Educating Peter: A bit like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but with crisps...

by Tom Cox

Peter's mum and dad are worried. Over the last twelve months they've noticed ferocious changes taking place in their son. It's not just the mumbling and the cloud of melancholy that seems to hover permanently over his ever-more-militant mop of curly hair. It's not even the oversized trousers or the numerous metal chains that hang off them. The problem is that Peter, who is fourteen, wants to be a musician - a rock star preferably, but anything else that involves a guitar, gets him bags of money and free CDs, and gives him access to unlimited scantily clad groupies will suffice (as long as it's not classical). Uncoincidentally, ever since the advent of this new ambition, Peter's grades at school have plummeted from very good to somewhere below mediocre. What is to be done?In the spirit of intellectual enquiry, Peter and music-critic, Tom Cox, set off in a Ford Focus on a journey to the dark heart of Britain's musical heritage, to get the inside track on whether being a musician really is a sensible career choice for a teenager. They hunt the streets of Cambridge for former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett and have numerous encounters with folkies in tights. They explore the wilder shores of prog rock and get up close and personal in a lift with Brian Wilson. Tom gives a masterclass in second-hand-record-shop etiquette and finds that Peter is something of a child prodigy. Most of all, they drive around, talk about stuff and Peter eats crisps.Part coming-of-age story and part urban travelogue, this brilliantly funny book is a must for anyone who has ever been baffled by a teenage boy.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2003

Reviews

[Catherine Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Please do not be put off from reading Tom Cox by my low rating and review for this book. I have read and extremely enjoyed the books he has written about his cats. It was probably the subject matter of this one that didn't resonate with me. Most of the music covered in this book is not of my era. It made me chuckle a few times and I thought the ending was touching, but otherwise it was pretty boring for me because I don't know much about the bands mentioned.

[Luana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I so enjoyed his rural folk horror/walking books, I've occasionally started dipping into former music journalist Tom Cox's earlier works. This one's a gentle road(ish) comedy teaming up an "old man" and teen music enthusiast.

The mismatched pair pitch is kind of undone right away, seeing as Tom is only 27 and Peter is 14. Surely, a big enough age gap to have different tastes, but not exactly dad/son stuff.

Additionally, this book is from 2002, turning Young Snotnose Peter into essentially the voice of millennial adult readers in 2020. Yes, I enjoy Limp Bizkit and Eminem like baby boi Peter... but I also enjoy Pentangle and Fairport Convention like somewhat bigger boi Tom.

It truly is an odd experience that such a low-stakes book's already low stakes get sanded down even further by the passage of time and shifting culture, but it does make for excellent gentle wind-down bedtime reading.

[Richard Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure about this. I know I'm reading it 15 years late, but it seems like it would have felt dated in 2003. Sorry.