DOING DRUGS, DOING SEX, DOING LIFEWho says youth is wasted on the young?Jasper wants to get on in the world, but life is distracting. He's got his A-levels to contend with, his mother pushing him to overachieve, weekly visits to his psychologist, come-downs, YouTube suicides and pregnant one-night-stands. And then there's his step-dad - the murderer.Hilarious and heartbreaking by turns, GROW UP is the ultimate twenty-first-century coming of age novel. Funny, smart and twisted, it is the story of one young man transformed and paints an unashamed and true portrait of the pills and thrills and bellyaches of growing up today.
Industry Reviews
* Ben Brooks is a magical imp who pumps out dark nuggets of poetry and makes you snort with laughter. -- NOEL FIELDING * Sickeningly good. So confident, so stylish. An unacceptably witty and original debut. -- TIM KEY * GROW UP is absolutely knockout - Brooks is blessed with a blinding grasp of terse, lyrical prose, and has the timing of a genius stand-up comic. Top class. -- RICHARD MILWARD author of APPLES * The most convincing portrayal of the adolescent mind since Vernon God Little - Like Holden Caulfield on Mephedrone.' -- EWAN MORRISON * Engaging, funny and sharply-written. I loved it. Somehow manages to be both brutally uncompromising and really warm-hearted. -- CHRIS KILLEN * In a world in which youth is fetishised as much as it is, Brooks revels in what everyone secretly knows - namely, that teenagers are all, in some way or another, idiots. Jasper and his friends are as earnest as they are ironic, selfish, cruel, giddy and unthinking. Adults, he is confident, are clueless and easily manipulated ... although by the end he starts to twig that perhaps they are not as stupid as he would like to believe. -- Ben Machell Times * Brooks has an ability to show us the world through the eyes of a teenage boy and his fast-paced, expressive narration. Grow Up is contagiously funny, well-written and no doubt marks the start of a promising career for a talented young writer. -- Jen Bowden Scotsman * Eye-opening, sometimes eye-watering ... This is a totally convincing portrait of being a wayward teenager now, that only a teenager could have written. It's so pertinent it actually kind of trips you out. It's pretty mental that Ben Brooks is any good now: imagine how good he could be by the time he actually does grow up. Dazed & Confused * Beautiful and complex. Dazed & Confused * A tremendous writer. -- Dennis Cooper * Liquid gold. Observer * A new literary bomb. -- Shane Jones, author of LIGHT BOXES * Like the first two series of Skins, [Brooks] captures the narcissism, insecurity and overriding need to party of sixth form with humour, swag and a lyrical prose. Cooler * Ben Brooks is a writer who genuinely excites me. ... Youth culture cliches and conventions are bricolaged together smartly. It's a dizzying, numbing mix. -- Colin Herd 3:AM Magazine * There's as much here to titillate as there is to provide genuine insight. Glasgow Herald
