The book is a series of letters to a friend written by a 15-year-old boy. Were this a girl they’d have been Dear Diary entries. Since the friend to whom all this soul-baring information is addressed is never identified one can only assume it is we the readers.
One wonders how many of the parents agitating for the censorship of this book have actually read it. The book does begin by talking about a student’s suicide. It mentions teenage sex and masturbation in discrete terms. The quarterback football jock is a gay bottom. The kid sees a psychiatrist, takes prescribed and other drugs, smokes, and drinks.
A stream of consciousness novel reveals the intimate details of a teen’s angst, mood swings, fantasies, depression, and exuberance. The ideal childhood doesn’t exist. Parents raise children with no clue what they’re doing and sooner or later every child finds them out and becomes disenchanted and rebellious. Through it all knowing they are loved seems of paramount importance.
One wonders how many of the parents agitating for the censorship of this book have actually read it. The book does begin by talking about a student’s suicide. It mentions teenage sex and masturbation in discrete terms. The quarterback football jock is a gay bottom. The kid sees a psychiatrist, takes prescribed and other drugs, smokes, and drinks.
A stream of consciousness novel reveals the intimate details of a teen’s angst, mood swings, fantasies, depression, and exuberance. The ideal childhood doesn’t exist. Parents raise children with no clue what they’re doing and sooner or later every child finds them out and becomes disenchanted and rebellious. Through it all knowing they are loved seems of paramount importance.
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