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48 Shades of Brown
When Dan's parents move to Geneva, they leave him in Australia to finish his final year of high school. Dan chooses to move in with his 22-year old bass playing aunt, Jacq, and her housemate Naomi.
Thrown into the cool world of university students, Dan is caught btween teenage and adult life. Then he falls for Naomi...
Thrown into the cool world of university students, Dan is caught btween teenage and adult life. Then he falls for Naomi...
289 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
18 people are currently reading
486 people want to read
About the author
Nick Earls
74 books172 followersNick Earls is the author of twelve books, including bestselling novels such as Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses, Perfect Skin and World of Chickens. His work has been published internationally in English and also in translation, and this led to him being a finalist in the Premier of Queensland’s Awards for Export Achievement in 1999.
Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Bachelor Kisses was one of Who Weekly’s Books of the Year in 1998. Perfect Skin was the only novel nominated for an Australian Comedy Award in 2003, and has recently been filmed in Italy.
He has written five novels with teenage central characters. 48 Shades of Brown was awarded Book of the Year (older readers) by the Children’s Book Council in 2000, and in the US it was a Kirkus Reviews selection in its books of the year for 2004. A feature film adapted from the novel was released in Australia by Buena Vista International in August 2006, and has subsequently screened at festivals in North America and Europe. His earlier young-adult novel, After January, was also an award-winner.
After January, 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street and Perfect Skin have all been successfully adapted for theatre by La Boite, and the Zigzag Street play toured nationally in 2005.
Nick Earls was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is now a War Child ambassador. He is or has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art, and an honorary ambassador for both the Mater Foundation and the Abused Child Trust. On top of that, he was the face of Brisbane Marketing’s ‘Downtown Brisbane’ and ‘Experience Brisbane’ campaigns.
His contribution to writing in Queensland led to him being awarded the Queensland Writers Centre’s inaugural Johnno award in 2001 and a Centenary Medal in 2003. His work as a writer, in writing industry development and in support of humanitarian causes led to him being named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year in 2006. He was also the Queensland Multicultural Champion for 2006.
He has an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Queensland, and has lived in Brisbane since migrating as an eight-year-old from Northern Ireland in 1972. London’s Mirror newspaper has called him ‘the first Aussie to make me laugh out loud since Jason Donovan’. His latest novel is Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow.
Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Bachelor Kisses was one of Who Weekly’s Books of the Year in 1998. Perfect Skin was the only novel nominated for an Australian Comedy Award in 2003, and has recently been filmed in Italy.
He has written five novels with teenage central characters. 48 Shades of Brown was awarded Book of the Year (older readers) by the Children’s Book Council in 2000, and in the US it was a Kirkus Reviews selection in its books of the year for 2004. A feature film adapted from the novel was released in Australia by Buena Vista International in August 2006, and has subsequently screened at festivals in North America and Europe. His earlier young-adult novel, After January, was also an award-winner.
After January, 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street and Perfect Skin have all been successfully adapted for theatre by La Boite, and the Zigzag Street play toured nationally in 2005.
Nick Earls was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is now a War Child ambassador. He is or has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art, and an honorary ambassador for both the Mater Foundation and the Abused Child Trust. On top of that, he was the face of Brisbane Marketing’s ‘Downtown Brisbane’ and ‘Experience Brisbane’ campaigns.
His contribution to writing in Queensland led to him being awarded the Queensland Writers Centre’s inaugural Johnno award in 2001 and a Centenary Medal in 2003. His work as a writer, in writing industry development and in support of humanitarian causes led to him being named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year in 2006. He was also the Queensland Multicultural Champion for 2006.
