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The ten rich stories here span from 1969 to 1980 and are linked by a single protagonist: Buddy, an adolescent suburban New Jersey boy who is truly seeing his world for the first time and already finding it both mysterious and lacking. Whether he's discovering that his mother actually knows—and has a history with—the man inside the battered foam hot dog costume; feeling the first glimmer that sex might actually be possible for him; or finding himself swept along on a prank gone very wrong, Buddy is a recognizable and relatable American boy in this collection by the author of Tracy Flick Can't Win, Mrs. Fletcher, and The Abstinence Teacher, among other novels.
Bad Haircut explores the themes that have fascinated Perrotta throughout his career: suburban rituals and mores; sports and religion; the cheerful cheesiness of American consumer life; public tests of manliness; and the moral dilemmas faced by ordinary people, parents, and teenagers alike.
"So sharp and sure in its description of growing up . . . Because this set of stories, like those of J.D. Salinger, are so based in the kind of truth that spans generations, no reference to a particular decade is needed." —Hartford Courant
"More powerful than any coming-of-age novel I've read recently." —The Washington Post
"[These] well-made, unpretentious stories are as tight as brick bungalows, plain and serviceable on the outside, radiant within, full of life's sorrow and wonder." —Booklist
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 4, 2024 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781250017420
- File size: 627 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781250017420
- File size: 1186 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from January 1, 2005
Amid the current glut of '70s nostalgia, Perrotta has fashioned a moving cycle of stories that looks past the era's celebrated kitsch to still relevant social and cultural issues and the timeless mysteries of growing up. In 10 tales covering a period from the fall of 1969 to the summer of 1980, he follows the revelations of his narrator, Buddy, from his days as an eight-year-old Cub Scout through his return home from the first year of college. Set in the small New Jersey town of Darwin, these seamless, understated narratives find--in boyhood activities as ordinary as playing sports, riding a bike, taking driver's ed or going to the prom--insights into loneliness, societal violence, sexual identity, racism, mortality and much more. Perrotta eschews sentimentality and overt philosophizing, crafting in Buddy's voice a sensitivity to pregnant moments that remain unexplained and a knack for delicate, unobtrusive metaphor. Forgoing the easy irony of disco and vintage TV, he delivers a convincing portrait of a time of life, illuminating all the profound cruelty and tenderness of adolescence.
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