In this bawdy, raucous, and unabashedly frank novel, youth is certainly not wasted on the youngHailed as "one of the most hilarious and well-observed accounts of teenage debauchery you are ever likely to read" by the trendsetting British lifestyle magazine Dazed & Confused, Ben Brooks's Grow Up is a shocking, stylish, and very modern coming-of-age story.
As Jasper J. Wolf careens through high school, his list of to-dos includes: get high with friends, seduce the hottest girl in school, and, last but not least, expose his stepfather as a murderer. But as growing up soon teaches him, what he wants and what he gets are often wildly different&;and decidedly unexpected.
Industry Reviews
"An amusing, sometimes ironic look at one fairly feckless lad's coming-of-age...What comes as a surprise is the wonderfully poetic voice Brooks has given his protagonist...Eat your heart out, Holden Caufield [sic]." -- Michael Cart, Booklist
"Eminently readable... Hyper-self-aware...Filled with black humor and fleeting tenderness... Its protagonist, Jasper J. Wolf, imagines himself as a prettier Holden Caulfield, but the end game reveals that the self-reflective young writer is more along the lines of a John Hughes hero, albeit with volumes more narcotics...There's a timeless if caustic quality to [narrator] Jasper's minimalist rants [and] there's an unexpected humor even to the murkiest sequences. Brooks' work feels richer [than] the transgressive teen drama Skins...as it explores generational angst and the blue-black damage of adolescence."
-- Kirkus Reviews
"Engaging, funny and sharply-written. I loved how [Grow Up] manages to be both brutally uncompromising and gloriously warm-hearted."
-- Chris Killen, author of The Bird Room
"Ben Brooks is a magical imp who pumps out dark nuggets of poetry and makes you snort with laughter."
-- Noel Fielding, co-creator of The Mighty Boosh
"Sickeningly good. So confident, so stylish. An unacceptably witty and original debut."
-- Tim Key
"Liquid Gold."
-- The Observer (U.K.)
"I thought [Grow Up] was amazing. One of the most hilarious and well observed accounts of teenage debauchery you are ever likely to read....Alarmingly good. Jasper is great fun, naively perceptive, often LOL-funny company. A totally convincing portrait of being a wayward teenager now . . . It's so pertinent it actually kind of trips you out."
-- Dazed & Confused
"Navigates the travails of school and beyond with a quick wit."
-- Independent on Sunday (U.K.)
"A sharp and witty exploration of adolescent life...Grow Up is one part serious, the rest is simply laugh-out loud funny....{Brooks] is able to deal with issues such as self-harm and suicide with a tenderness and sensitivity that one would have thought beyond his years....contagiously funny, well-written and no doubt marks the start of a promising career for a talented young writer."
-- The Scotsman (U.K.)
"Brilliantly captures 21st-century youth. Hilarious."
-- Times (U.K.)
"I couldn't stop reading Grow Up."
-- www.Volume1Brooklyn.com
"Funny from unexpected places."
-- www.3amMagazine.com
"A dirty, dirty book. It is a wonderfully filthy book."
-- www.Areadinglife.com
"A vicious, often hilarious--and hilariously blunt--microcosm of contemporary, ketamine-addicted British youth." -- blacklisted
"An undeniably fun read, thanks to the leanness of its prose and its sense of humour, which is as sharp as it is affected. This is Oscar Wilde with a Tumblr account, or Martin Amis remixed by Skrillex."
-- www.TheStar.com