He has an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Queensland, and has lived in Brisbane since migrating as an eight-year-old from Northern Ireland in 1972. London’s Mirror newspaper has called him ‘the first Aussie to make me laugh out loud since Jason Donovan’. His latest novel is Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
January 25, 2011
48 Shades of Brown was the 2000 winner of the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for Older Readers (phew - that's a mouthful). And, in many ways it was, perhaps, a fairly significant winner, in that it was one of the handful of Australian 'Young Adult' books released around that time which really pushed the boundaries of what was regarded as effective and suitable 'YA' fiction, and which opened the way for a lot of other Australian writers to really start to play with their writing at the older readers end of the genre.
The book has all the usual hallmarks of Earls' writing; lots of readily identifiable Brisbane scenes and landmarks, a couple of laugh-out-loud sections which manage to border on being slapstick, but without crossing the line into farce (Pesto, anyone?), and larger-then-life characters who, while off the wall enough to be engaging, are still nevertheless believable.
The contrivance of the book - a boy in his final year of high school, rooming with his University aged lesbian aunt and her roommate in a share house full of uni students - allows the book to sit firmly across a wide range of readers, from the mid adolescent through to the adult and this, perhaps more than anything else, was what made this book (along with a couple of others like Hartnett's 'Sleeping Dogs' and Crew's 'Strange Objects', a significant marker on the AUstralian young adult writing landscape.
The best thing is that, a decade on, the book still reads as fresh and engaging, and definately worth the time.
The book has all the usual hallmarks of Earls' writing; lots of readily identifiable Brisbane scenes and landmarks, a couple of laugh-out-loud sections which manage to border on being slapstick, but without crossing the line into farce (Pesto, anyone?), and larger-then-life characters who, while off the wall enough to be engaging, are still nevertheless believable.
The contrivance of the book - a boy in his final year of high school, rooming with his University aged lesbian aunt and her roommate in a share house full of uni students - allows the book to sit firmly across a wide range of readers, from the mid adolescent through to the adult and this, perhaps more than anything else, was what made this book (along with a couple of others like Hartnett's 'Sleeping Dogs' and Crew's 'Strange Objects', a significant marker on the AUstralian young adult writing landscape.
The best thing is that, a decade on, the book still reads as fresh and engaging, and definately worth the time.
January 23, 2016
i really liked the way Nick Earls wrote this book. sometimes it feels a little rambly, but it's basically written so freely from the main character's point of view that you're literally in dan's head. i really liked seeing the way dan thinks, even the way his thoughts drift off on completely different tangents.
unfortunately, the book starts off really slow and kinda progresses that way throughout the first half of the book. this is both annoying but a strength of the story, while it sets the scene and characters out well it's easy to want to give up and put the book down.
i think subtlety is the strength of this book. the limited casual conversations, the snapshots of daily life in dan's new household kind of show the story rather than tell it.
the layout of the writing is unique too. there are no quotation marks used for conversation, instead anything someone else says is italicised and anything dan says is not. so what dan thinks and says are blended in and sometimes confusing. in the same way, as mentioned before, it lets you know so much about dan that it is the strong point of this book.
the way love and desire and growing up are portrayed in this book seem spot on for a character like dan, and you really grow to like all three major characters here. the ending is all right and suitable, but you grow attached to the character so you want to know more.
any author who can use subtlety as a tool like that, and expose a character's thoughts to the audience so well is to be admired. :) i think i'm going to go look for more books by Nick Earls.
unfortunately, the book starts off really slow and kinda progresses that way throughout the first half of the book. this is both annoying but a strength of the story, while it sets the scene and characters out well it's easy to want to give up and put the book down.
i think subtlety is the strength of this book. the limited casual conversations, the snapshots of daily life in dan's new household kind of show the story rather than tell it.
the layout of the writing is unique too. there are no quotation marks used for conversation, instead anything someone else says is italicised and anything dan says is not. so what dan thinks and says are blended in and sometimes confusing. in the same way, as mentioned before, it lets you know so much about dan that it is the strong point of this book.
the way love and desire and growing up are portrayed in this book seem spot on for a character like dan, and you really grow to like all three major characters here. the ending is all right and suitable, but you grow attached to the character so you want to know more.
any author who can use subtlety as a tool like that, and expose a character's thoughts to the audience so well is to be admired. :) i think i'm going to go look for more books by Nick Earls.
