we all did our nails so preedy! We looked like real disco divas ey.

... I was going to write my whole review in Aussie 70's lingo, but I can't keep it up. LOL! *doubles over in laughter*

I adored Puberty Blues and I think I'll probably be scoring it higher than the Girls 'cos everyone has their "one thing" that compels them to pump their score up, and mine is "voice". My biggest bugbear is probably teen voices that sound like 40 year old women unconvincing and I think this novel, with its fresh 70s beach slang that would have sounded relevant at the time - has taken on a funny, quirky, neu-historical feel 33 years later.

Combined with a tongue-in-cheek delivery and a harrowing coming-of-age story - about two best friends and their navigation of their early teen years through surf gangs, sex, drugs and violence - this novel has captured something that feels both "of a time" and "timeless".

My only criticism of it is the brevity (113 pages). At it's very best, it manages to skillfully create a huge amount of spacial imagery (Cronulla Beach in it's entirety) with only a handful of sentences. At the worst, and this is especially true near the end, it felt like I was reading some condensed Readers Digest version of the novel as opposed to the actual novel itself.

The novel got me mainly thinking of two things:

Firstly - what makes something a Classic and something a Cult Classic? Puberty Blues is no true classic by any stretch of the imagination, but there is something so well written about it, something memorable and even loveable about it, that if someone like me can read it for the first time three decades after it's publication and still appreciate it - then something must be said of that.

Secondly - is Puberty Blues anti-Feminist? Afterall, it portrays the mis-treatment of girls, even from the two protagonists to their fellow peers. I would say this novel is actually very Feminist. To me Feminism in writing is the documentation of how women live, by women (two female authors in this instance), showing and exposing the reality, the brutalities that women have to go through in a "sexualised" economy in which they are treated like commodities. From small singular actions (name calling) to much larger issues (gang rape), to show the weakness of women is the strength of women, and that is my very favourite thing about this book.

This review also appears here on my blog Books on Marrs

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Meanwhile... earlier on the ranch..


Hey Cool Cats & Gorgeous Girls! If you've been wondering where I've been... I've just been discharged from hospital. Has anyone started reading this? Yes? No? Let me know. I'm a bit whoozy from morphine, but totally fine to read, interact and review. Squishy hug anyone?

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I've got myself a copy with a "racy cover". Forewards by Germaine Greer and KYLIE MINOGUE. Wassat?



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Saw the "First Look" TV promo for the upcoming series based on this novel on Channel 10 last night. It looked good!

If you want to jump on the Nostalgia Train and read this Australian Cult "Coming-of-age" Classic set in the 70s (and written in the 80s) then please sign up on the thread below!

I admit I might have liked the promo because I saw a glimpse of Rodger Corser. He may have had side-burns and a 70s 'mo. It was only a headshot, but I hope there are "stubbie shorts" involved further down below. *Clears throat*