December 30, 2023
I love this book. This is probably my third or fourth reading. The vibes are amazing, very summery & very Australian. I first read this in my teens & then a couple of times in my early twenties. This time round I am older than the majority of the main characters & feel like I now have the perspective to see the big picture. The protagonist's problems are so small potatoes to me now which make me even fonder of his laughable efforts & struggles. Strongly recommend as a laid back summer read. Avoid the 2006 movie at all costs.
March 11, 2009
do not read it.
horrible horrible horrible.
why is this person even an author?
horrible horrible horrible.
why is this person even an author?
June 20, 2025
This was one of the first books I ever checked out of a public library as a teenager and I read it in 2001 at 13 years old. Found it at the op and decided to do a reread. It’s so niche and specific but I really liked it. Great writing style and just poignant and sweet.
December 21, 2014
this is a random pick from when i was weeding the teen fiction. this book is ten years old, has a weird cover (sorry, but those sandals freak me out), is falling to bits, and has amazing circ stats at my library. i wanted to know why, so i checked it out. after reading it, i'm not really sure why. it was enjoyable, but the anxious narrator rambles on quite a bit and the funny parts weren't quite my sense of humor. i think earls is pretty good at getting into the brain of an anxious kid, but sometimes it still bored me a little bit. and i am myself anxious. still, i can see why teens would want to read about living independently while still in high school. i give this one a solid "ok."
April 3, 2024
At about 60 pp in to this LFL find I'm checking others' reviews. Apparently things are going to get livelier after a long rambly start. Not sure if that's a good thing, tbh. I mean, I'm kinda bored atm, but I also don't think the point is that Dan is going to have adventures or comic excitement. I guess I'll keep reading and see.
The thing is, it's told in present tense. Which I didn't realize at first because of two other things. First, there are no quotation marks for dialogue; if more than two people are talking, or if Dan is talking and also thinking, there's no way to be sure exactly who or what. Second, it's rather mature content; in the US, this book would not be written about a 16 yo, even if he is already a senior.
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Done. Yeah, it took awhile to get more interesting, but, thankfully, once it did, it didn't get too silly or intense or anything. I quite liked it. Not sure about the title, though. I mean, it does have a referent & it does make sense. But also it could have been called *The Fish Tank Scene* and I think that would have been more graceful, given its referent.
The thing is, it's told in present tense. Which I didn't realize at first because of two other things. First, there are no quotation marks for dialogue; if more than two people are talking, or if Dan is talking and also thinking, there's no way to be sure exactly who or what. Second, it's rather mature content; in the US, this book would not be written about a 16 yo, even if he is already a senior.
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Done. Yeah, it took awhile to get more interesting, but, thankfully, once it did, it didn't get too silly or intense or anything. I quite liked it. Not sure about the title, though. I mean, it does have a referent & it does make sense. But also it could have been called *The Fish Tank Scene* and I think that would have been more graceful, given its referent.
Read
April 26, 2013Purchased at Perth Writers' Festival after session with Earls, John Birmingham and Stephen Scourfield talking about "Bromance". Earls was incredibly funny, very self-deprecting and human, but a really talented talker.
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Okay, I read about half of the book but then gave up. I realise that what I purchased is a YA novel, but so also are the John Marsden books. Whilst I just love the Marsden Tomorrow series, Nick's book simply didn't do it for me. Perhaps the difference lies in the narrator, perhaps it's something as basic as that this narrator is a teenage boy and he did not engage me at all. I would hate to think that the reason why I decided not to carry on with the book comes down to something as simple as gender, but that really is quite possible. Whatever the cause, when you are reading a book and you find yourself constantly checking on how many pages you still have to go to get through it, it is time to move on to something else.
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Okay, I read about half of the book but then gave up. I realise that what I purchased is a YA novel, but so also are the John Marsden books. Whilst I just love the Marsden Tomorrow series, Nick's book simply didn't do it for me. Perhaps the difference lies in the narrator, perhaps it's something as basic as that this narrator is a teenage boy and he did not engage me at all. I would hate to think that the reason why I decided not to carry on with the book comes down to something as simple as gender, but that really is quite possible. Whatever the cause, when you are reading a book and you find yourself constantly checking on how many pages you still have to go to get through it, it is time to move on to something else.
August 3, 2015
A book I wish I had read before i graduated high school. I thought it was laugh out loud funny and rather accurate in its portrayal of a teenage boy in Australia growing up and learning some of the facts of life.
Earls uses some terrific toilet humour, there are vomit jokes, cringeworthy dating tips and even a dog called Boner.
He doesn't shy away from the awkward parts and for that reason it kept me reading. Also highly recommended for anyone who lives in a share house.
Earls uses some terrific toilet humour, there are vomit jokes, cringeworthy dating tips and even a dog called Boner.
He doesn't shy away from the awkward parts and for that reason it kept me reading. Also highly recommended for anyone who lives in a share house.
September 15, 2011
I re-read this book for my book club and I remember it being more funny the first time I read it. It was still good but I think I've read funnier books since this. I will be interested to see what the rest of the book club thinks...
January 19, 2012
Loved this book! Great Brisbane setting and the character and all his teenage adventures are entertaining and in parts hilarious.
July 15, 2024
High school boy living the dream when he has to house-share with two uni girls while his parents are overseas.
He's a smart but socially awkward (i.e. normal) kid that wishes he knew the right things to say to girls.
Sensitive story without making it a farce.
Some universal uni moments like the strange girl vomiting in your bed.
Less Brisbane name-checking than your Trent Dalton books, but you still know exactly where you are - in a shared house within walking distance of Toowong Village and the RE.
Nice piece about conversations with parents. There are the parents that are always talking about issues and dispensing advice...there are the parents that just talk about what happened during the day...and there are those that have mastered the art of talking about the everyday in a way that lets the advice part seep through.
He's a smart but socially awkward (i.e. normal) kid that wishes he knew the right things to say to girls.
Sensitive story without making it a farce.
Some universal uni moments like the strange girl vomiting in your bed.
Less Brisbane name-checking than your Trent Dalton books, but you still know exactly where you are - in a shared house within walking distance of Toowong Village and the RE.
Nice piece about conversations with parents. There are the parents that are always talking about issues and dispensing advice...there are the parents that just talk about what happened during the day...and there are those that have mastered the art of talking about the everyday in a way that lets the advice part seep through.
October 31, 2024
Saw this in Elizabeth’s and picked it up for a nostalgia trip. It still holds up.
A few things
1) It’s nice to see some Auscore (Brisbanecore?) that is recognisably like my life. It’s not set in Sydney or the bush! The characters are affluent, urban and articulate! It’s not obsessed with sport or the beach and it’s not self conscious about being Australian.
2) It does a good job of capturing both youthful infatuation and the kind of obsession with sex that happens when you’re not having it.
3) The fact that the book is both from and set in 1999 makes it an absolutely fascinating time capsule. People in their early twenties read the newspaper, there’s landlines, they date people they meet at parties, the internet is exotic and an entirely optional part of life, and software engineering isn’t a high paying high status job yet.
A few things
1) It’s nice to see some Auscore (Brisbanecore?) that is recognisably like my life. It’s not set in Sydney or the bush! The characters are affluent, urban and articulate! It’s not obsessed with sport or the beach and it’s not self conscious about being Australian.
2) It does a good job of capturing both youthful infatuation and the kind of obsession with sex that happens when you’re not having it.
3) The fact that the book is both from and set in 1999 makes it an absolutely fascinating time capsule. People in their early twenties read the newspaper, there’s landlines, they date people they meet at parties, the internet is exotic and an entirely optional part of life, and software engineering isn’t a high paying high status job yet.
August 24, 2021
[CBCA Winner older readers 2000]
Written from a seventeen-year-old male protagonist's point of view this coming-of-age novel explores all those first doubts that boys have in relation to being cool, girls, sex, and what's an acceptable back-story. I'm sure this novel pushed the boundaries in relation to risky behaviours, as well as the more practical issues in the unusual writing style that ignores acceptable use of quotation marks, using italics as a method of keeping up with the conversations. It took a little bit of time to get used to but flowed quite well further into the book.
Written from a seventeen-year-old male protagonist's point of view this coming-of-age novel explores all those first doubts that boys have in relation to being cool, girls, sex, and what's an acceptable back-story. I'm sure this novel pushed the boundaries in relation to risky behaviours, as well as the more practical issues in the unusual writing style that ignores acceptable use of quotation marks, using italics as a method of keeping up with the conversations. It took a little bit of time to get used to but flowed quite well further into the book.
May 25, 2017
It was intended to be funny, but the humor didn't do much for me. So without that it was just kind of a middle of the road read with nothing super interesting. I found the characters mildly annoying, but not enough that it ruined the book. So all in all, pretty fine. I probably won't remember this in a month, but it wasn't a bad read. Probably more suited to someone with a different kind of humor than me who doesn't mind reading 250 pages about a lovesick sixteen year old boy.
April 22, 2021
read the book. didnyt like the chracter Martha very much. she was very stuck up and up her self. Fred (the main character) shouldn't have drowned in that creeek because the plot was very lost and confusing and I didn't like where the mc killed an innocent salmon for his own wellbeing. didn't like it. please delete this book I dd not like this book do to recommend 32 shades of p[purple becuasethis bok sucked/.
January 13, 2023
My subway book for a number of days but I am done now on the couch at home. What a charming lil read. I enjoyed it and laughed at the relatability of the teenage anxious overthinking! Very relatable for me and silly to look back on. Life feels so much at that time and this book shows that perfectly and interestingly through dans teenage point of view. I loved getting to see his world through his own voice and narration.
July 8, 2018
Coming of age story of a teenage Australian boy who ends up spending his last year in school living with his aunt. Funny, perceptive and an easy read.
Read more @
https://shadesofwords.com/2009/10/04/...
Read more @
https://shadesofwords.com/2009/10/04/...
June 14, 2021
I think I would have loved this as a teenager. But alas, the mysteries of sex and drinking were revealed to me long ago, and so I cannot quite relate to this tale as perhaps I once could have. Fun language, though.
March 26, 2017
It was ok. Mildly amusing, but there wasn't enough tension or lessons learned to make it a favourite.
July 17, 2018
If you're from Brisbane and love nostalgic Aussie stories-read this.
May 11, 2020
Easy to read and a decent mundane coming-of-age (ish) YA novel. Not laugh out loud funny but humorous and light.
June 17, 2020
I loved this book, it was hilarious. it was a bit rude, but I loved the characters. Sort of.
March 30, 2021
Definitely a great and funny read. The moments we've all lived through as teenagers desperate to fit in. A coming of age story not told through some impossible lens.
November 4, 2021
Very cute short book. Liked that it was from a guys perspective. Would be interested to see the movie version. Quick read.
September 1, 2024
Something about this book, I do not know. It's just so funny, and kind of sad, and I am in love with Jacq.
January 7, 2025
Teenage (male) angst tale. Funny and highly relatable. Giggled out loud on a number of occasions - always a good thing to my mind. Clever, accessible and enjoyable.
March 9, 2024
A coming of age tale set in Brisbane Australia. It is about a teenager in his last year of school who goes to live in a house with his aunt and her flatmate, both going to uni.
March 15, 2014
Title: 48 Shades of Brown
Author: Nick Earls
Publisher: Penguin Books
This book, written for the young adult market, is two hundred and ninety eight pages of sobering hilarity, the caption on the front cover sums this up aptly. ‘An hilarious and bittersweet story about breaking free, finding your feet, falling in love, and strange birds.’ Having had the opportunity to meet Nick and hear him speak there is no doubt that the characters carry his voice. Indeed you can virtually listen to the tale as the words flit before your eyes.
Dan, the central character is cast adrift in a foreign land, his parents have moved to Geneva and he moves in with his Aunt Jacq for twelve months to complete Year 12 and his final year of secondary school and focus on studies. He finds the loss of his mothers ordered world something to come to grips with. Jacq is twenty-three, a University student along with their eighteen year old flatmate Naomi. Phil Borthwick is a persistently annoying Land Lord who finds things to fix that usually end up worse the wear for his efforts. A slobbering canine named Boner often appears dripping a ball and needing attention.
In this more stressful world with Naomi growing basil, and watering without a bra on; his infatuation with her causes him to make plans involving learning the names and colours of bird species. He settles on forty-eight as the amount of brownish shades his calculus ridden brain can absorb. The discovery that his Aunt Jacq also holds a torch for Naomi as she recently discovered that her difficulty in finding a man she liked was because she preferred women. Dan coped with this announcement but did not mention it to his mother in his prepaid marsupial post cards she provided to ensure her son was still alive.
Merged review:
This book, written for the young adult market, is two hundred and ninety eight pages of sobering hilarity, the caption on the front cover sums this up aptly. ‘An hilarious and bittersweet story about breaking free, finding your feet, falling in love, and strange birds.’ Having had the opportunity to meet Nick and hear him speak there is no doubt that the characters carry his voice. Indeed you can virtually listen to the tale as the words flit before your eyes.
Dan, the central character is cast adrift in a foreign land, his parents have moved to Geneva and he moves in with his Aunt Jacq for twelve months to complete Year 12 and his final year of secondary school and focus on studies. He finds the loss of his mothers ordered world something to come to grips with. Jacq is twenty-three and at University and so is their eighteen year old flatmate Naomi. Phil Borthwick is a persistently annoying Land Lord who finds things to fix that usually end up worse the wear for his efforts. A slobbering canine named Boner often appears dripping a ball and needing attention.
In this more stressful world with Naomi growing basil, and watering without a bra on; his infatuation with her causes him to make plans involving learning the names and colours of bird species. He settles on forty-eight as the amount of brownish shades his calculus ridden brain can absorb. The discovery that his Aunt Jacq also holds a torch for Naomi as she recently discovered that her difficulty in finding a man she liked was because she preferred women. Dan coped with this announcement but did not mention it to his mother in his prepaid marsupial post cards she provided to ensure her son was still alive.
Author: Nick Earls
Publisher: Penguin Books
This book, written for the young adult market, is two hundred and ninety eight pages of sobering hilarity, the caption on the front cover sums this up aptly. ‘An hilarious and bittersweet story about breaking free, finding your feet, falling in love, and strange birds.’ Having had the opportunity to meet Nick and hear him speak there is no doubt that the characters carry his voice. Indeed you can virtually listen to the tale as the words flit before your eyes.
Dan, the central character is cast adrift in a foreign land, his parents have moved to Geneva and he moves in with his Aunt Jacq for twelve months to complete Year 12 and his final year of secondary school and focus on studies. He finds the loss of his mothers ordered world something to come to grips with. Jacq is twenty-three, a University student along with their eighteen year old flatmate Naomi. Phil Borthwick is a persistently annoying Land Lord who finds things to fix that usually end up worse the wear for his efforts. A slobbering canine named Boner often appears dripping a ball and needing attention.
In this more stressful world with Naomi growing basil, and watering without a bra on; his infatuation with her causes him to make plans involving learning the names and colours of bird species. He settles on forty-eight as the amount of brownish shades his calculus ridden brain can absorb. The discovery that his Aunt Jacq also holds a torch for Naomi as she recently discovered that her difficulty in finding a man she liked was because she preferred women. Dan coped with this announcement but did not mention it to his mother in his prepaid marsupial post cards she provided to ensure her son was still alive.
Merged review:
This book, written for the young adult market, is two hundred and ninety eight pages of sobering hilarity, the caption on the front cover sums this up aptly. ‘An hilarious and bittersweet story about breaking free, finding your feet, falling in love, and strange birds.’ Having had the opportunity to meet Nick and hear him speak there is no doubt that the characters carry his voice. Indeed you can virtually listen to the tale as the words flit before your eyes.
Dan, the central character is cast adrift in a foreign land, his parents have moved to Geneva and he moves in with his Aunt Jacq for twelve months to complete Year 12 and his final year of secondary school and focus on studies. He finds the loss of his mothers ordered world something to come to grips with. Jacq is twenty-three and at University and so is their eighteen year old flatmate Naomi. Phil Borthwick is a persistently annoying Land Lord who finds things to fix that usually end up worse the wear for his efforts. A slobbering canine named Boner often appears dripping a ball and needing attention.
In this more stressful world with Naomi growing basil, and watering without a bra on; his infatuation with her causes him to make plans involving learning the names and colours of bird species. He settles on forty-eight as the amount of brownish shades his calculus ridden brain can absorb. The discovery that his Aunt Jacq also holds a torch for Naomi as she recently discovered that her difficulty in finding a man she liked was because she preferred women. Dan coped with this announcement but did not mention it to his mother in his prepaid marsupial post cards she provided to ensure her son was still alive.
November 9, 2012
Reviewed by Andrew S. Cohen for TeensReadToo.com
In 48 SHADES OF BROWN, Australian author Nick Earls comically portrays Dan in this coming-of-age story.
Dan, a high school student, boards with his crazy band-playing Aunt Jacq, 22, and her roommate, Naomi, an attractive pysch major at the Uni. Through his social and emotional innocence, Dan becomes infatuated with Naomi and her every movement, including her frequent sexual run-ins with her 'jerk' boyfriend, in turn devastating Dan.
Dan is very innocent, yet his sensitive and intellectual demeanor allows the reader to easily identify with him. He has intense social reflection throughout the novel, and only seems to be disrupted by his friend, Chris Burns, another inexperienced, yet porn-obsessed, friend.
The realness of the novel and the hilarious conclusion of the party allow for true connection into the complex character of Dan, along with providing for an entertaining read.
All those who have had to grow up will be able to relate. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, despite some of it being a bit slow at times. My only other gripe was the unfamiliar textual presentation, as the entire book consisted of Dan's introspection or what seemed to be him hearing others talk, which was put in italics, which I felt was a bit irritable at times throughout.
However, I'd recommend this one to anyone who has risen up in the sex-obsessed world we know and love.
In 48 SHADES OF BROWN, Australian author Nick Earls comically portrays Dan in this coming-of-age story.
Dan, a high school student, boards with his crazy band-playing Aunt Jacq, 22, and her roommate, Naomi, an attractive pysch major at the Uni. Through his social and emotional innocence, Dan becomes infatuated with Naomi and her every movement, including her frequent sexual run-ins with her 'jerk' boyfriend, in turn devastating Dan.
Dan is very innocent, yet his sensitive and intellectual demeanor allows the reader to easily identify with him. He has intense social reflection throughout the novel, and only seems to be disrupted by his friend, Chris Burns, another inexperienced, yet porn-obsessed, friend.
The realness of the novel and the hilarious conclusion of the party allow for true connection into the complex character of Dan, along with providing for an entertaining read.
All those who have had to grow up will be able to relate. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, despite some of it being a bit slow at times. My only other gripe was the unfamiliar textual presentation, as the entire book consisted of Dan's introspection or what seemed to be him hearing others talk, which was put in italics, which I felt was a bit irritable at times throughout.
However, I'd recommend this one to anyone who has risen up in the sex-obsessed world we know and love.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews